DEEP FOUNDATION

Improving Reliability of
Foundations for Tall Buildings

By : Ir. Chow Chee Meng

Date: 26-28th March 2014
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 VIRTUALLY EVERY STRUCTURE IS
SUPPORTED BY SOIL OR ROCK.

THOSE THAT AREN’T EITHER FLY, FLOAT, OR

FALLOVER

-RICHARD L. HANDY-

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 REACHING FOR THE SKY

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 DEEP FOUNDATION

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 WHAT IS A DEEP FOUNDATION
• It is a foundation system that transfers loads
to a deeper and competent soil layer.

• To support:
– Axial compression load Traditional function of
piles for high-rise
– Uplift/tension
Marine structures, slender
– Lateral load structures, etc.
– Reduce overall settlement / differential
settlement
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DEEP FOUNDATION FOR HIGH-RISE
• Deep foundation for high-rise:
– Bored piles Traditionally used for high-rise
– Barrette piles
– Caisson piles
– Driven piles
– Jack-in spun piles
– Micropiles, etc.

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DEEP FOUNDATION FOR HIGH-RISE
• Design aspects for conventional bored
piles, caisson, etc. normally covered in
various seminar/conferences

• Focuses on relatively new or innovative

design approach for optimum foundation
design

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 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

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Allowable Settlement of Building
•Settlement of high-rise building <
12mm or 25mm?

•Myth or fact?

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 Actual Building Settlement
• Actual recorded settlement of high-rise
building
– 20mm to 125mm

• Important design considerations

– NOT total settlement
– Differential settlement governs

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 Definitions of foundation movement

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Not designed by
Author or G&P

SHIFT

? ? ?
? ? ? ?
?
? ? ?
Ground Conditions? Limestone
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 PILED RAFT FOUNDATION
• Using conventional
approach where part
of the superstructure
load is transferred to
the slab/pilecap in
contact with the
ground
• At least 25% to 40%
reduction of numbers
of piles – depending on
soil conditions

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 DESIGN METHODOLOGY
• Relatively higher loads imposed onto
foundation

– Piles of varying length

• Longest piles in the middle and progressively
shorter piles towards the edge

– Strip-raft structural system

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Strip-raft

Piles with varying

length

SCHEMATIC OF PILED RAFT SYSTEM WITH

VARYING PILE LENGTHS
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 ANALYSIS
• Interaction between pile-soil-
structure important
– Iterative analysis using pile interaction
software (e.g. PIGLET, PIGEON) and
structural analysis software (e.g. SAFE)

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 ANALYSIS
• Interaction of piles
based on modified
solution of
Randolph & Wroth
(1979) –
incorporated in the
software, PIGEON

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 PILED RAFT FOUNDATION
• Settlement reducing piles/full piled raft

• Piles introduced to control settlement

• Piles required may be as little as 10% of

conventional pile design

• Refer to publications by Randolph,

Poulos, Katzenbach, etc.
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 DESIGN METHODOLOGY
• Settlement reducing piles at
concentrated loads (i.e. columns and
walls):

– Condition 1: Moment in structural member

– Condition 2: Shear in structural member
– Condition 3: Contact pressure below
foundation
– Condition 4: Local settlement structural design
Mainly governed by

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 DESIGN METHODOLOGY
• Settlement reducing piles
– To control differential settlement
– Overall bearing capacity sufficient

Smoothened Column Loads

settlement
profile

Settlement
reducing piles

Large local
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 CASE HISTORIES

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 MEDIUM RISE BUILDINGS
• 200mm x 200mm reinforced concrete
(RC) square piles with pile length varying
from 18m to 24m

• 350mm x 700mm strips and 300mm thick

raft

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Foundation
Design for
5-Storey Low
Cost
Apartment

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 SETTLEMENT MONITORING
 Total of 14 numbers of precise settlement
markers
 Monitored results up to 313 days
CSM05 CSM10
CSM02 CSM1
4

CSM13
CSM04 CSM07 CSM11
CSM01
CSM06 CSM09

CSM03 CSM08 CSM12

Legend:
CSM – Settlement markers (14 Nos.)
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 Settlement Profile Across Edge of Building
-33.55 -13.9 13.9 33.55
60 60
61 61
62 62
63 CSM14 63
64
Centreline 64
65 65
66 66
67  = 1/13950 67
Settlement (mm)

68 68
69 CSM02 69
70 70
71 71
72  = 1/1698 72
73 = 73
74 1/2356 74
75 75
76 76
CSM10
77
78
 = 1/17595 77
78
CSM05
79 79
80 80
-33.55 -13.9 13.9 33.55
Distance (m)

• Maximum differential settlement: 27mm

• Maximum local angular distortion: 1/1215
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 COMPLETED APARTMENT
TAN, Y.C., CHOW, C.M. & GUE, S.S. (2005). “Piled raft with
different pile length for medium-rise buildings on very soft clay”,
16th ICSMGE, September 12-16, 2005, Osaka, Japan.

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 2500 Ton Silo
on Very Soft Marine Deposits

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 Foundations for Highrise
• Bistari Condominiums, KL.
• Alternative design has reduced the
foundation cost by more than 50%,
• A saving of more than RM5 million
• An Award of Merit (1998) was given by
ACEM

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 Concrete Raft

Fill / Alluvium

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 JACK-IN PILES ONLY FOR LOW-
RISE BUILDINGS?

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 HIGH-CAPACITY JACK-IN PILES
Myth:
Jack-in piles cannot be used for high-rise
buildings or in limestone formation

Truth:
Jack-in piles can be used for high-rise
buildings and limestone formation
- With proper design and input from
experienced geotechnical engineer
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 BEHAVIOUR OF
JACK-IN PILES

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 BEHAVIOUR OF JACK-IN PILES
Rankine Lecture by Prof. Mark Randolph
(2003):

•Bored piles – zero residual pressures

•End-bearing can only be mobilised at

relatively large displacement

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 BEHAVIOUR OF JACK-IN PILES

Driven and jacked in piles - significant

residual pressures are locked in at the pile
base during installation

Higher end-bearing can be mobilised at

working load

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 BEHAVIOUR OF JACK-IN PILES

White & Lehane (2004):

Greater number of cycles during pile

installation
larger reduction in shaft friction

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 White & Lehane, 2004

Reduction in
shaft
resistance!!!

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 BEHAVIOUR OF JACK-IN PILES

Deeks, White & Bolton (2005):

The measured jacking force during

installation indicates plunging capacity
of the pile

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 BEHAVIOUR OF JACK-IN PILES

Jacked piles have a high base stiffness

Stiffness of jacked piles

> 2 times stiffness of driven piles
> 10 times stiffness of bored piles

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 CASE HISTORIES

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 1st Site

• Starting of Jack-In Pile system using large

size pile in Malaysia (Year 1999)
• Installed through municipal dumping site with
mine tailings overlying Karstic Kuala Lumpur
Limestone bedrock.
• Use 450mm Spun Pile with Working Load of
1500kN

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 1st Site

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 1st Site

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 1st Site

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 Case Histories

Four sites in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor,

Malaysia :

•Site A: 31-storey apartment

•Site B: 45-storey apartment
•Site C: 40 to 43-storey apartment
•Site D: 15-storey apartment

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 Case Histories (Sites A to D)
• Pile size: 400mm to 600mm

• Pile working load: 1520kN to 3000kN

• All piles generally jacked to 2.0 times

working load with holding time of 30-
seconds (2 cycles)

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 Case Histories (Sites A to D)

• Silty SAND / sandy SILT overlying Granite

Formation (weathered granite)

• Boulders encountered
- Some piles installed after preboring

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 Site A

Granite Formation

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 Site B

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 Site B
Pile toe at hard weathered
granite layer

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 Static Load Tests
Total of 22 static load tests carried out for the
4 sites

All piles selected for testing achieved

minimum 2 times working load!!!
(No pile failed!)
•No signs of plunging failure of pile
•Settlement at working load: 3.04 – 9.88mm
•Settlement at 2*WL: 6.96 – 22.22mm

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 Static Load Tests

• Pile as short as 6.5m tested with settlement

at working load and 2*WL of 8.32mm and
19.73mm respectively

• Pile performance are satisfactory for piles

where preboring have been carried out

• Termination criterion adopted adequate

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 Preboring through boulders

Boulders
exposed after
preboring

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 Static Load Tests
4600
4400 500mm Spun Pile, Pile length = 6.5m Site B
4200
4000
3800
3600
3400
APPLIED LOAD (kN)

3200
3000
2800
2600
2400
2200
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
PILE TOP SETTLEMENT (mm)
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 Static Load Tests
Site B

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 Static Load Tests

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 Termination Criteria

Termination criterion for jack-in piles in

weathered granite:

“Jack the pile to 2.0 times of the

design load for a minimum of two cycles.
The corresponding pressure has to be held
for minimum 30 seconds with settlement
not exceeding 2mm”

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 Mobilised Resistance

Instrumented test piles

Site C (3 Nos.)
Site D (2 Nos.)

Piles instrumented using the Global Strain

Extensometer method

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 Mobilised (Shaft) Resistance
150
140 600mm Spun Pile, Pile length = 21.4m
(Nearest borehole, BH-20)
MOBILISED SKIN FRICTION (kN/m2)

130
0.5m to 10.7m
120
10.7m to 20.9m
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Site C)
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
DISPLACEMENT (mm)
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 Mobilised (Base) Resistance
MOBILISED END-BEARING RESISTANCE (kN/m2)

9000
8500
8000 600mm Spun Pile, Pile length = 21.4m
(Nearest borehole, BH-20)
7500
7000
6500 End-bearing not fully
6000
5500 mobilised
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
DISPLACEMENT (mm)

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 SUMMARY

• Traditional correlations of skin friction

based on driven piles (e.g. fs = 2.5*SPT-N)
is too conservative for jack-in piles in
weathered granite

• Conservative estimate based on test

results:
- Ultimate skin friction, fs ~ 5*SPT-N

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 SUMMARY

•Jack-in piles demonstrates higher skin

friction possibly due to:
- Less disturbance during installation -
friction fatigue phenomenon
(e.g. White & Lehane, 2004)

- Locked-in pressure (residual pressure)

effect (e.g. Randolph, 2003)

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 References
• Tan, Yean-Chin, Chow, Chee-Meng & Gue, See-Sew (2011). “Jack-in Pile
in Malaysia: A Malaysian Consultant’s Perspective”, Proceedings of the
2nd VLA Seminar: New Developments in Jacked Piling, Hong Kong, 18th
March 2011

• C.M. CHOW & Y.C. TAN (2010). “Performance of Jack-in Pile Foundation in
Weathered Granite”, 17th SEAGC, 10-13 May, Taipei, Taiwan.

• CHOW, C.M. & TAN, Y.C. (2009). “Jack-in Pile Design – Malaysian
Experience and Design Approach to EC7”, IEM Course on Eurocode 7 –
Geotechnical Design, 16-17 July 2009, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

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 HIGH-CAPACITY JACK-IN PILES
Myth:
Jack-in piles cannot be used for high-rise
buildings or in limestone formation

Truth:
Jack-in piles can be used for high-rise
buildings and limestone formation
- With proper design and input from
experienced geotechnical engineer
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 SOME UNIQUE PROBLEMS

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 Testing Set-up Using
Reaction Piles

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 Testing Set-up
• Long reaction piles at close spacing
used

• Case histories:
– Load tests using reaction piles give
ERRATIC results
– Reference: Weele (1993)

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 Ref: A.F. van
Weele, 1993

Tested
using
anchor
piles

Tested
using
kentledge

Approx. 2
 2100kN times smaller
 1100kN using reaction
piles!

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 Reaction
piles

Zone of
interaction
with test pile
Test pile

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 Testing Set-up
• Latest version of ASTM D1143
• Published April 2007

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 Testing Set-up
• ASTM D1143 Normal kentledge – 3 times

– Clear distance of at least 5 times

the maximum diameter
– Caution on factors influencing
results:
•“Possible interaction ……….from
anchor piles……..”

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 Settlement Criteria for
Pile Load Test

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 MALAYSIA’S PRACTICE
• A pile tested shall be deemed to have
failed if (JKR, 1988):
– The residual settlement after removal of the test load
exceeds 6.50mm; or
– The total settlement under the Working Load
exceeds 12.50mm; or
– The total settlement under twice the Working Load
exceeds 38.0mm, or 10% of pile diameter/width
whichever is the lower value.

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 MALAYSIA’S PRACTICE
• No consideration given to pile length
and pile size in setting the settlement
criteria

• Too conservative especially for long piles

and big diameter piles

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 Pile shaft shortening (after Ng et al., 2001)

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 SETTLEMENT CRITERIA
• Settlement criteria for pile testing must
take into account

– Elastic compression of pile which is a

function of pile length and pile diameter
– Movement expected to mobilise shaft
friction and end-bearing

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 SETTLEMENT CRITERIA
• Proposed settlement criteria for bored
piles:

For piles founded in soils:

M = 12.50mm + ½ PL/AE

For piles founded on rocks and/or with short rock

sockets and for piles with slip liners:
M = 12.50mm + ¾ PL/AE

To be adjusted for other specific structural considerations!

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 SETTLEMENT CRITERIA
• Typically, differential settlement between any two piled
foundations unlikely to be greater than 75% of the maximum
settlement (Craig, 1998)

• Typical medium-rise to high-rise building column span = 5.0m to

8.5m

• Assuming 25m long, 1.2m diameter rock-socketed bored pile with

working load = 9800kN
– Maximum differential settlement = 0.75*18.5mm = 14mm

• Distortions = 1/350 to 1/600 (Within allowable limits to prevent

cracking in walls and partitions and well within the limits for
structural damage of 1/150 – Skempton & McDonald, 1956)
Criteria can be adjusted for specific spans based on fundamental
engineering principles!
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 SUMMARY

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 SUMMARY
• Recent advances and understanding in
pile behaviour has improved reliability of
foundations for tall buildings
• Relatively new / innovative design
approach:
– Piled raft/settlement reducing piles
– High-capacity jack-in spun piles
• Research findings removed unnecessary
conservatism or unsafe design practices,
e.g. unrealistic settlement criteria, etc.
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 ON A FINAL NOTE
With regard to geotechnical engineering:
“There are no (insurmountable) weak
soils or rocks, there are only weak
engineers”.

Professor Heinz Brandl

Vice-President ISSMGE (1997 -2001)

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