Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

© 2005–2006 Millpress Science Publishers/IOS Press.

Published with Open Access under the Creative Commons BY-NC Licence by IOS Press.
doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-656-9-1975

Estimating geotechnical capacity of bored cast-in-situ piles from penetration

resistance
Estimation de la capacité géotechnique des pieux de fondation calibrés et moulés sur place à partir
de la résistance à la pénétration

V.T. Ganpule
M/s. V.T. Ganpule & Associates
C-4, Indrayani Complex, J. K. Sawant Marg,
Dadar ( West ), Mumbai, Maharashtra – 400 028, India
e-mail : [email protected]

ABSTRACT
The termination depth of bored cast in situ piles poses serious problem to the field engineers particularly on weak weathered rock,
stiff clays and dense sands. Some sort of decision making tool is available for driven piles in the form of driving formulae. But for the
termination of bored cast in situ piles no such guide is available for field engineers. The paper deals with a simple method based on
penetration resistance to the advancement of bore and its relation with end bearing and frictional resistance offered by formation. The
method shall serve a very useful purpose for estimation of time frame of piling jobs from the investigation data and serve as a good
quality control tool for termination of piles in field.
RÉSUMÉ
L’interruption de la profondeur des pieux de fondation calibrés et moulés sur place présente un problème pour les ingénieurs de
terrain surtout pour les rochers exposés aux intempéries, aux argiles raides et aux sables denses. Il existe un outil pour déterminer les
formules de battage de pieux, mais pour déterminer l’interruption des pieux de fondation calibrés et moulés sur place, il n’existe
aucun outil pour les ingénieurs de terrain. Cet article présente une méthode facile qui est basée sur la résistance à la pénétration dans
l’avancement des forages par rapport au palier d’extrémité et la résistance de friction de la formation. Cette méthode sera très utile
dans l’estimation du temps pour les travaux de pieux à partir des données de la recherche et servira comme un outil de contrôle de
qualité pour l’interruption des pieux de fondation dans le terrain.

1 INTRODUCTION ( TM/m2/cm )

Piles are designed using shear parameters of rock and soil Weight of boring tool in tonnes x Fall in mtr. x No. of blows
samples recovered during the investigation on testing in the ------------------------------------------------------------------------
laboratory. In spite of a very elaborate soil investigation scheme Area in m2 x Penetration in cms. (1)
that too carried out by very reliable agency under vigilant
supervision the variation in formation characteristics both depth Normally in ½ hour of chiseling 250 to 300 blows are counted.
and strength wise during the execution is possible. In such
circumstances the field engineers find it very difficult to take a Similarly for the auger piling where the auger is rotated by
rational decision while terminating the piles on a strata the engine mounted at the top of rig having certain HP. The
contemplated by the designers. torque is generated and auger blades cut the formation while
The paper presents a semi-rational method of evaluation of rotating. The engine is running at constant speed and produces a
end bearing resistance and socket friction from the penetration torque. When the strata is difficult to penetrate the torque
energy required for developing the bore. The method is based increases and the rpm reduces. The horse power of an engine is
on equivalence of energy principle. Use of Mayerhoff’s analysis related to torque and revolution per minute by following
relating SPT to load carrying capacity of piles is extended to get relation.
the correlation between penetration resistance ratio and load
carrying capacity of bored cast-in-situ piles. The procedure shall 2 � NT
help in estimating required socket length from energy principle HP of the engine = -------------- (2)
and shall help in easing out the burning issue. 4.5

Where HP is horsepower
2 ESTIMATION OF PENETRATION RESISTANCE
N = Revaluation per minute T = Torque in TM
Pile bores are developed with the help of chisel / bailer in the The cutting action of formation takes place under the torque
conventional tripod type of piling rig. The penetration energy energy imparted per minute enabling the bore of certain area
required to advance the bore is given by the product of weight ( m2 ) advancing by certain distance ( in cm ) in a minute ) The
of chisel/ bailer ( in MT ), drop of tool ( in Mtr. ) and no. of PRR therefore for auger pile can be given by following equation
blows applied. Under the influence of the impact energy the pile Penetration Resistance 2 � NT(M.T). x Time in minutes
of given cross section area in m2 is advanced by certain distance Ratio ( PRR ) = ---------------------------------------------
( measured in cms for convenience ). The ratio of energy ( for Auger piling) Area in (m�)x Penetration (cm) (3 )
required to that of work done or volume bored called hereafter
as PRR therefore represents energy required to advance a pile of
1 m2 ara by one cm in that strata. Thus for both the type of pile boring methods the PRR can be
worked out at any depth while developing the bore.
Penetration Resistance Ratio ( PRR ) =

1975
3 COMPARISON WITH DYNAMIC FORMULAE method the blow is right at the top of strata hence the energy
imparted during pile boring is superior to that of SPT. This is
All the pile driving formulae in reality represent the ratio of also true for auger piles.
energy applied and work done. The other important aspect is the fact the during SPT the soil
These formulae are based on laws governing dynamic impact is offering resistance from inside of the sampler as well as from
of elastic bodies. They equate the energy of hammer blow to the the outside of the sampler. In case of pile developed in either
work done in overcoming the resistance of the ground to the way the resistance is offered at outer face.
penetration of pile. Allowance is made for losses of energy due From the above discussion it can be said that piling energy is
to elastic contraction of pile caps and subsoil as well as the superior to that of SPT and to treat them as equivalent is quite
losses caused by inertia of the pile. The modified Hilly’s safe while extending SPT analysis to bored cast in situ piles.
formulae is popularly used for inferring a allowable load on a Now the relation can be used on modification to workout
concrete piles. The Indian Standard Code I. S. 2911 ( part 1 / safe load on bored cast-in-situ piles. A modification is necessary
Section 1 ) recommend the use of modified Hilly’s formation due to difference in methodology of boring of driven piles and
for driven piles. It is in this background the method is outlined bored piles. The soil strata around the driven pile shaft gets
below. densitified while in case of bored cast-in-situ piles it is not so..
The amount of densification is nearly 40 % and as such the SPT
values have to be modified. Similarly Prof. Mayeroff has
4 COMPARISON WITH SPT allowed a settlement of 20 mm while the I. S. Code permits 12
mm settlement for 1.5 times the allowable load. These two
The Standard Penetration Test measures number of blows for 30 parameters can be accounted by assuming higher value of factor
cm penetration under the application of standard energy per of safety than assumed by Prof. Mayeroff namely F. S. = 4. By
blow. It is felt that the concept of Standard Penetration Test has increasing value of factor of safety to 6 the effect of
its origin in pile driving formulae. As a matter of fact the densfication can be accounted and improving it further to 10 the
calculations of the load carrying capacity of the SPT shoe variation between limits of permissible settlement could be
treating as a small size pile and substituting the relevant tackled. Thus the pile capacity for bored cast-in-situ piles works
parameters in Hilley’s modified formulae and then on correcting out to be tackled. The relation therefore for bored piles as under
for the zone of influence for various footings widths and the
small dia pile in the form of SPT shoe to account for settlement N x As
match closely to that of Tarzagi’s curve relating SPT and SBC Pile capacity = 4 N x AP + --------- (In Tonnes) (7)
for shallow foundation. 30
In view of these observations the analysis was extended
using Prof. Mayeroff’s method for design of pile based on SPT i.e. safe end bearing resistance = 4 N - t/m2
values ( A.S.C.E. 1956 )
It is well known that SPT N = 50 is deemed as hard strata The safe end bearing resistance on knowing PRR is given by
implying thereby the strata is approaching stage of a weathered relation ( 8 )
formation. The PRR ratio for N = 50 is calculated below in the
units of tm/m2/cm. Safe end bearing resistance in t/m2 = 5 x P.P.R (8)

PPR Wt of monkey x fall x no. of blows 50 no. of blows The socket friction in rocks can be taken as 5 to 10 % of safe
( N= 50) = ------------------------------ x ----------------- end bearing resistance.
Area of split spoon 30 cm. The relation can be used in working out the pile capacities
Sampler for bored cast-in-situ piles executed either by conventional
method or by auguring. The relation is found to be reliable for
= 36tm/m2/cm ~ 40 tm/m�/cm. (4) weathered rocks and requires modification for clays and sand.

By rule of three from the ‘PRR’ observed and the relation 5 THE ESTIMATION OF PILING EFFORTS OF
(4 ) the corresponding SPT value ( projected ) can be calculated. INVESTIGATION ( WEATHERED ROCK )

N The borelogs generally give the details of recovery, RQD and

P.R.R. = ------ (5) U.C.S. etc. pertaining to the rock cores depth wise. The
1.25 unconfined compressive strength reported in the borelogs on a
core pieces which are 10 cm and about in length. Naturally
Prof. Mayeroff has suggested a following relations therefore it does not reflect the average characteristics of the
rock mass. Author uses following relations to get characteristics
N strength from the using recovery and RQD data.
Qult = 40 N Ap + ------ AS – (In Tonnes) (6)
5 R.Q.D.+ Recovery
(%) (%)
AP = Base area in m� N = ‘SPT’ at base Characteristics U.C.S. = U.C.S. x ---------------------- ( 9)
(observed ) 2
N = Average ‘N’ on shaft portion offering frictional
resistance. It is well known that SBC of shallow foundation is 90% of
As = Surface area of shaft in m� U.C.S. On obtaining the characteristics U.C.S. from bore data as
per equation (8 ) it can be concluded that safe end bearing
It is very essential to know the difference between the energy resistance is equal to characteristics U.C.S. Dr. W. Flaming has
application during pile boring and SPT. In SPT the blows are suggested that U.C.S. is equal to Safe end bearing for piles.
given at the top while in piling executed by the conventional Thus on knowing the safe end bearing resistance the PRR can

1976
be worked out. Once the PRR is known the time and effort quality control tool and the actual termination can be done on
required for advancing the bore through the variation can be inspecting the samples of the chisel pieces for weathered rock as
worked out. The method is very useful for estimating boring well as comparing with bore data from the investigation for all
time for weathered rock for contracting agencies and a good types of foundation. The bailed samples of sand and clay should
guide. also be compared with bore loggs before deciding the
The table below gives suitable relations for weak sand termination of piles.
stones, cemented sands shale, tuff breccia and weatjered basalt
and weathered rock in tabular form.
8 VALIDITY OF THE ANALYSIS

Weak Weathered Rocks The author has been using method with caution for last 15
Chiselling Safe End Bearing Socket Characteristics years. However the validity of same in terms of load tests could
Energy or Resistance friction U. C. S.
Auguring ( S. B. C. ) of Rock
only be established recently. Recently the dynamic piling testing
Energy method using Hilley’s formulae was conceived by the author.
Tm /m2 /cm T/m2 T/m3 In this method the bored cast in situ piles is treated as driven
preast pile while subjected to hammer blows during testing and
15 T/m2 to 20
deformation the pile undergoes is measured with help
60 Tm /m2 /cm 300 T / m2 T/m2 30 kg/ cm2 ‘NOPTEL’ equipment which makes use of inferred ray
technology. The settlement record is substituted in Modified
20 T/m2 to 25 Hilley’s formulae and ultimate load is worked out Adopting
75 Tm /m2 /cm 375 T / m2 T/m2 37.5 kg/ cm2
F.S. = 2.5 as per IS 2911 the safe load can be availed.
25 T/m2 to 35 The data of above tests at the different sites in weathered
100 Tm /m2 /cm 500 T/ m2 T/m2 50 kg / cm2 rock is compared with safe pile load arrived by P.R.R. method.
A glance at the safe load values obtained from dynamic testing
using Hilley’s formulae and the pile capacity worked out from
6 RELATION FOR SAND record of penetration resistance kept at site show a good
agreement with each other. The method was applied with
The design of piles in sand is often done with SPT data. During success to the piles in sand and clays also on a limited sites. The
the actual execution of pile bore what comes up is only sandy data is not very large. ( Refer Table 1 & 2 and figure 1 & 2 )
particles and the inferences regarding the strength
characteristics of the formation can only be obtained form the
resistance offered to the penetration. The relation given earlier 9 CONCLUSION
by (5 ) is quite satisfactory for weathered rock but requires
modification for sands and clays. It is so because if the sand From the comparison of pile dynamic data based on ( modified
does not have cementation the boring rate will be faster Hilley’s formulae ) and penetration resistance worked out it can
requiring less energy as compared to weathered rock. It is be seen that the method is fairly reliable for piles in weathered
observed that the PRR for sands related the SPT by following rock.
relation The author has been using method for working out time
period for advancing the bore with the help of bore data for last
N decade with fair amount of success. The actual results match
P.R.R. = -------------- ( 10 ) with predicted time fairly well. It can be very useful piling
2 to 2.5 contractors and designers the estimation time frame particularly
in weathered rock.
Thus with relation above the field engineer can determine the As regards sands and clays more data is required and then
N value of the strata ( i.e. ‘SPT” potential ) is likely to possess method can be perfected. However the applying the method for
and also the time required for advancing the bore can be few cases in sand in clay a good agreement with dynamic test
estimated. On comparing with bore loggs of soil investigation results is noted.
suitable decision can be taken.

DYNAMIC PILE LOAD TEST

7 RELATION FOR CLAYS
1.8

Advancing bore in the clay necessitate extra energy to over 1.6

come the stickyness of the clays. The bore can be quickly 1.4

advanced but the withdrawal of the tool requires an extra energy 1.2
Capacity Ratio

1
because of stickiness of the clay. The cohesion values of the
0.8
clay could be obtained by the relation given for weathered rock
0.6
with some modification. The S.B.C. can be obtained and hence 0.4
idea about cohesion can be obtained by following relations. 0.2
a) Soft clay. – very weak soils 0
b) Stiff clay ( moist saturated ) = P.R.R. = 0.6 N T/m2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
c) Very stiff clay not moist P.R.R. = N T/m2 (11) SR. NO.

Figure 1. Ratio of safe test capacity & safe capacity from penetration
Using these relations of clay the cohesion of the formation resistance.
can be obtained. The time required for advancing the bore can
be estimated. It is in this light the PRR method shall serve a
useful guiding tool for the field engineers. It shall be treated as a

1977
 Dynamic Test v/s PRR results (Piles Founded On Tufficious Breccia) 22 289.15 221
Sr. No. Safe Load Dynamic Safe Load from Penetration 23 203.87 204
Test in Tonnes Resistance in Tonnes
1 63.36 *N. A. 24 226.96 229.17
2 256 270 25 133.19 111.3
3 76.8 *N. A. 26 108.94 148.4
4 14.7 *N. A. 27 191.12 178
5 48.2 *N. A. 28 184.74 172.44
6 46 45 29 167.47 169.1
7 262 242 30 200.5 169.1
8 329 223 31 284.42 158.86
9 193 145 32 144.49 101.36
10 208 252

11 454 440 Dynamic Load test

2.5
12 276.81 180
2
13 283.85 225.36
CapacityRatio 1.5
14 498.92 894.4
1
15 322.01 637.33
0.5

*N. A. = Not Available

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Dynamic test/ PRR results SR. NO

Piles Founded On Weathered Basalt

Sr. No. Safe Load Dynamic Safe Load from Penetration Figure 2. Ratio of safe test capacity & safe capacity from
Test in Tonnes Resistance in Tonnes. penetration resistance.

1 176 155
REFERENCES :
2 220 -

3 163 150 Fleming WGK, Weltman AJ, Randolph MF and Elson WK (1985)
Piling Engineering Surrey University Press
4 178 167 Indian Standard Code of Practice for Design & Construction of Pile
Foundation IS 2911 (Part I /Section) (1991) Dynamic Pile
5 145 140 Formulae Appendix B
Mayerhoff G.G. (1956) “Penetration Test and Bearing Capacity of
6 94 90 Cohensionless Soil”, A.S.C.E. Proceeding Paper No. 866.
7 145 155

8 78.42 104.76

9 151.94 67.79

10 76.84 55.09

11 217.78 129.2

12 100.78 98.8

13 74.34 83.6

14 159.78 103.11

15 79.24 178.79

16 236.21 132

17 106.01 88

18 115.25 160

19 133.75 116

20 258.34 231

21 351.91 448.8

1978