• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.5-16
• /
• 2018

In the current study, the engineering behaviour of prebored and precast steel pipe piles was examined from a series of full-scale field measurements by conducting static pile load tests, dynamic pile load tests (EOID and restrike tests) and Class-A and Class-C1 type numerical analysis. The study includes the pile load - settlement relations, allowable pile capacity and shear stress transfer mechanism. Compared to the allowable pile capacity obtained from the static pile load tests, the dynamic pile load tests and the numerical simulation showed surprisingly large variations. Overall among these the restrike tests displayed the best results, however the reliability of the predictions from the numerical analysis was lower than those estimated from the dynamic pile load tests. The allowable pile capacity obtained from the EOID tests and the restrike tests indicated 20.0%-181.0% (avg: 69.3%) and 48.2%-181.1% (avg: 92.1%) of the corresponding measured values from the static pile loading tests, respectively. Furthermore, the computed results from the Class-A type analysis showed the largest scatters (37.1%-210.5%, avg: 121.2%). In the EOID tests, a majority of the external load were carried by the end bearing pile capacity, however, similar skin friction and end bearing capacity in magnitude were mobilised in the restrike tests. The measured end bearing pile capacity from the restrike tests were smaller than was measured from the EOID tests. The present study has revealed that if the impact energy is not sufficient in a restrike test, the end bearing pile capacity most likely will be underestimated. The shear stresses computed from the numerical analysis deviated substantially from the measured pile force distributions. It can be concluded that the engineering behaviour of the pile is heavily affected if a slime layer exists near the pile tip, and that the smaller the stiffness of the slime and the thicker the slime, the greater the settlement of the pile.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 2017

In this study, a series of full-scale field tests on prebored and precast steel pipe piles and the corresponding numerical analysis have been conducted in order to study the characteristics of pile load-settlement relations and shear stress transfer at the pile-soil interface. Dynamic pile load tests (EOID and restrike) have been performed on the piles and the estimated design pile loads from EOID and restrike tests were analysed. Class-A type numerical analyses conducted prior to the pile loading tests were 56~105%, 65~121% and 38~142% respectively of those obtained from static load tests. In addition, design loads estimated from the restrike tests indicate increases of 12~60% compared to those estimated in the EOID tests. The EOID tests show large end bearing capacity while the restrike tests demonstrate increased skin friction. When impact energy is insufficient during the restrike tests, the end bearing capacity may be underestimated. It has been found that total pile capacity would be reasonably estimated if skin friction from the restrike tests and end bearing capacity from the EOID are combined. The load-settlement relation measured from the static pile load tests and estimated from the numerical modelling is in general agreement until yielding occurs, after which results from the numerical analyses substantially deviated away from those obtained from the static load tests. The measured pile behaviour from the static load tests shows somewhat similar behaviour of perfectly-elastic plastic materials after yielding with a small increase in the pile load, while the numerical analyses demonstrates a gradual increase in the pile load associated with strain hardening approaching ultimate pile load. It has been discussed that the load-settlement relation mainly depends upon the stiffness of the ground, whilst the shear transfer mechanism depends on shear strength parameters.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.26 no.2C
• /
• pp.109-120
• /
• 2006

SPT-Uphole test is a seismic field test using receivers on ground surface and a SPT (Standard penetration test) source in depth. Even though this method is simple and economic, it makes hesitate to apply in real field that it is difficult to obtain reliable travel time information of shear wave because of the characteristics of SPT impact source. To overcome this shortcoming, in this paper, modified SPT-Uphole method using two component surface geophones was suggested. Numerical analysis was performed using finite element method for understanding the characteristics of surface motion induced by in-depth vertical source, and comparison study of the various methods which determine the travel time information in SPT-Uphole method was performed. In result, it is thought that the most reasonable method is using the first local maximum point of the root mean square value signals of vertical and horizontal component in time domain. Finally, modified SPT-Uphole method using two component surface geophones was performed at the site, and the applicability in field was verified by comparing wave velocity profiles determined by the SPT-Uphole method with the profiles determined by SASW method and SPT-N values.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.26 no.3C
• /
• pp.143-155
• /
• 2006

SPT-Uphole tomography method was introduced for the evaluation of near subsurface shear wave velocity (Vs) distribution map. In SPT-Uphole method, SPT (Standard Penetration Test) which is common in geotechnical site investigation was used as a source and several surface geophones in line were used as receivers. Vs distribution map which is the triangular shape around the boring point can be developed by tomography inversion. To obtain the exact travel time information of shear wave component, a procedure using the magnitude summation of vertical and horizontal components was used based on the evaluation of particle motion at the surface. It was verified that proposed method could give reliable Vs distribution map through the numerical study using the FEM (Finite Element Method) model. Finally, SPT-Uphole tomography method was performed at the weathered soil site where several boring data with SPT-N values are available, and the feasibility of proposed method was verified in the field.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.293-303
• /
• 2012

Recently, as construction technology improved, concrete structures not only became larger, taller and longer but were able to perform various functions. However, if extreme loads such as impact, blast, and fire are applied to those structures, it would cause severe property damages and human casualties. Especially, the structural responses from extreme loading are totally different than that from quasi-static loading, because large pressure is applied to structures from mass acceleration effect of impact and blast loads. Therefore, the strain rate effect and damage levels should be considered when concrete structure is designed. In this study, the low velocity impact loading test of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) slabs including 0%~1.5% (by volume) of steel fibers, and strengthened with two types of FRP sheets was performed to develop an impact resistant structural member. From the test results, the maximum impact load, dissipated energy and the number of drop to failure increased, whereas the maximum displacement and support rotation were reduced by strengthening SFRC slab with FRP sheets in tensile zone. The test results showed that the impact resistance of concrete slab can be substantially improved by externally strengthening using FRP sheets. This result can be used in designing of primary facilities exposed to such extreme loads. The dynamic responses of SFRC slab strengthened with FRP sheets under low velocity impact load were also analyzed using LS-DYNA, a finite element analysis program with an explicit time integration scheme. The comparison of test and analytical results showed that they were within 5% of error with respect to maximum displacements.