Evaluation of excess pore pressures and drainage conditions around driven piles using the cone penetration test with pore pressure measurements

Abstract

Large-diameter steel pipe piles were driven as part of the foundations for the Alex Fraser Bridge near Vancouver, British Columbia. The piles penetrated through a normally consolidated marine clayey silt. As part of the geotechnical studies a multipoint piezometer was installed close to the pile group. A cone penetration test with pore pressure measurements (CPTU) was performed adjacent to one of the piles shortly after driving. During the CPTU through the clayey silt deposit, dissipation tests were performed to evaluate the pore pressures around the nearby pile. The CPTU results are compared with the pore pressures recorded at the multipoint piezometer, allowing for differences in radial distance from the piles. Excellent agreement was obtained between the CPTU and multipoint piezometer data, both showing large excess pore pressures around the piles. The CPTU dissipation data were also analyzed to evaluate the time required for dissipation of excess pore pressures around the piles. The upper half of the clayey silt deposit was inter bedded with thin sand and silt layers. The CPTU data showed that the thin sand layers were sufficiently large in extent to allow rapid dissipation of the pore pressures due to cone penetration but were not of sufficient extent to allow dissipation of the excess pore pressures from the much larger diameter piles. Key words: in situ, piles, pore pressures, CPT.