Pile driving monitoring

Pile driving monitoring involves measuring strain and acceleration of the pile during impact driving. Each hammer blow sends a compression wave down the pile and reflections occur when soil resistance is encountered.

Pile driving monitoring allows to assess:

  • The compression and tension stresses induced in the pile by each hammer blow
  • The Enthru energy, which is the energy effectively transmitted to the pile
  • The actual static Soil Resistance to Driving (SRD) during driving
  • The static pile capacity at the end of driving
  • The static pile capacity after a certain amount of time, if a restrike test is performed

Application

Pile driving monitoring can be used for onshore or offshore operations to monitor above water or underwater driving. It is typically used for the following applications:

  • Onshore or nearshore pile foundations, for bridges, buildings, or jetties
  • Offshore jacket pipe pile foundations for platforms and wind farms
  • Offshore conductor pipes

Pile driving monitoring process

A successfull pile driving monitoring campaign is organised according to the three following steps:

  1. Driveability study

  2. Before pile installation begins, the design of a driven pile must include a driveability study. A driveability study assesses the hammer energy required to install the pile to depth and provides an indication of whether premature refusal or overstress may occur.

  1. On-site data collection

  2. Using sensors attached to the pile, we monitor the pile driving process in real time, assessing the structural integrity of the pile, the driving system efficiency, and the soil resistance during driving. The monitoring does not affect the installation time schedule.

  1. Data analysis and reporting

  2. The data gathered is analysed in the office and summarised in a report. The main result is the measured pile capacity, derived from the stress wave data using an inverse modelling procedure such as CAPWAP or IMPACT.

For questions, remarks, or a quotation, please do get in touch with us.

Contact us

Pile driving monitoring is also refered to as PDM or stress wave monitoring.

We are based in Belgium and available in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. We perform pile driving monitoring following the ISO 22477-4 and ASTM D4945 standards.

Furthermore, our operators have at least passed the Advanced level of the Pile Driving Contractors Association's PDA Proficiency test.