OasisLMS

ABSTRACT

In coastal or marine areas, deep pile foundations are facing a common issue of encountering decayed wood layers at greater depths. In many cases, the depth of piles are prefixed and piles are likely to be terminated at this decayed wood layer. The decayed wood layer is highly compressible and have very low shear strength. This leads to reduced load carrying capacity which affects the stability of foundation. Hence suitable care has to be taken in choosing the geotechnical design parameters for this type of ground condition. Based on the data from a major project site, this paper is an attempt to highlight the uncertainties in the estimation of pile capacities due to the variations in the thickness of the decayed wood layers in the vicinity of a particular bore hole. Attempt was also made to predict the capacity and settlement of pile groups, if terminated in these decayed wood layers.

Keywords: Pile capacity, Decayed wood layers, Pile group settlement

Dileep Kumar K.K; Benny Mathews Abraham; Annie Joy

International Conference Proceedings