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Micropiles
Micropiles
Micropiles
Resumen
Cuatro sensores de deformacin unitaria fueron instalados a lo largo de un micropilote empotrado en roca. El
micropilote fue sometido a incrementos de carga cclicos y a repeticiones de carga. Los resultados de la prueba y
de los anlisis realizados proveen una visin nica del mecanismo de transferencia de carga del micropilote a la
roca. La adherenciaa lo largo del pilote fu calculada en base a los resultados de la prueba. A pesar de que se
moviliz la resistencia pico del contacto entre el micropilote y la roca, no se observ una prdida significativa de
su resistencia. Los resultados obtenidos ilustran asimismo el efecto de las cargas repetidas sobre el
comportamiento de micropilotes en roca y resaltan las limitaciones existentes en la interpretacin de la longitud
elstica de micropilotes de prueba no instrumentados.
1 INTRODUCTION
The basic understanding of the performance of
micropiles has evolved rapidly over the past 20
years. A large portion of our present knowledge
has been obtained from traditional friction piles
and caissons, as well as ground anchors. This is
particularly true in the cases of micropiles
socketed into (i.e. founded in) hard rock.
Littlejohn and Bruce (1977) presented a
compilation of data on rock anchors that forms the
basis of much of this understanding. Bruce et al.
(1993) developed the idea of the elastic ratio, and
showed that cyclic loading of a micropile and the
measurement of the ensuing elastic deflections can
be used to gain an understanding of the length of
the pile that is being stressed, and the magnitude
and distribution of the load transferred to the
ground. Cavey et al. (2000) presented the results
0.0
- 9.9 ft
7-inch OD casing
0.5 inch wall
Fy=80 ksi
Grout
Fc= 4 ksi
Residual soil
Diabase rock
- 12.9 ft
- 15.9 ft
- 22.4 ft
Strain gauge
- 23.4 ft
Not to scale
4 LOAD TESTING
Settlement (in)
200
400
0.10
600
800
Segment 3 Segment 2 Segment 1
0
5
10
15
20
0.00
Movement (in)
Depth (ft)
25
0.20
100 kip
320 kip
560 kip
0.30
0.40
160 kip
400 kip
640 kip
240 kip
480 kip
0.50
0
Le =
Segment 1
Segment 2
Segment 3
25
20
15
10
5
0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
e EA
P
(1)
0.5
Displacement (in)
Figure 4. Mobilized bond stresses along micropile
In Segment 2, the peak bond strength was
approximately 15 ksf (0.07 Kg/mm2), and
decreased to 10 ksf (0.05 Kg/mm2). During the
second stage of the test, bond strength values
decreased below 10 ksf along this segment. In
Segment 3, the mobilized bond stresses reached
values of 20 ksf (0.1 Kg/mm2). It does not appear
that the ultimate bond strength was mobilized
along this segment.
The post-peak reduction of mobilized bond
stress, or post-peak softening, has been reported
for interfaces between soil or rock and structural
materials (Gmez et al. 2000; Kulhawy and
Peterson 1979).
7 DEBONDING OF MICROPILE
Commonly, the term debonding refers to a
condition where, once tensile or shear stresses at
an interface exceed certain limiting value, the
interface fails and its tensile or shear strength
become insignificant. Debonding as such was not
observed during this test. Although post-peak
softening took place along Segments 1 and 2, the
grout-ground interface retained significant shear
strength, which contributed to the overall pile
capacity.
8 DEBONDING AND THE ELASTIC RATIO
Two parameters are frequently used for
evaluation of the performance of test micropiles.
12
0.2
B
6
3
0
200
400 600
Load (kip)
800
24
20
0.5
16
0.4
12
0.3
0.2
0.1
Elastic ratio
0.4
15
Elastic ratio
ratio
Elastic
Elastic
Elasticlength
length(ft)
(ft
18
Elastic
Elastic length
length (ft)
(ft
0.0
0
0
Elasticcompression
compression(in)
(in
Elastic
ground interface did not occur. However, postpeak reduction of bond strength was observed,
which induced a progressive increase in the elastic
length, and elastic ratio, of the micropile under
increasing loads.
Determination of the elastic length of the
micropile is useful for assessing micropile
response. However, it may be subject to
limitations in cases where significant residual
elastic compression exists upon unloading due to
locked-in bond stresses along the micropile, and
may provide unconservative estimates of bond
strength.
The test also highlighted the importance of
instrumentation in test piles, as it may provide
useful information for design and future research.
13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
0.08
0.06
0.04
14 REFERENCES
0.02
0
0
0.05
0.1
0.15