Abstract:
In the Netherlands pile foundation design is done using CPTs in accordance with EC7 national annexure.
The capacity per tip level is calculated for every CPT followed by zonation to find the tip level per zone.
The correlation factors are used to take into account the variability in ground across the zone and they
depend upon the number CPTs within the zone. The CPTs and pile tip levels selection for zoning is an
iterative process that can demand significant manual effort to produce an economical pile plan. This
often leads to the use of conservative correlation factors in order to accelerate the design process. Thus,
it has been automated in a tool with CPTs, pile location and loads, and calculated capacities as input.
The tool has also been employed in a case study and the results are compared to the current design
practise.