ABSTRACT

Drilled and grouted (D&G) piles are presently the preferred pile type to resist axial loads in the coastal limestones and calcareous soils present along the west coast of Western Australia. There is, however, a great shortage of reported field load tests on such piles and consequently a diverse range of design approaches are in current use. Motivated by the need for actual field data to test the validity of various approaches, Arup International, supported by Belpile Pty. Ltd., commissioned three static tension load tests (followed by cyclic testing) on instrumented D&G piles installed in a calcareous sandstone. This paper presents the results of these tests and compares the observed capacities with Class A predictions made by local practitioners.

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