REASONABLE EVALUATION OF PILE SOUNDNESS BASED ON PILE INTEGRITY TEST

Abstract

 When existing piles are reused, they are inspected using the pile integrity test (PIT) to judge whether they are appropriate for reuse. The evaluation of pile soundness heavily depends on the experience of PIT examiners. This paper describes the objective and quantitative evaluation method for pile soundness using PIT. The major findings of the study are summarized as follows. 1) The size of pile crack depends on the amplitude characteristics of PIT waves. 2) The size of pile crack can be evaluated using proposed “crack factors” that are calculated from the quantified values of the amplitude characteristics.