Ground Vibration Measurements near Impact Pile Driving

Pile driving is a complex dynamic process where little insight has been garnered in terms of the energy transfer from the driver to the soil and surrounding structures. Ground motion measurements during driving of full-scale steel H-piles with diesel hammers are presented. The key feature of this work is the in-depth sensor installation starting very close to the pile (0.2 m), at other radial distances from the pile, and at various depths in the ground. Differences in wave sources from the tip and the shaft of the pile as well as wave attenuation coefficients are revealed from the sensor measurements. Attenuation relationships fitted through the data could be used to predict ground motion that could cause shakedown settlement. A conventional line array of surface-mounted geophones was also used and results are presented.