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Effects of installation advancement rate on helical pile helix behavior in very dense sand

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Abstract

During installation, the helical pile should penetrate into the ground at a rate equal to one helix pitch per rotation to prevent additional soil disturbance, as usually recommended in installation guides; however, in the field this is frequently difficult to achieve. To have a better understanding of the effects of the advancement rate (AR) on the installation torque and helix bearing capacity, six calibration chamber tests were performed on an instrumented single-helix pile installed in very dense sand using three different AR values (0.8, 1 and 1.2). For the range tested, the results indicated that AR affects the uplift and compressive capacity of the pile helix. A reduction in compressive capacity of 24% on average was observed for AR of 0.8, compared to the recommended pitch matched installation (AR = 1), while for AR of 1.2, the compressive capacity increased 12% on average. In uplift, the capacity variation was about − 26% and + 6%, respectively, for AR of 0.8 and 1.2 compared to the pitch matched installation case. The effect of AR was also observed for the capacity-to-torque factor related to the helix portion of a deep helical pile and suggests the necessity for monitoring AR to ensure the applicability of the torque factor for pile capacity control.

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Availability of data and material

Data will be available on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

d :

Pile shaft diameter

q h :

Helix bearing pressure

q h-C :

Helix bearing pressure in compression

q h-T :

Helix bearing pressure in uplift

AR:

Installation advancement rate

C u :

Coefficient of uniformity of the sand

D :

Helical plate diameter

D/d :

Helix-to-shaft diameter ratio

D r :

Relative density of sand

F h-inst(max) :

Maximum installation crowd force at the instrumented section

G s :

Specific gravity of the sand particles

K C :

Compressive total torque factor

K C-helix :

Compressive torque factor related to the helix and tip portion

K T :

Tensile total torque factor

K T-helix :

Tensile torque factor related to the helix portion

Q h-C :

Compressive helix bearing capacity

Q h-T :

Tensile helix bearing capacity

T h :

Installation torque related to the helix portion

U :

Pile head axial displacement

ϕ cv :

Angle of shearing resistance at constant volume

ϕ peak :

Angle of shearing resistance at peak

γ d :

Soil dry unit weight

γ d(max) :

Soil maximum dry unit weight

γ d(min) :

Soil minimum dry unit weight

σ r :

Radial stress

σ ri :

Initial radial stress

σ v :

Vertical stress

σ v0 :

Vertical surcharge

σ vi :

Initial vertical stress

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Acknowledgements

The authors thanks to Dr. Diego Moreira da Silva for his support during the experimental program and for the photographs provided, and acknowledge the financial support given by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development-CNPQ for the financial support to this work (Process 425770/2016-8 and 310881/2018-8), and for granting the Master’s scholarship of the first author.

Funding

Partial financial support was received from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development-CNPq-under Grants numbers 425770/2016-8 and 310881/2018-8, and postgraduate scholarship granted to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Engineer, Brazilian Navy, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Matheus Morato Annicchini

  2. Civil Engineering Division, Aeronautics Institute of Technology, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

    José Antonio Schiavon

  3. Department of Geotechnical Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

    Cristina de Hollanda Cavalcanti Tsuha

Authors
  1. Matheus Morato Annicchini
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  2. José Antonio Schiavon
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  3. Cristina de Hollanda Cavalcanti Tsuha
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Correspondence to José Antonio Schiavon.

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Annicchini, M.M., Schiavon, J.A. & Tsuha, C. Effects of installation advancement rate on helical pile helix behavior in very dense sand. Acta Geotech. 18, 2795–2811 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01713-3

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