ABSTRACT
Belgian geology and geotechnical soil conditions as well as rather limited country’s dimensions have strongly influenced the Belgian pile market. During a long period, driven cast in situ piles, well fitted to the highly variable soil conditions, had a more predominant place in the market than in the rest of Europe. Significant technological changes occurred in the 60’s with the development of new screw piling technologies. During the last 20 years, much scientific research work established the quality of such piles and confirmed their good ability to be adapted to the foundation market, in Belgium or in other countries with similar geotechnical conditions. The forthcoming publication of the Eurocode 7 and the related Belgian National Application Document urges to have a general agreement on the design process of such piles, agreement who can only be achieved by full scale experimental site where major pile installations are scientifically tested in the same conditions.
