Department of Civil

Engineering

Pile Integrity Test

Presented by: Course Teacher:
Md. Anwar Hossain Dr. Sarah Tahsin Noor
Associate Professor,
(20115007)
Department of Civil
Mohammad Jamshed-ul-Alam
Engineering University of Asia
(19215019)
17th September, 2020 Pacific
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 Department of Civil
Contents Engineering

 Introduction
 Objective
 Equipment
 Methodology
 Limitations
 Table, Formula and Graph
 Conclusion and Recommendation
 References 3
 Department of Civil
Introduction Engineering

• The pile integrity test (PIT) is a fast and reliable method mostly used for

evaluating the condition of the pile in the soil. (1)

• PIT is a non-destructive testing technique, sometimes referred to as the sonic
pulse echo method. (2)
• It involves applying low strains to a foundation element using light hammer
impacts and evaluating the collected force and velocity records to deduce
qualitative and quantitative information for the foundation element. (2)

• PIT can be used for obtaining quantitative information on existing deep

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foundations. (2)
 Department of Civil
Introduction Engineering

• The pile integrity test (PIT) is a non destructive testing of deep foundation like

driven piles, augured or bored piles. (3)

• It’s a low strain method for integrity testing of driven piles, drilled Shafts etc. (3)
• Pile integrity test (PIT) is also called Sonic testing, Pulse echo or Transit
Response. (3)

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 Department of Civil
Figure Engineering

Fig.3 Components of Pile integrity test (Rausche et. al.

1992)
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 Department of Civil
Engineering

Pile Integrity Test 7

 Department of Civil
Figure Engineering

Fig.1 Pile integrity test (Source: Google

images)
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 Department of Civil
Figure Engineering

Fig.2 Pile integrity test (Source: Google

images)
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 Department of Civil
Objective Engineering

• Pile integrity test data assists evaluation of pile integrity.(4)

• Pile integrity test data assists pile physical dimensions (cross-
sectional area, length). (4)
• Pile integrity test data assists continuity of the pile. (4)
• Pile integrity test data assists consistency of the pile material. (4)
• Pile integrity test data assists obtaining quantitative information on
existing deep foundations. (2)

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 Department of Civil
Equipments Engineering

• Hand Hammer
• Motion sensor
• Processing unit
• Accelometer

Fig.4 EQUIPMENT FOR PILE INTEGRITY TEST(5)

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 Procedure
The proposed methodology, built on the advanced signal processing and artificial
intelligence techniques, consists of three components:
1. signal preprocessing,
2. feature extraction, and
3. ELM-based defect detection
 Department of Civil
Limitations Engineering

• Pile Integrity Test does not determine the load-bearing capacity of piles
and deep foundations.(6)
• This test does not work in piles with highly variable cross-sections.(6)
• At times it is hard to distinguish the soil response, and the (pile) toe
response.(6)
• Pile Integrity Test cannot be conducted over pile caps.(6)
• Pile Integrity Test as per published literature, piles with L/D ratio up to
30 give reasonably good results. (7)

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 Department of Civil
Limitations Engineering

• Pile Integrity Test highly non-uniform piles may be difficult to interpret.

(7)

• Cracks or mechanical joints block waves.(7)

• Small defects or short length hard to find.(7)

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 Department of Civil
Possible Pile States Engineering

Table:1 Table of possible pile states. (7)

Sl No. State
No impedance changes detected, pile toe detected (pile OK)
1

Small pile impedance changes, pile toe detected (pile OK)

2

Large pile impedance change - reduction in cross section area, pile toe not detected /possible
pile damage, pile damage
3

Pile condition could not be stated (reasons: pile toe not detected, large and more impedance
changes, bad concrete on pile top (BTC) cracks on pile top)
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 Department of Civil
Formula Title Engineering

Impedance is defined with, Z=EA/c,

where,
E = elastic modulus,
A = cross section area and
c = wave speed
 Results in range of typical response with differences up to c<5% and v
(t) <5% of incident wave
 Results in range of typical response with differences up to c<10% and v
(t) <20%
 Large impedance reduction detected 16
 Department of Civil
Table Engineering

Table:2 Concrete quality in relationship with impact wave velocity.(7)

Concrete quality Impact wave speed in concrete (m/s)

Bad < 2700

Acceptable 2700 – 3300

Good 3300 – 3800

Very good 3800 - 4000

Excellent 4000 - 4200

Not possible in normal

conditions >4200
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 Determine the Pile Length Department of Civil
Engineering
For each tested pile v (t) graph is presented. Below is basic v (t) graph explanation:

+Z – Impedance increase or pile cross section increase

-Z – Impedance decrease or pile cross section decrease
BTC – Bad concrete on pile top
SR – Soil resistance
Toe – Pile T
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 Graph Department of Civil
Engineering
For each tested pile v (t) graph is presented. Below is basic v (t) graph explanation:

Fig: 6 Typical PIT Results.(8)

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 Graph Department of Civil
Engineering
For each tested pile v (t) graph is presented. Below is basic v (t) graph explanation:

Fig: 7 Typical Result from piles no Integrity problems.(8) 20

 Graph Department of Civil
Engineering
For each tested pile v (t) graph is presented. Below is basic v (t) graph explanation:

Fig:8 Extracted piles major crack at 27f t. Integrity problems.(8) 21

 Graph Department of Civil
Engineering
For each tested pile v (t) graph is presented. Below is basic v (t) graph explanation:

Fig:9 Extracted piles minor crack at 27f t. Integrity problems.(8) 22

 Graph Department of Civil
Engineering
For each tested pile v (t) graph is presented. Below is basic v (t) graph explanation:

Fig:10 Typical records indicating varying amounts of soil resistance: 23

A. no resistance , B. resistance below 34 ft, C. resistance below 28 ft.(8)
 Department of Civil
Engineering

Remarks:
• Impedance is defined with Z=EA/c, where E is elastic modulus, A is cross section area and c
wave speed. Wave speed higher than 4100 m/s, defined from known pile length, could be
result of pile toe damage or shorter pile.
• Results of PIT measurements on piles over foundations constructions are not interpretable.
Reasons could be:
- bad connection between foundation construction and pile head (bad concrete on the pile
head)
- more sequenced variables in Impedance (Z) in pile length.
• Testing piles must be prepared for PIT test as follow:
-bad concrete on the top (head) of pile has to be removed and pile head must be cleaned and
without cracks
-piles head should be accessible and above the water level.
 
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 Conclusion
• The PIT (Sonic Echo, Impulse Response & Ultra seismic) techniques in detecting the defects
of piles with pile cap [5]
• PITs are not capable of detecting minor defects of the pile with pile cap, although it still
detect major defects within these piles[5]
• Determine the exact location of pile defects or pile toe [8]
• Piles with highly variable cross-sections are difficult to analyze [8]
• It can identify discontinuities & defects, pile head defects, defects in middle of the pile
length or a reduced modulus of elasticity in the pile, pile base defect or a reduced modulus
of elasticity in the pile base zone and reduced modulus of elasticity in the pile head zone.[1]
• As the energy of the light impact is very small that the produced stress wave cannot travel a
long distance, the reflection signal can not be detected by a accelerometer when the pile is
very long.[3]
• The influence of surrounded soil on the test should also be considered for better results.[3]
 Conclusion
• PIT can be successfully used during initial stages of a construction to assist engineers and
contractors with quality control/quality assurance needs. It is also a valuable tool to quickly
assess as-built foundation features. [2]
• The method offers several advantages over other testing methods, including other non-
destructive tests, for its rapid deployment, mobility, speed, and cost.[2]
• A large number of foundations can be tested in a short time using PIT, probably as many as
20 foundations in one day. It is capable of quickly producing information on the possible
presence of defects such as voids, breaks, discontinuities, or inclusions, and provides
estimates on pile length. [2]
• The successful application of the technology, however, requires understanding its limitations
as well, including operator’s familiarity with the system and experience with pile
foundations, applications to drilled shafts or auger-cast piles with potentially multiple or
large variation in cross-sections, L/D ratio limits, and only where accuracy on pile length
within 10%± is tolerable.[2]
 Conclusion

• Where PIT is found to have limitations, other non-destructive testing methods that can
overcome certain PIT limitations maybe considered. Obviously, these tests involve a higher
level of sophistication, require more time to perform and are more costly. Discussions on
other possible testing techniques are beyond the focus of this document. [2]
• Identification of crack in pile will be the next study area of the PIT [1]

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 References Department of Civil
Engineering

1. (MLADEN COSIC, BORIS FOLIC and RADOMIR FOLIC (2014)“NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE PILE
INTEGRITY TEST ON DEFECTED PILES ”, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Civil Engineering ,Marka
Milanovića 17, 15300 Loznica, Serbia ..

2. Nasser Massoudi, Wondem Teferra(2004)“NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING OF PILES USING THE LOW

STRAIN INTEGRITY METHOD” fifth International conference cases historic Geotechnical Engineering”
new York , USA
3. Wenzhang Luo, Fan Chen, and Junling Hu(2007)“Improvement of Low Strain Pile Integrity Test” Beijing
100013, China.

4. Sheng-Huoo Ni , William M. Isenhower , and Yang-Hong Huang (2012)”CONTINUOUS WAVELET

TRANSFORM TECHNIQUE FOR LOW-STRAIN INTEGRITY TESTING OF DEEP DRILLED SHAFTS”
Journal of GeoEngineering, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 097-105, December 2012 28
 References Department of Civil
Engineering

5. Sabana Thilakna (2015)“Integrity Testing of Model Piles with Pile Cap”, International Symposium Non-
Destructive Testing in Civil Engineering (NDT-CE) September 15 - 17, 2015, Berlin, Germany

6. Ni, S. H., Charng, J. J., and Lo, K. F. (2007). “Nondestructive evaluation of in-isolation pile shaft
integrity by Wigner-Ville distribution.” Journal of Mechanics, 23(1), 15−21

7. Pile Integrity Tester-PC version manual-govle links Associates –claveland,ohio-1988.

8. Integrity Testing of Foundations -1991

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Department of Civil
Engineering

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