Bi-directional static load tests of pile models

Abstract

This work examined a new method of bi-directional static load testing for piles, referencing the Osterberg test. Measurements were taken, on a laboratory scale, using six models of piles driven into a box filled with sand. This method allowed for separate measurements of pile base and pile shaft bearing capacities. Based on the results, the total pile bearing capacity and equivalent Q-s diagrams were estimated. The results obtained show that the structure of the equivalent curve according to Osterberg is a good approximation of the standard Q-s curve obtained from load tests, except for loads close to the limit of bearing capacity (those estimates are also complicated by the inapplicability and ambiguity of a definition of the notion of limit bearing capacity); the equivalent pile capacity in the Osterberg method represents, on average, about 80% of the capacity from standard tests.