Research into pile toe failure in Amazonehaven

Abstract

Extreme folding damage of open-ended tubular piles could occur during piling in onshore practices. Amazonehaven unique quay wall removal gave the opportunity to study king pile’s failure close to toe. King piles are primary piles in a combined wall system, exposed to static and dynamic load. It is argued that the unexpected pile toe failure have been caused by dynamic load because of the uniaxial direction of the extreme deformations. However, research into pile toe failure in Amazonehaven shows that hammer-induced driving stresses are significantly lower than material’s yield stress close to pile toe, given Amazonehaven soil condition. Therefore, the dynamic load has not been solely detrimental to the pile toe integrity. The main reasons for pile toe failure are discussed to be (1) pile imperfection, (2) pile inclination and (3) pile inhomogeneous strength. Bear in mind that, pile toe failure to such extent when not limited might lead to dysfunction of the asset during its technical lifetime. Therefore, counteractions must be taken to assure quay wall’s safety and stability while operating. The remedies when such a piling risk event occur could be: replacement, early maintenance, or a reduction in its designed storage capacity. The reactive solutions will bring financial consequences of pile toe failure forward. In other words, the client will experience a reduction in its revenues due to asset’s malfunction. However, when proactive process-based alternatives are implemented in the current procedure in piling industry, the probability of occurrence of the failure is to be reduced. Therefore, financial consequences of piling risk event will remain limited.

The main personal objectives creating this master thesis are to present a: Compact, comprehensive, consistent, reader friendly, and to the point report.