ABSTRACT
The paper presents the results of static tension load tests performed on four closed-ended and one open-ended pile installed at a soft Clay test bed site. The piles sizes ranged from 4 m long, 73 mm circular steel piles, to 6 m long, 250 mm square concrete piles. The paper compares the average shaft resistance measured after full and partial equalisation of excess pore pressures set-up during installation, and considers the effect of installation mode, pile type and pile end condition (open or closed ended) on the piles shaft resistance. A number of design approaches from the literature were used to estimate the capacity of the piles at the site. The performance of these is briefly discussed.
