Dynamic pile driving analysis using the Pile Driving Analyzer

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) currently uses the Engineering News Record (ENR) formula to monitor pile driving. This formula, first developed in 1893, uses an oversimplified model of the pile driving system to predict the pile capacity in the field. Since the beginning of this century, however, engineers have known that this formula neglects many complexities involved in the pile driving system including wave action, hammer energy loss, pile flexibility, and different soil resistance factors. This report is a record of the initial use of the Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) by Mn/DOT. A sophisticated analog/digital device with high-computational speed, the PDA uses one-dimensional wave propagation theory to calculate the forces acting on the pile that resist penetration. The PDA gives the test engineer immediate soil resistance, pile or shaft stress, and hammer efficiency results during pile driving, restriking, or impact testing. More than two-thirds of state transportation departments use the PDA, currently in worldwide use on more than 2,500 projects each year. For this project, we planned to receive training on the PDA and use it to monitor pile driving on selected projects in hopes of incorporating this more modern method of measuring pile capacity into Mn/DOT's pile driving program.