Abstract
Mainly used foundations of oil sand plants are drilled shafts or driven piles. As environmental regulations become increasingly strict, complete removal of the foundation is becoming more important during the step of plant dismantling. However, it is difficult to remove completely drilled shafts or driven piles which are deeply installed to obtain more bearing capacity. Helical piles can be easily removed and recycled after use. This study analyses the behaviour of single and group helical piles in sands. For single helical piles, pile load tests of helical piles were conducted varying helix spacing, rotation speed and weight of axial loading during pile installation. The single pile tests determined the optimal helix spacing, rotation speed, weight of axial loading during pile installation. And then, pile load test of group helical piles was performed varying pile spacing from the centre place of upper connector based on the optimal installation conditions.
Highlights
Northern Alberta in Canada has approximately 170 billion barrels of oil reserves
From the single pile load tests, optimal installation conditions for helix spacing, rotation speed and weight of loading were determined based on the ultimate loads of helical piles
Ultimate loads of helical piles increased with increasing helix spacing, and increased with increasing rotation speed and weight of axial loading during pile installation
Summary
Northern Alberta in Canada has approximately 170 billion barrels of oil reserves. This is the third largest oil reserves in the world after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. The foundation of the plant structure is typically used as drilled shafts or driven piles. Drilled shafts or Driven piles are installed in deeper depths and stronger places to gain more bearing capacity, and it is difficult to completely remove. This study analyses the behaviour of single and group helical piles in sands from experiment results. Pile load test for a single helical pile was conducted varying helix spacing, rotation speed and weight of axial loading during pile installation. From the single pile load tests, optimal installation conditions for helix spacing, rotation speed and weight of loading were determined based on the ultimate loads of helical piles. Behaviour of group helical piles was analysed to maximize the pile bearing capacity depending on pile distance from the centre place of upper connector based on the optimal conditions of single pile tests
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