Driven Pile Control and QA/QC within First Order Reliability Framework

Driven piles have been widely used as a foundation element to support bridge superstructures and substructures in places where shallow foundations may not be suitable. Recent adoption of reliability based approach (LRFD) in AASHTO Guidelines has yielded suggested resistance factors in evaluating strength limit states of driven piles. In this paper, several aspects of driven pile control and QA/QC issues will be discussed. The method of incorporating pile set up capacity within the framework of LRFD was not addressed in AASHTO, but will be fully evaluated and appropriate method for incorporating set up in sand and clay will be given in this paper with the suggested resistance factors corresponding to different target reliability. Finally, the issue of appropriate acceptance criteria based on sampling theory and target reliability with respect to dynamic pile testing results at a production site will be described. The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic approach to driven pile control and QA/QC through dynamic pile testing and calibrated first order reliability (LRFD) based approach. The presented methodology should provide a practical approach for state DOTs to handle their driven pile projects.