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Identifying Small Defects in Cast-in-Place Piles Using Low Strain Integrity Testing

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Abstract

The high requirements for the reliability of pile foundations define the need for robust non-destructive quality control procedures. The low strain test is a widespread, quick, and relatively inexpensive method for pile integrity testing. The method is based on the analysis of elastic waves which are induced and registered on the pile head surface. To study the resolution of the test method, an experimental site of 10 cast-in-place piles with pre-fabricated defects was initiated. The field testing with a low-frequency input force pulse did not permit the identification of the flaws. To explore further, the numerical simulations using the finite element method were performed. Numerical simulation results show that the resolution of the test method increases for shorter input pulses which can be generated by light hammers with a hard head material. However, the input pulses with remarkably high-frequency content can be the reason for the signal anomalies, unrelated to pile integrity. The simulations show that the defect detectability depends on its location. The flaws near the pile top can go undetected or result in unexpected anomalies of low strain test data. To ensure the proper data collection and analysis, a set of few hammers of different weights and head materials should be used during the field testing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would first and foremost like to thank LLC Geosfera and LLC SuperDrill Technology for their technical support. We would like to acknowledge chief engineer of LLC SuperDrill Technology Mironov Daniil for organization of field works and the head of LLC Geosfera Osokin Anatoliy for funding our study. The authors are also grateful to Alexei Churkin (NIIOSP) for his constructive suggestions and comments.

Funding

The research leading to these results received funding from State Tasks for the Geoelectromagnetic Research Center and the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The field experiments were funded by LLC Geosfera and LLC SuperDrill Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Petersburg Mining University, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

    Elizaveta Loseva

  2. Geoelectromagnetic Research Center, Branch of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GEMRC IPE RAS), Troitsk, Moscow, Russian Federation

    Ilya Lozovsky

  3. Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

    Ruslan Zhostkov

Authors
  1. Elizaveta Loseva
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  2. Ilya Lozovsky
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  3. Ruslan Zhostkov
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Correspondence to Ilya Lozovsky.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Loseva, E., Lozovsky, I. & Zhostkov, R. Identifying Small Defects in Cast-in-Place Piles Using Low Strain Integrity Testing. Indian Geotech J 52, 270–279 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-021-00583-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-021-00583-y

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