Pile foundations have been utilized for centuries to support large structures in soft soils. Pile installation plays a critical role in foundation engineering, and historically, empirical formulas were employed to predict pile driving outcomes and bearing capacity. However, these formulas exhibited considerable variability in their predictions. In the 1960s, the application of stress wave theory gained popularity, accompanied by the introduction of stress wave measurement equipment and software. This theory provided a better understanding of the dynamic and static behaviour of the hammer-pile-soil system, enabling the development of reliable soil reaction models to estimate the mobilized pile capacity.

Within this context, the aim of this master's thesis is to investigate the accuracy and applicability of cone penetration test (CPT)-based axial pile capacity design methods for the static component of the mechanical system, as described by the TNO soil model. The TNO soil model aims to model the dynamic soil response during a dynamic load test after pile installation. In this mechanical system, the springs at the shaft and base represent the soil stiffness during dynamic loading, while the plastic sliders correspond to the local ultimate shaft friction and ultimate base stress, referred to as yield stresses in the TNO soil model. The objective is to verify whether design methods for static pile capacity can be applied to the static portion of the dynamic soil model through signal matching analysis.

The dynamic component, represented by a dashpot, is associated with theoretical solutions for shaft and base radiation damping. In the TNO model, damping is independent of static resistance, and viscous damping, which is part of the mobilized static friction, is neglected. The design methods utilized in this study are the unified methods for driven piles in sand and clay, which are employed to determine the local ultimate shaft friction and end bearing resistance, incorporating setup factors based on the time elapsed between the end of installation and pile testing.

The calculated local ultimate shaft friction obtained from the design methods serves as the starting point for the signal matching analysis, which is conducted after dynamic load testing to establish the mobilized pile resistance during a hammer impact. The mobilized end bearing resistance is derived through signal matching after a high-quality match on the shaft friction has been established. The obtained base stress is correlated with the ultimate base stress provided by the design methods to determine the degree of stress mobilization at the base in a dynamic load test. The ultimate base stress is typically established at a pile base displacement of 10% of the pile diameter; this amount of base displacement is often not reached after a single hammer blow.

The signal matching analysis aims to align the signals acquired from dynamic measurements (force and velocity) with a simulated signal generated by a user-dependent specific soil model that most likely represents the in-situ soil conditions based on the solution of the one-dimensional wave theory. AllWave-DLT is employed to conduct the signal matching analysis, where force and velocity measurements collected by a Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) are utilized to derive the deep foundation forces, encompassing displacement-dependent static resistance and velocity-dependent dynamic resistance.

Overall, this thesis explores the application of CPT-based axial pile capacity design methods in the TNO soil model and, at the same time, the obtained radiation damping constants are correlated to geotechnical soil parameters derived from soil investigation.