Investigation on in-situ test of penetration characteristics of open and closed PHC pipe piles

Abstract

To investigate the load transfer mechanism of open and closed Pre-stressed High-strength Concrete (PHC) piles jacked into layered soil, a full-scale in-situ test was conducted. In this test, the axial stress experienced by one open and two closed PHC pipe piles during jacking into layered soil was monitored using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors mounted on pile shaft. The test results showed that (1) The jacking force on pile depended on the soil mechanical properties at the end of pile; (2) The variation of axial force on pile reflected that the compaction effect of soil for closed pile was larger than that for open pile; (3) At the beginning of penetration depth, the variation of shaft and end resistances on the open pile were different from those on the closed piles; (4) The variation of average shaft resistance relied on the mechanical properties of soil at the side of pile.