Use of Nondestructive Testing To Establish Installation Disturbance Zone Criteria For Adjacent Continuous Flight Auger Pile Installation on Design Build Project-Video

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At New York City’s Jamaica Bus Depot project, approximately 1,000 continuous flight auger piles were planned for a new facility. The client’s specification required 15 feet between freshly grouted piles for 24 hours, slowing installation. The design-build team used a test-pile program to assess a faster sequence: installing adjacent piles 12 feet apart within the same shift, and drilling near piles after about 12–16 hours.<br /><br />Thermal integrity profiling (TIP) and low-strain sonic echo testing were used alongside construction records. Testing found no evidence that nearby drilling disturbed pile integrity. Two anomalies were identified, but both were attributed to pile construction: reinforcement-cage misalignment in one pile and a neck in another. The test program prompted improvements to cage placement, grout retardation, and auger withdrawal procedures. Production testing of 5% of the piles found no further anomalies across more than 1,000 piles.<br /><br />The results supported a more efficient installation sequence consistent with relevant industry guidelines and demonstrated the value of combining testing methods with construction records.

Keywords

Jamaica Bus Depot

continuous flight auger piles

thermal integrity profiling

low-strain sonic echo

test-pile program

pile installation sequence