Pile Driving Monitoring

Pile Driving Monitoring (PDM) assesses and manages the risk of pile tip buckling and confirms pile design assumptions. PDM allows development of pile driving prediction numerical models, evaluates pile fatigue resulting from driving process and permits the development of a model to facilitate back analysis of non-instrumented piles.

What Does Pile Driving Monitoring Entail?

Attaching strain gauges and accelerometers to the top of the pile. The striking of the pile with the hammer imparts stress and velocity waves (and their reflection from the pile:soil interface) which are recorded and analysed to determine:

  • Actual hammer energy that is transferred to the pile and the pile’s ultimate bearing capacity
  • The static soils resistance to driving (SRD).

Benefits of Pile Driving Monitoring

Real time Quality Control for Installation Operations

Pile driving monitoring is the only way to evaluate the stresses induced anywhere in the pile.

Design Verification

Results can be used to confirm axial pile capacity – especially important where there is a risk of premature driving refusal or of encountering challenging geological conditions.

Design and Installation Cost Optimisation

Results can be used to validate the assumptions made during the pile design and installation assessment. In recent projects, this has resulted in significant cost savings in terms of pile dimensions and associated installation timescales.

Services We Offer

Advanced Interpretation and Analysis

We can provide advanced interpretation of the pile driving monitoring data. Utilising years of experience, we are able to provide the following services:

  • Signal matching analysis utilising CAPWAP – a software program that calculates total bearing capacity of a pile as well as resistance distribution along the shaft and at the toe.
  • Assessment of in-situ pile capacity in case of premature pile refusal
  • Pile fatigue assessment
  • Calibration of the hammer/pile/soil numerical model for site specific driving predictions
  • Construction of a numerical based soil model calibrated through analysis of instrumented pile tests which permits the calculation of pile capacity for none instrumented piles. (A method approved by Eurocode 7)
  • Definition of pile driving criteria for pile tip integrity while driving, in soft rock for instrumented piles and non-instrumented piles.

Our Services Philosophy

Originally from the offshore Oil & Gas Industry, we believe that the value of our offshore construction services is a result of:

  • Reliability of the service
  • Quality of the collected data, for an appropriate analysis
  • The sound understanding of theoretical phenomenon involved, together with G-Octopus’ vast experience in foundation design and installation, and pile acceptance.
  • A focus on zero barge time loss during work preparation as well as and execution phases.
  • The recognition of G-Octopus as a market leader for the reliability of its service, the accuracy of its analysis and the quality of the data, can be attributed to our key values:
  • Personnel are thoroughly selected based on technical skills and personality and provided with training on theoretical and practical issues related to Pile Driving Monitoring. Key project personnel are certified PDA signatories at an advanced level.
  • Only the latest versions of the software are proposed (older versions as back-up), from the world leading Pile Driving Monitoring equipment manufacturer Pile Dynamics, Inc. (PDI).

Our Approach

Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) System

Equipment we use

We operate the Pile Driving Analyser PDA8G acquisition units manufactured by PDI, which are widely regarded as the most reliable systems on the market.

The PDA acquisition units are deployed in conjunction with PDI manufactured strain gauges and accelerometers, and the data captured is analysed using the latest versions of GRL WEAP, PDA-S and CAPWAP.

Our equipment capabilities include both above-water and under-water pile driving, all of which can be deployed at short notice.

 

Offshore pile driving monitoring

How we Operate

We can provide fast assistance to the Contractor on all piling issues, and the on-site analysis of data enables a preliminary assessment of the hammer/pile/soil system to be given virtually in real time.

Our engineers are familiar with the offshore environment and trained to liaise with barge masters and deck foreman to minimise interference with the installation schedule.

Our equipment is thoroughly checked before the operations, and mobilised with 100% redundancy. Pile Driving Monitoring generally results in zero barge time loss.

Get in Touch with the team to find out more