ABSTRACT
S. Efthymiou National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
J.R. Standing Imperial College London, London, UK
M. Kavvadas National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
ABSTRACT: The paper compares conventional pile design methods with the ScrewFast methodology for estimating the capacity of screw piles. The ScrewFast method is based on the conventional design method, but uses several pile-specific assumptions which improve its accuracy and reliability. The predictions of the conventional and the ScrewFast methodology were correlated with actual torque measurements during pile installation and with several pile load tests on 16 screw piles (13 tests in compression and 3 tests in tension) in both cohesive and granular soils. As only two of the pile load tests reached failure, Chin’s extrapolation method was applied in the other tests for the estimation of the failure load. The analysis showed that pile designs based on the empirical torque-to-load relationship (where torque is the minimum installation torque) can provide the capacity of screw piles, at least for the range of soil types examined.
