Pile Design and Construction Practice Fifth edition

Abstract

Piling rigs are a commonplace feature on building sites in cities and towns today. The continuing introduction of new, more powerful, and self-erecting machines for installing piled foundations has transformed the economics of this form of construction in ground conditions where, in the past, first consideration would have been given to conventional spread or raft foundations, with piling being adopted only as a last resort in difficult ground. The increased adoption of piling is not only due to the availability of more efficient mechanical equipment. Developments in analytical methods of calculating bearing capacity and dynamic methods for load and integrity testing have resulted in greater assurance of sound long-term performance. Further economies in foundation and superstructure design are now possible because of the increased ability to predict movements of piles under load, thus allowing engineers to adopt with confidence the concept of redistribution of load between piles with consequent savings in overall pile lengths and cross-sectional dimensions, as described in this new edition. Since the publication of the fourth edition of this book, Eurocode 7, Geotechnical Design, has been issued. As the name implies this code does not deal with all aspects of foundation design; there are extensive cross-references to other Eurocodes dealing with such matters as the general basis of design and the properties of constructional materials. The Code does not cover foundation design and particularly construction as comprehensively as the present British Standard 8004 Foundations, and the British National Annex to Eurocode 7 is yet to be published. The authors have endeavoured to co-ordinate the principles of both codes in this new book. The authors are grateful to Professor Richard Jardine and his colleagues at Imperial College and Thomas Telford Limited for permission to quote from their book on the ICP method of designing piles driven into clays and sands based on extensive laboratory research and practical field testing of instrumented piles. Their work represents a considerable advance on previous design methods. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the help of Mr Ian Higginbottom in checking the proofs and Mr Tony Bracegirdle of the Geotechnical Consulting Group for his helpful comments on the application of Eurocode 7 to the design of piles and pile groups.