The Characteristics of Axial Bearing Capacity of Driven H-piles

The bearing capacity of driven H-pile can be characterized by driveability, time effect and plugging effect etc.; however the related research is not yet enough to apply to practice. H-pile including steel pipe pile and PHC pile were driven and tested at 3 locations for the purpose of the analysis of bearing characteristics. Dynamic pile load tests accompanied by static load test were carried out for the analysis. Test results indicated that H-pile had the best driveability, the least set-up effect among the 3 piles and that its plugging effect was higher than that of steel pipe pile. It was found out that it would be possible to increase the pile design capacity 1.9 times higher than a current design capacity of piles if the piles could be installed under an appropriate quality control. It was also found out that high strength H-pile was much more economical than ordinary grade H-pile. Comparison of the various bearing capacity calculation methods showed that Wave Equation Analysis of Piles(WEAP) was the most reliable method for the prediction of bearing capacity of H-pile.