Drilled shafts are widely used in Dubai as the main foundation option for high towers and bridges. Hundreds of meters of drilled shafts are installed in Dubai every day. Piling industry has grown widely in Dubai over the past 2 decades. Piles of large diameters as 2.5m and lengths up to 100m are common. It is evident that the current practice of geotechnical axial load capacity estimates in general is conservative, and actual pile axial load capacities as demonstrated by static and dynamic loading tests is much higher than the theoretical design capacities in almost the majority of cases. The main purposes of this study is to review the shortcomings of the commonly used theoretical axial load estimate procedures, and examine the factors and parameters controlling the estimated axial capacity (input parameters). Optimization of the conservative design procedure is suggested by careful selection of main input parameters, and calibration to static loading tests.
Subjects: Drilled Shaft, Rock Mass Factor, Rock Compressive Strength, Load Transfer
Author: Emad Y. Sharif, B. Sc - M. Sc GTC Lab Director and Hardev Sidhu, Lab Manager
Publisher: DFI, EFFC