Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Abstract
Supports of road viaducts or bridges are founded predominantly on piles. This is determined by the subsoil structure and the location of the designed object. In certain cases the selection of the pile system is also influenced by the neighboring buildings and infrastructure. The design for bridge foundation in such cases needs to be based on high quality geotechnical documentation. Although this criterion is specified in Eurocode 7: PN-EN 1997 parts 1 and 2, binding throughout Europe, including Poland, frequently geotechnical documentations are not very precise and do not present an accurate subsoil structure, leading to building disasters. Such a case is discussed in this paper. Identification of the structure of subsoil, on which the designed bridge was to be founded, was limited to rotary drillings, while strength and deformation parameters were determined on the basis of indicator characteristics eg. liquidity index or relative density index. The assessment of the effect of geotechnical properties on pile construction did not take into consideration the complex subsoil structure or hydrogeological conditions. The occurring failure was caused by the unexpected translocation of concrete masses in the subsoil in the course of formation of large-diameter piles. Additionally, concrete filling of the pile grid was by approx. 2700 m3 greater in comparison to the designed level and the amount necessary for appropriate pile construction. The analysis of causes of the failure in the protection sheet pile wall, constructed in the vicinity of the piles, includes the effect of the perception factor, specific properties of subsoil soils as well as tensed groundwater levels, organic soils, lignite and expansive clays found in the subsoil.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Kumor, Maciej and Młynarek, Zbigniew, "The Effect of Quality of Subsoil Structure Identification on the Execution of Pile Structures for Bridge Supports" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 32.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session02/32
The Effect of Quality of Subsoil Structure Identification on the Execution of Pile Structures for Bridge Supports
Chicago, Illinois
Supports of road viaducts or bridges are founded predominantly on piles. This is determined by the subsoil structure and the location of the designed object. In certain cases the selection of the pile system is also influenced by the neighboring buildings and infrastructure. The design for bridge foundation in such cases needs to be based on high quality geotechnical documentation. Although this criterion is specified in Eurocode 7: PN-EN 1997 parts 1 and 2, binding throughout Europe, including Poland, frequently geotechnical documentations are not very precise and do not present an accurate subsoil structure, leading to building disasters. Such a case is discussed in this paper. Identification of the structure of subsoil, on which the designed bridge was to be founded, was limited to rotary drillings, while strength and deformation parameters were determined on the basis of indicator characteristics eg. liquidity index or relative density index. The assessment of the effect of geotechnical properties on pile construction did not take into consideration the complex subsoil structure or hydrogeological conditions. The occurring failure was caused by the unexpected translocation of concrete masses in the subsoil in the course of formation of large-diameter piles. Additionally, concrete filling of the pile grid was by approx. 2700 m3 greater in comparison to the designed level and the amount necessary for appropriate pile construction. The analysis of causes of the failure in the protection sheet pile wall, constructed in the vicinity of the piles, includes the effect of the perception factor, specific properties of subsoil soils as well as tensed groundwater levels, organic soils, lignite and expansive clays found in the subsoil.
