Piezocone Penetration Testing in Florida High Pile Rebound Soils

Abstract

AbstractContractors and engineers have experienced pile installation problems while driving high displacement piles with single-acting diesel hammers at Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) construction sites located throughout the Central and Panhandle regions of Florida. At certain depths during pile driving in saturated soils, rebound exceeding 1 inch (25 mm) was experienced, followed by a small permanent-set during each hammer blow.High pile rebound (HPR) may cause false refusal to occur, stopping the pile driving and resulting in a limited pile capacity. In some cases, rebound leads to pile damage, delaying of the construction project and foundation redesign. In this paper, the response of HPR is investigated using cone penetrometer testing (CPT) and a pile driving analyzer (PDA). PDA data, which yielded the amount and the depth where rebound occurred, produced the pile movement per blow, Nineteen Piezocone soundings were performed at seven FDOT sites in Florida, of which five sites experience...