H-pile driving induced vibrations: reduced-scale laboratory testing and numerical analysis

Grizi, Athina; Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, Adda; Woods, Richard D.

Abstract

Ground vibrations due to impact pile driving operations can become a major concern when affecting nearby structures and underground utilities. In an effort to better understand the transmission and dissipation of energy into the ground during impact pile installation, reduced-scale pile driving tests were conducted in an indoor cylindrical (6.5 m diameter and 1.8 m deep) sand pit at the University of Michigan. Sensors were placed at various depths from the ground surface and distances from the driven pile to record ground motions. In addition, the model pile was equipped with the pile driving analyzer (PDA) system to accurately assess the energy transfer from hammer to pile. The pile installation process was then simulated using 3D finite element (FE) dynamic analyses. The combination of ground vibration monitoring data and records of the impact force from the PDA testing collected from the small-scale pile driving tests in a controlled laboratory environment, offer a great opportunity to validate the numerical code. The recorded ground motion measurements from the impact driving of the model pile are compared with the calculated velocity-time histories from the FE numerical simulation of the pile driving test. Both measured and calculated ground motions verify the hypothesis of the wave propagation field generated by impact driven piles, as presented by Woods (1997).

Citation

Grizi, A., Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, A., & Woods, R. D. (2018). H-pile driving induced vibrations: reduced-scale laboratory testing and numerical analysis. Geotechnical Special Publications, 165-175. doi:10.1061/9780784481585.017

• Journal Article Type: Conference Paper
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jun 6, 2018
• Publication Date: Jun 6, 2018
• Deposit Date: Dec 3, 2018
• Print ISSN: 0895-0563
• Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 165-175
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784481585.017
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1222521
• Publisher URL: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/9780784481585.017
• Additional Information: Presented at the IFCEE 2018 Conference, March 5–10, 2018, Orlando, Florida