CEN-306: Foundation Engg

Lecture-19; Pile Load Tests

Mahendra Singh
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Roorkee, Roorkee- 247667, India
mahendra.singh@ce.iitr.ac.in; msingh.civil@gmail.com

3/26/2024 Mahendra Singh, IIT Roorkee 1

Load Tests on Pile Load
Load test in field- 2nd approach to
get Qu
• Most reliable method to find load carrying
capacity
• Design is generally done based on earlier
method,
• Tests are conducted in field to ensure the
validity of design.
Tests
In-situ test: Very useful for GRANULAR soil,
For cohesive soil  pore pressure development
during pile driving
Types of Tests-A
• Vertical load tests (compression)
• Lateral Load test
• Pull out test

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Types of Tests -B Routine test:
Initial test: done on test pile, minimum 2 for Working pile; ½ % of total number of piles is
tested.
200 piles
• Test pile is not used to support the Test load = Whichever is earlier:
structure 1.5 Qsafe
• Minimum load = twice the safe load or the Or 12 mm settlement (Single pile)
load for which settlement is Or 40 mm settlement (group)
• 10% of pile dia (for single pile)
• 40 mm for pile group.

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Test Procedure
• Loading arrangement
• Hydraulic jack
• Dial gauges (0.02 mm, at least three),
Supported on bars at least 5 times
diameter away
• Apply incremental load  Maintain load
till settlement rate < 0.1 mm / hr or at
least 1 hr
• Load is applied is steps and settlement
recorded upto 2 times Qsafe
• Plot the load vs settlement curve
• Allowable load: Lesser of the two:
• 2/3 of load for which settlement = 12mm
• Half of the load at which settlement =
10%Dia of pile or 7.5% of bulb dia. (under-
reamed)

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Vertical cyclic pile load test
• Used to separate the pile load into skin
friction and point bearing
• Performed on test pile (Initial test)
• Load is applied in 20% increments of
estimated safe load
• Loading and unloading is done at each
stage
• Elastic rebound is measured
• Loading is continued till 2.5 times the safe
load or failure, whichever is earlier.
• Load transfer mechanism 
 initially only friction is mobilized,
 after the entire length develops friction,
end bearing starts to increase.
 At certain vertical load, frictional
resistance becomes constant and only
end bearing increases till failure.

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Cyclic ….
• Total settlement of pile
• S = Se+Sp
• Se=elastic settlement  due to elastic recovery of pile
material and elastic recovery of soil at base of pile
• Sp=plastic settlement
• Beyond the point when entire length contributes towards
friction 
• Q = Qf+Qp
Total settlement of pile at a load = l+Sb
• l= compression of pile
• Sb= compression of soil at base
• Elastic compression of soil at base (𝑆𝑒 )+ plastic compression
soil at base (𝑆𝑏 )
•  𝑆𝑏 = 𝑆𝑒 + 𝑆𝑏
• Considering pile material to be fully elastic (recoverable)
• 𝑆𝑒 = 𝑆𝑒 − 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑒 (𝑙)
𝑄𝑓
(𝑄− )
l is given as 𝑙 = 2
L
𝐴𝐸

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Steps to separate friction and point bearing
i. Compute elastic recovery at each load level Q1, Q2…
ii. As first trial, assume no compression in pile (l=0) obtain
Elastic compression of soil at base 𝑆𝑒 = 𝑆𝑒 − 𝑙. Plot
curve-I.
iii. Curve I is curvilinear initially and then linear (Qp increses
linearly with elastic compression of soil at base)
iv. Draw line from origin parallel to strain part of curve-I. At
each load level obtain skin friction and point resistance
(Note: skin friction will be constant after some load)
v. Now using the𝑄skin friction at each load, obtain l for each
𝑓
(𝑄− )
load 𝑙 = 2
L
𝐴𝐸
vi. Now use this l and go to step-ii, obtain elastic compression
of soil at base for each load.
vii. Again draw curve between load and elastic compression of
soil at base, get skin friction.
viii. Repeat the steps till sufficiently accurate values are
obtained. Third trial would give sufficiently accurate value
for practical purposes.

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 Chart Title

Load, KN
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
0

0.5

1.5

Settlement, mm
2

2.5

3.5

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First Trial:

Load Se
0 0
40.88 0.03
81.76 0.1
122.64 0.2
163.2 0.45
204.4 0.965
240 2.1475

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2nd Trial
𝑄𝑓
(𝑄− 2 )
Compute: 𝑙 = L
𝐴𝐸
Compute 𝑆𝑒 = 𝑆𝑒 − 𝑙
Again Plot 𝑆𝑒 vs Load curve
Draw new parallel line
Again get Qf
Obatin l…..

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