In the name of Allah, The

most Gracious, The most

Merciful.

HIGH STRAIN DYNAMIC TESTING OF PILE USING

PILE DRIVING ANALYZER

CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
CONCEPT
PILE DRIVING ANALYZER
COMPONENTS & WORKING MECHANISM
TESTING PROCEDURE
GUIDELINE FOR OBTAINING QUALITY DATA
GRLWEAP & CAPWAP ANALYSIS
ADVANTAGES OF PDA
LIMITATIONS OF PDA
FUTURE DEVELOPEMNT

INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS DYNAMIC TESTING OF PILES?

Dynamic pile testing is fast and effective

method for assessing bearing capacity of
the foundation that requires instrumenting
deep foundations with accelerometers
and strain transducers and analyzing the
data collected by these transducers.

INTRODUCTION
WHY DYNAMIC PILE LOAD TESTING?
MORE ECONOMICAL
LESS TIME CONSUMING
MORE EFFICIENT
ALTERNATIVE FOR STATIC PILE LOAD TEST
LESS LOGISTIC INVOLVED
PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION REGARDING A PILE
WHEN COMPARED TO STATIC LOAD TEST

CONCEPT
HIGH STRAIN DYNAMIC PILE LOAD TESTING

High strain dynamic testing consists of

estimating soil resistance and its distribution
from force and velocity measurements
obtained near the top of a foundation
impacted by a hammer or drop weight. The
impact produces a compressive wave that
travels down the shaft of the foundation.

A pair of strain transducers obtains the

signals necessary to compute force, while
measurements from a pair of accelerometers
are integrated to yield velocity. These sensors
are connected to a PDA that records,
processes and displays data and results.

CONCEPT
HIGH STRAIN DYNAMIC PILE LOAD TESTING

Moreover Isolation of the static pile

resistance from the total pile response
is the key challenge in the interpretation
of dynamic pile testing methods.

CONCEPT
SPECIFICATIONS FOR TESTING:

PART ONE: GENERAL

It involves attaching strain gauges and accelerometers to

the pile near the pile head during driving

It shall be performed on required number of indicator piles

Dynamic Testing shall be performed on production piles as

chosen by the engineer to monitor hammer and driving
system performance

CONCEPT
SPECIFICATIONS FOR TESTING:

PART TWO Material

Impact Force Application
Force or Strain Transducer
Acceleration or Displacement
Transducer

Signal Transmission Cables

PDA (Model Pak, PAX or PAL)
to record, display and analysis
data

PILE DRIVING ANALYZER

PILE DRIVING ANALYZER

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
PDA was developed in the USA in the late 1960s and
early 1970's by Drs. G. G. Goble and F. Rausche, and
co-workers at Case Western University. It has since
evolved further and, as of the early 1980s, it is
accepted all over the world as a viable and valuable
tool in geotechnical engineering practice.
it was developed to analyze pile driving and evaluate pile
drive ability, including the range of stresses imparted to
the pile, hammer efficiency, etc. With the development of
inexpensive desktop computers, programs were written
around the wave equation and estimates of pile capacity,
such as CAPWAP, became a part of PDA analyses of pile
installation.

PILE DRIVING ANALYZER

1973

1958

1965

1982

1992

2007

TWO MAJOR PARTS:

TRANSDUCER
ACCELEROMETER

TRANSDUCER REQUIREMENT

Accurately calibrated
Rugged and Reliable
Allow for self checking
Adapt to any pile type
Cost efficient
Allowing for testing

TRANSDUCER COMPONENTS

Microprocessor
Signal conditioning circuitry
16 bit analog to digital conversion unit
Controller area network(CAN)

Signal collection & transportation system of transducers

Analog signal module

Collecting signal

Taking 7750
sample/signal

User defined

Microprocessor

Digitized signal by
circuitry module

Transducers are placed into dynamic

testing mode

Defragmenting

Controller area network(CAN)

Transport the signal to
the PDA

Stored in a disk

BASIC MECHANISM

Strain & acceleration

convert into force &
velocity

SAME PRINCIPLE FOR DRILLED SHAFT ALSO, HERE A DROP

WEIGHT IS USED INSTEAD OF DRIVING HAMMER

DROP WEIGHT

 Dynamic Testing Consultant shall

propose driving system to install the
pile to the required capacity and
desired penetration depth within the
allowable driving stresses, with prior
information got by Contractor.

In case of drilled shaft:

Drop weight of 2% of the test shaft capacity
70%-80% impacting surface of the test area
Drop height 1 to 2 m
2-6 cushion of plywood
At least 2 hammer imapct

TESTING
PROCEDURE

Testing can be divided into two major components

Collection of strain & acceleration data
GRLWEAP & CAPWAP analysis

TESTING
PROCEDURE
Collection of strain & acceleration data:
Its mandatory that both the accelerometer and strain gage
are fixed parallel to the pile axis at a predetermined distance
from the pile top. When two sets of gages are used, they
shall be diametrically opposite

TESTING
PROCEDURE
Collection of strain & acceleration data:
After performing the initial calibrations checks on them. These are
fixed either by bolting or welding. Setup the apparatus required for
data recording, reducing and displaying data.

Calibrations of the Strain gauges

and Accelerometers & Fixing of
gauges.

TESTING
PROCEDURE
Sensor transmitter protection:

SITE LINK-REMOTE PDA

PILE A

Engineer
- controls several PDAs
simultaneously as if on-site
- monitors piles in real time
- reports within short time

PILE B

Contractor
- schedules easily
- keeps project going

GUIDELINE FOR OBTAINING QUALITY DATA

Protect Equipment:
Shade PDA units from direct sunlight.
Protect gauges if attached prior to raising pile in leads.
Protect cables if using wired gauges.
Wireless gauges are now available.
Proper Equipment:
Always use a minimum of 2 strain gauges and 2 accelerometers.
For larger diameter piles use 4 strain gauges and 4 accelerometers.
Specifications require that all gauges have up-to-date calibration.
Verify that all sensors are checked before attachment to piles.
Proper Equipment Attachment and Preparation:
Attach gauges a minimum of 1.5*Pile Width from top of pile
(Preferably minimum of 2*Pile Width from the top).
Verify that all sensors are checked before attachment to
piles.
Specifications require that all gauges have up-to-date
calibration.

GRLWEAP & CAPWAP ANALYSIS

GRLWEAP(Wave equation analysis program) includes:

Pile drive ability

Hammer performance & soil parameters
Pile toe damage detection

GRLWEAP

Thermodynamics model
predicts stroke for diesels

Enter soil profile

Predicts drive ability

Updated hammer/driving
system input

Updated soil parameters

DAMAGE DETECTION
GOOD PILE: No early reflections

Time of impact

Toe reflection

BAD PILE: Early reflections

Time of impact

Toe reflection

TOE DAMAGE DETECTION

EARLY RECORD

No damage done along pile length

TOE DAMAGE DETECTION

FIRST INDICATION

TOE DAMAGE DETECTION

END OF DRIVE

7 FT

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
The data obtained from dynamic pile testing
i.e. force and velocity measurements of pile
are fed to a software program called Case
Pile Wave Analysis Program( CAPWAP)
which is used to simulate static pile load
test

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
FEATURES OF CAPWAP:
high strain dynamic data is processed in the signal matching
software CAPWAP
CAPWAP separates static and damping soil characteristics and also
allows for an estimation of the side shear distribution and the piles end
CAPWAP is based on the wave equation model, which analyses the
pile as a series of elastic segments and the soil as a series of elastoplastic elements with damping characteristics.
Typically the pile top force and velocity measurements acquired
under high strain hammer impacts can be analyzed utilizing the signal
matching procedure yielding forces and velocities over time and
along the pile length.

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
CAPWAP METHOD
Retrieve data from pile driving analyzer (collects force and
velocity data)

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
vm

Fc
Fm

CAPWAP METHOD
1.Setup pile model
2.Assume soil resistance parameters
3.Perform analysis using one of the
measured quantities ( force or velocity) as
input(Vm) and calculate the other(Fc).
4.Compare measured(Fm) with computed
quantity(Fc)

Rshaft

Rtoe

5.If match is not satisfactory, adjust soil

resistance parameters(Rshaft,Rtoe) and go
to step 3.

Repeat until matching is

satisfactory

CAPWAP ANALYSIS

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
The pile model

Zi-1

The Pile is divided in Np

uniform pile segments
of approx. 1 m length.

Zi

Each segment has

impedance Zi = EiAi/ci and
wave speed ci

Zi+1

The Wave travel time, t, is

the same in all segments
(.2 to .25 ms)

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
The soil model
t

Pile segment length ~ 1 m

Soil segment length ~2 m
( resolution of the data itself )

t
t
t
t

Spring (static resistance)

Dashpot (dynamic resist)

CAPWAP ANALYSIS

CAPWAP ANALYSIS

CAPWAP ANALYSIS
Result summary
Force & velocity

End bearing

Shaft resistance

CORRELATION WITH SLT(STATIC LOAD TEST)

SLT/CW>1 (under prediction)

SLT/CW<1 (OVERPREDICTION)

SLT/CW=1(Accurate result)

Load test result=400kip

CAPWAP result=380kip

ADVANTAGES OF PDA
Can generally test 4-6 piles per day during initial drive(comparing with
one static load test per day). Allow for more test at the or lower cost than
a static load test
More test allows for site variability
Pile integrity can be determined
Monitoring stresses during driving allows the contractor to change the
driving system to prevent piles from being damaged
Modern codes(AHSTHO,FHWA,LRFD) allows for a reduced factor of
safety when PDA test Is performed, which provides cost savings.
Reduced cost regarding pile length & size

LIMITATIONS OF PDA
Site specific input factors, such as damping, rapid pore
pressure cant be obtained by PDA testing.
An experienced Geotechnical engineer or PDA operator
is needed to go through the PDA analysis to avoid
misinterpretation of the results obtained.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF PDA?

The current state of analysis of PDA records is good, but more can be
done. As the foundation design practice slowly is improving beyond the
ungainly SPT-and-factor-of-safety approach and advancing toward
design for deformation
for serviceabilitywe need to have better means of estimating pile toe
deformation under load.
The analysis of PDA data should continue to be refined. Traditional load
testing should still the basis for this refinement and at this moment in
time - still the ultimate definition of pile design load.
More research should be done on PDA to reduce the effect of residual
load which affecting picture too much

CONCLUSION
However, it is necessary that the persons using the PDA results
(whether they are those taking the records or those using them
afterward) must understand that they have to incorporate information
on the soil layering and soil characteristics, the groundwater and pore
pressures, and other geotechnical matters and bring this information to
par in quality with the dynamic records.

This does not need research and development, but it does take education
and willingness to learn.

ANY QUERY??