A case study of utilising digitalisation techniques to achieve efficiency and carbon benefits during piling projects-Paper

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The study examines how digital tools can improve quality control, efficiency, and carbon performance in Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piling. Because pile-construction records are commonly supplied as PDFs and lack a standard digital format, the authors used Python and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract information into a consolidated dataset. This approach is faster and less prone to manual error, though extraction methods must be adapted to different contractors’ report formats.<br /><br />The analysis focuses on concrete overbreak—the excess concrete used beyond a pile’s theoretical volume—as both a construction-quality indicator and a measure of avoidable embodied carbon. Across the projects examined, average overbreak ranged from 15.9% to 34.3%, with some piles substantially exceeding site averages. Larger-diameter piles generally had lower overbreak percentages, but their overbreak embodied more carbon; the available data were insufficient to determine which diameters are most sustainable overall.<br /><br />The findings also suggest that high overbreak may be associated with challenging ground conditions and overflighting, where the auger removes excess soil. Timely review of digital pile records could help designers and contractors identify unusual results, investigate potential problems, and intervene earlier. This may reduce remedial costs, material use, and emissions. Differences between sites also highlight the importance of consistent overbreak targets and effective collaboration.<br /><br />The authors recommend industry-wide standardisation of pile-data sharing and timely reporting. Current limitations include difficulty extracting detailed, depth-by-depth information from pile logs, uncertainty in recorded pile diameters, and the need for further data. More comprehensive datasets and real-time sharing could support stronger analytics and more sustainable pile design and construction.

Keywords

CFA piling

digital tools

quality control

efficiency

carbon performance

Python

OCR

concrete overbreak

embodied carbon

pile construction records