Abstract:
Drilled shafts and augered cast-in-place piles are deep foundations commonly used to support all types of structures in various geotechnical conditions. Their engineering design includes structural, geotechnical, and constructability considerations; and their construction involves drilling, installations, testing, and inspection. Testing and inspections are an integral part of the design process and construction work for quality control, quality assurance, verification, and foundation acceptance/certification. The presentation covers the common testing and evaluation methods for assessments of geotechnical load bearing capacity and structural integrity. It includes dynamic load testing, rapid load testing, bi-directional-static load testing, low-strain Integrity testing, cross-hole sonic logging, thermal integrity profiling, and other testing and inspection methods and tools. The basic principles, capabilities and limitations of each method are discussed and critically reviewed and illustrated with data from actual projects.