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Pile Foundations
C F Leung
Department of Civil Engineering
National University of
Singapore
Associate Professor C F Leung
Department of Civil Engineering
National University of Singapore
1 Engineering Drive 2
Singapore 117576
Tel (65) 68742281 Fax (65) 67791635
e-mail: cvelcf@nus.edu.sg
Piles are commonly used as foundations for
various types of structures
Building Collapse in Manila, J uly 2004
Building collapse due to tunnel excavation
failure in Shanghai, J uly 2003
Tilt of building under construction in
Singapore, J an 2003
Tilt angle 0.1 degree
Top of building displaces 0.3048 m
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Course outline (by C F Leung)
Lecture 1
Pile types and soil/rock parameters
Lecture 2
Pile capacity
Course outline
Lecture 3
Settlement of piles
Lecture 4
Design of rock-socketed piles
Course outline
Lecture 5
Negative skin friction
Lecture 6
Pile load tests and case studies
References
1. Poulos, H. G. and Davis, E. H., Pile
Foundation Analysis and Design, J ohn Wiley &
Sons, New York, 1980.
2. Tomlinson, M.J ., Foundation Design and
Construction, 6
th
ed., Longman, Harlow, 1995
3. Tomlinson, M. J ., Pile Design and Construction
Practice, 4
th
ed., E & FN Spon, London, 1994.
4. Fang, H. Y., Foundation Engineering
Handbook, 2
nd
ed., Van Nostrand Reinhold,
New York, 1991.
5. Bowles, J . E., Foundation Analysis and
Design, 5
th
ed., McGraw-Hill, 1996.
Codes and Guides
1 Singapore Standard, Code of Practice for
Foundations, CP4: 2003, Singapore.
2 British Standards 8004 (1986): Code of
Practice for Foundations.
3 Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual,
3
rd
ed., Canadian Geotechnical Society,
1992.
4 Geotechnical Engineering Office, Pile
Design and Construction, GEO Publication
No., 1/96, Hong Kong, 1996.
Lecture 1
Pile types and
soil/rock parameters
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1.1 Pile types
Large displacement piles
Timber piles
Precast Reinforced Concrete piles
Precast spun piles
Close-ended steel pipe piles
Micro driven piles (expensive but can be
installed under low headroom, good for
underpinning work)
Pile types (cont.)
Small displacement piles
Steel H-piles
Open-ended steel pipe piles
Screw piles
Replacement piles
Cast in-situ concrete bored piles
Barrette piles
Micro bored piles
1.2 Equipment for displacement piles
Pile driving machines
Drop hammer
Single or double
acting hammers
Diesel hammer
Hydraulic hammer
(high capacity)
[Note noise and
vibration problems]
Hydraulic
hammer
Diesel
hammer
Pile driving assembly
Hammer Cushion and helmet
1.3 Other pile installation methods
(a) By vibration using a rammer
(low pile capacity; mainly for sheet piles)
(b) Pile installed by jack-in
1. Least disturbance to
adjacent grounds and
structures (good for
HDB upgrading
projects with new piles
very close to existing
buildings)
2. Capacity of pile is
limited by the capacity
of jack-in machine
and equal to jack-in
force (action and
reaction)
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1.4 Large displacement piles
1. Require light driving machine (useful for very soft grounds)
2. Capacity of each pile is low (good for light structure such as
drains) and large number of piles are hence required
3. Cost per pile is relatively low (but environmentally unfriendly)
(a) Timber bakau piles
(b) Precast Reinforced Concrete (RC) piles
1. Most commonly used and relatively low cost
2. Require heavy driving machine (this may
pose difficulties in soft grounds)
(c) Precast spun piles Spun piles formed by spinning
Strong pile shoe for
hard driving
After spinning, dense concrete
with high concrete strength and
strong resistance against
chloride attacks. Hence good
for marine projects.
(d) Steel H-piles
J oining of pile
segments by welding
(e) Steel pipe piles
Commonly used for offshore foundation
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(f) Screw piles
Pile with one or more screws
along the shaft
1.5 Bored pile - installation tool
Drilling rig
Soil drilling usually by flight auger
Rock drilling:
Chiselling
rock auger
core bucket
core barrel
Auger (to bore
through soil)
Bored piles (cont.)
Install steel casing (or use
bentonite slurry) to
prevent collapse of soft
soils in boreholes
Concreting
(tremie concreting for
wet holes)
Reinforcement gauge
Typical pileshaft after drilling
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Borehole after concreting
(i) Rock
Drilling
tools
Rock
auger
Drilling
bucket
Drilling
bucket
Drilling bucket with cutting heads
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(ii) Special rock drilling methods
Down the hole hammer
Base grouting/external grouting
Micro-piles
Barrette piles (similar to diaphragm wall)
Reverse circulation drilling (RCD)
(iii) Base grouting
Flow chart
A good method
to overcome soft
toe problem
Flow chart
(continued)
(iv) Micro-pile
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Preparation and Lowering of Reinforcement with Grout Pipe
Micro bored piles ready for Capping
(iv) Construction of barrette piles or diaphragm wall
Guide wall
Excavation using a grab
between guide wall
Disposal of
excavated soil
Machine
to cut
stiff soil
and rock
Rock
Cutting
tool
Reinforcement
cage
Bentonite is
used to stabilise
wall before
concreting
Stop end tube placed
between 2 panels
Plan of each barrette pile is either
rectangular, T-shape or cross-shape.
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(vi) Reverse
Circulation
Drilling
RCD
(vii) Cleaning of pile base
Dry hole
Manual cleaning is possible
Wet hole
Very difficult to clean
Soft toe problems often exist
especially for piles socketed in
granite
Pile-raft foundation
(concreting of massive raft requires strict temperature control)
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Bored pile wall to retain
very soft soil
Reinforcement along entire pile required due to lateral loads
1.6 Selection of pile types
Factors to consider:
Cost
Soil conditions
Pile capacity and settlement
Time
Equipment available