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ASCE Geo-Institute Technical Presentation
Prediction and Verification of Axial Capacity of Driven
Open-Ended Large Diameter Steel Pipe Piles Design Methods, Testing, and Local Case Histories
Open-ended driven steel pipe piles are commonly used for support of heavy structures such as bridges, retaining walls, and offshore oil platforms. Diameters typically range from 16 inches to more than 10 feet. Predicting the load transfer between the open-ended steel pipe and earth materials is complicated due to the potential to form a soil plug inside the pile. In an unplugged state, the load transfer is through a combination of skin friction both inside and outside the pile, plus end bearing on the annular steel area. If a strong soil plug forms inside the pile, the load transfer is through a combination of skin friction on the outside of the pile and end bearing on the full area of the pile. Piles may or may not form a soil plug during continuous driving, with smaller diameter piles having a greater likelihood of plugging during driving. Even when piles drive in an unplugged condition, they may behave as plugged after long term set-up. During continuous driving, excess pore pressures develop both on the pile interior and exterior, and the nominal resistance is typically less than half of the capacity after long term set-up. Skin friction set-up due to pore pressure dissipation may take much longer within the interior of the pile than on the exterior of the pile, since only vertical drainage is possible on the pile interior. Caltrans commonly uses Cast-in-Steel-Shell (CISS) piles, which are large diameter driven steel pipe piles where a portion of the soil plug is drilled out after driving and a rebar cage and structural concrete are placed in the pile interior. A CISS pile is likely to behave as plugged, but capacity is generally verified by dynamic monitoring and load testing done prior to concrete placement, and the effect of filling with concrete is not normally considered.
Design methodologies for prediction of plugging and axial resistance of driven open-ended steel pipe piles will be presented, along with several case histories of large diameter (4 to 8 feet) pipe piles driven and tested in Southern California. The case histories include capacity prediction, dynamic monitoring with Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA), long term setup, and full-scale load testing.
Speaker Bio
Curt Scheyhing is a Principal Engineer at Group Delta Consultants, Inc. He is currently celebrating his 24-year work anniversary with the firm. He specializes in geotechnical engineering for highway and rail transportation infrastructure projects, including design, construction, and load testing of deep foundations for bridge structures. Deep foundation experience includes design and full-scale load testing of tip-grouted large diameter Cast-in-Drilled-Hole (CIDH) piles for the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project in Port of Long Beach, and CIDH piles and driven piles for numerous highway and rail bridges. Driven pile experience includes precast prestressed concrete, steel H-piles, and small to large diameter steel pipe piles and Cast-in-Steel-Shell piles. In addition to conventional delivery projects, Mr. Scheyhing has worked on more than 10 major design-build projects in California, both as an agency reviewer and a designer.
Mr. Scheyhing is a resident of San Diego County and earned his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering (1993) and master’s degree in Civil Engineering with Geotechnical emphasis (1995) from San Diego State University (SDSU). He worked as instructor and research assistant in the Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory at SDSU during graduate school. He is a California registered Civil and Geotechnical Engineer with more than 24 years of diverse geotechnical engineering experience, with a focus on transportation projects in southern California. He is the geotechnical group manager of Group Delta’s Irvine office. Notable recent projects include Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project, SR 91 Corridor Improvement Project Design-Build, and I-405 Orange County Design-Build. He enjoys the outdoors and spends much of his spare time on the trails of San Diego and Orange County on a mountain bike or hiking with his yellow Labrador.