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F.-:B.

CEAN ENGINEERING

'I

Design, Driving, And Eva

Of Long Offshore Piling
by T. J. Hirsch, Professor a n d Research Engineer,
Cizil E?lgi?leeringDepart)rze?zt, Texas A&M Uiliversity, College Station, Tex.

Fig. 1. "Set-up" or
recovery of strength after
driving in cohesive soil.
200
TIME

400
600
800
AFTER DRIVING (HOURS)

1000

I200

T h e one dimensional wave equation method of pile

analysis has proven to be a powerful tool which czfn be
used for the design of the piles, selection of hammers
and other accessories for installation, and for evaluation of the load capacity of the piling as they are driven
in hostile environments.
The wave equation can be used along with foundation exploration and evaluation techniques to select
the pile size and thickness which could be expeditiously driven to the desired penetration (or capacity)
without recourse to drilling or jetting. Various hammers can be evaluated so that the desired sizes or
types can be selected. The wave equation has also been
used as an aid in the design and selection of pile makeup, extension lengths, type of pile chasers, pile cushions and other necessary pile driving accessories. Improper choice of such accessories can undermine an
otherwise good pile driving operation.
(Continued)

7ooa-

Lo

; 6000-

R A T E OF PENETRATION

- BLOWS/FOOT
HARDWOOD CAPBLOCK

Fig. 2. Comparison of equivalent and actual area methods.

O TON

PILE CHASER

5 4 In dlam 2 m wall pp. pi18

PILE LENGTH 5 8 5 t I
1 5 0 f t PENETRATION

0
0

"

'

50

'

'

'

100

BLOWS

PER

'

'

'

"

200

..

250

"

'

300

FOOT

Fig. 4. Comparison of Menck 7000, 2500-4SL, and 2500

pile driving ability -platform FA, BP Forties Field.
BLOWS

PER FOOT

Fig. 3. Effect of wall thickness.

Technology of the ocean environment for engineeringloperating men

'

'

'

'

Finally, when the pilings are being driven the wave

equation can be used along with the pile driving record
of bloivs per foot to evaluate the load capacity of each
pile. This technique was used by P B Petroleum Development, Ltd., during installation of platforms in
the North Sea Forties Field. At Platform F A , these
evaluations confirmed the required axial pile load
capacities in excess of that required and permitted the
use of only nine piles per leg which resulted in considerable construction savings. As a result of the driving
characteristics of the first 12 piles, relatively simple
pile driving criteria were developed which permitted
quick and speedy completion of the remaining piles.

-0

Pile-Soil Interaction

DB 2

DBI

I t is important to understand that the Ivave equation

method ofpile analysis does not replace a good foundation exploration and evaluation program. A goocl soil
profile and strength properties of the various formations are necessary input for a good wave equation
analysis. I t is also important to understand that the
soil resistance a t the time of initial pile driving is
usually less than the soil resistance acting on the pile
several hours or days after driving. This phenomenon
of soil "set-up" is illustrated by Fig. 1. When a pile is
driven in clays (cohesive soils) they generally remold
the clay and reduce its friction resistance during continuous driving. An evaluation of soil "set-up" can be
obtained by driving piles to partial penetration, then

MAIN PlLE

'?:

MAIN PILE

-g

215'

Jp ' 0 01

0, ' 0 I
Jp ' 0 I5

Fig. 5. Typical pile configuration, site FA.

6000

5000-

L
P

MENCK 7 0 0 0

"4000

75 X

Eff~caency

13 TON PILE W A S E R
5 4 In dlom
PlLE

LENGTH

8"

woll pop.
585

f1

pnl.

MENCK 7 0 0 0
75%

baooo

I /

O In.

Efflclrncy
N a r d w o o d Copblosk

5 4 i n . dlom.

2,". r o l l Pip.

E~1anaion

2 0 5 fl.

u o l n PIIO

380 f t . lone

2 4 0 ft.
Soil

BLOWS

PER FOOT

Fig. 6. Effect of capblock on pile

driving effectiveness, site FA.
60

Penatrotion

R.8irt.

0 . O.ltn

long

Pala

2 0 % Point 8 0 % F r ~ c t i o n

Jp*O-I5

J,=0.20

BLOWS PER FOOT

Fig. 7. Effect of pile chaser weight

on pile driveability, site FA.
OCEAN ENGINEERING NOVEMBER 15,1975

8 1 0 1 9 , FOOT

Fig. 9. Effect of cushion stiffness.

PILE

CbP

WEIGHT

10 KIPS

Fig. 8. Hollow 13-ton and solid 32-ton chaser used on 54-in.

diam piles at platforms F A and FC.

delaying redriving for several hours or days. The increase in blows per foot required to redrive a pile can
be used lvith a wave equation bearing graph to
evaluate the increase in soil friction due to "set-up".
Selection of pile size for offshore structures is usually based 011 inservice design loads whicli produce
axial, shear and bending forces in the piling. Designs of
) this type usually result in piles with various wall thickness, with the thickest section usually immediately
above and below the mudline. Designs of this type a r e
shown in Fig. 2. They may not be the most economical
or effective when one considers the driveability of the
pile and construction time required.
Fig. 3 shows that by increasing the pile wall thickness below the mudline the pile driveability is increased significantly. The wave equation and field experience has shown that a stiffer pile can overcome
greater soil resistance during driving. Before the pile
wall thickness is fixed, the designer should carefully
analyze the pile for driveability and contingencies
which may occur during installation. To drive long,
high capacity piles (4000, 6000, or 8000 'tip piles) generally requires large hammers and stiff piles.
Fig. 4 shows a comparison of the pile driveability of
three different size pile hammers. At 150 blob\-sper
foot the hlenck 2500 could overcome a soil resistance of
about 4700 kips while the hIenck 7000 could overcome
6400 kips. Since the desired capacity of the piles a t the
BP Forties Field was approsimately 5500 kips, the
Menck 7000 was select for final driving a t the desired
final penetration. This hammer had the capability of
verifying the desired 5500 kip capacity of the piles
during a redrive after soil "set-up" had occurred a t
final penetration.
Basically, the Menck 2500 and Menck 2500-4SL
were used for the initial driving down to approximately 180 ft of penetration. The final driving exten-

VULCAN 0 6 0

I I,

I
20

Oo

60

40

90

100

I20

BLOW 1 INCH

Fig. 10. Effect of pile cap weight.

4 5 % Elf

5 HOUR

DELAY

'

MENCK 2 5 0 0 - 4 S L
45% Eft

65% E l f .

25
0

20

40

60

80

IW

120

140

160

BLOWS PER FOOT

Fig. 11. Typical driving record pile -B2-2, BP platform FA.

OCEAN ENGINEERING NOVEMBER 15,1975

Long Offshore Piling

TOTAL

''

SOIL

RESISTANCE

AT T I M E OF DRIVING-KIPS

Fig. 12. Wave equation prediction of soil resistance

vs. penetration, pile B2-2 - BP platform FA.

sion was then placed on the piles and the Menck 7000
used to drive t h e last extension to the final c:zsired
penetration which ranged from 210 ft to 250 ft a t the
various platforms. When intermediate sand layers
were encountered a t Platforms F B and FC the Menck
7000 basically had the capacity to penetrate them a t
150 blows per foot. In a few cases a t Platform F C the
Menck 7000 at 150 blows per foot was not able to
penetrate the sand layer a t approximately 200 f t
penetration. This was anticipated, however, and the
Menck 7000 verified that these piles were capable of
carrying the desired axial load of 5500 kips. In anticipation of this refusal occurring, an added length of
thick wall pile was used in the pile make-up so that it
would be located at the mudline where it was needed
for the large service load bending stresses a t this location (see Fig. 5).
By using the wave equation to evaluate pile driving
accessories such as the capblock and the connector
between the main pile and driving extension, good pile
driving effectiveness was maintained. Fig. 6 illustrates how the asbestos capblock could reduce the
driving effectiveness of the Menck 7000 hammer by 9%
or 10% if used in lieu of the usual hardwood capblock.
Fig. 7 illustrates effect of the weight of the pile chaser
or connector between the main pile and driving extension on the pile driving effectiveness.
If the %in. diam, 32-ton solid steel chaser is used,
the driving effectiveness of the hlenck 7000 would be

reduced by 7% to 8% when compared to the 13-ton

chaser. The 13-ton chaser weight was achieved by
machining out the center of the solid chaser (see Fig.
8). If both the 32-ton chaser and asbestos capblock had
been used, it is apparent that the driving effectiveness
of the Menck 7000 would be reduced by approximately
17% and it would become a marginal hammer for driving 5500 kip piles.
The effect of other pile accessories on the driving
effectiveness of a given hammer can be investigated by
use of the wave equation. Figs. 9 and 10 present examples of the effect of cushion stiffness and pile cap
weight, respectively.

Field Evaluation
Use of the wave equation to determine soil resistance acting on a pile during driving is relatively new.
The method was used quite successfully during construction of the platforms in the North Sea Forties
Field.
A typical pile driving record of blows per foot vs. pile
penetration (see Fig. 11) can be translated into a plot of
soil resistance vs. pile penetration (see -Fig. 12) by
using a graph similar to Fig. 4 which relates blows per
foot to soil resistance acting on the pile.
The information shown in Fig. 12 for several piles
with several different time delays between initial driving and redriving can be used to determine the ultimate static load capacity of the piling. One must reOCEAN ENGINEERING

* NOVEMBER 15,1975

i"

Long Offshore Piling

SOlL RESISTANCE

KIPS
8000

9000

t-

50

M A X COMPRESSIVE CAPACITY
PREDICTED BY CPT METHOO
OPTIMISTIC SOIL PROFILE-SOIL PLUG
PILE PENETRATED UNDER OWN WEIGHT

M I N COMPRESSIVE CAPACITY
A METHOD
PESSIMISTIC SOIL
PROFILE - N O SOlL PLUG

LL

SOIL RESISTANCE DURING CONTINUOUS

DRIVING

0 SOIL RESISTANCE W R I N G RE-DRIVING

AFTER SOIL SET-UP
- TIME
DELAY INDICATED BESIDE DATA POINT

4
1-

250

e-012

- -

hr.

hr

----

- - A*_

! --

Fig. 13. Summary of wave equation pretlictiol~sof soil

resistance vs penetration of first 12 piles - BP platform FA.

C'1 predict
member that the r a v e equation analysis can be used to
the soil resistance acting on the pile during
driving a t a given blow count per foot. One can carefully evaluate the soil "set-up" properties s h o ~ mby
data similar to Fig. 12 and determine the soil "set-up
factor" which can then be applied to the soil resistance
acting on the pile during continuous driving a t final
penetration. A more direct method of obtaining the
ultimate static load capacity is to redrive a pile a t final
penetration after several days delay in order to
evaluate the soil "set-up" and final ultimate capacity.
Both methods were used on the North Sea Forties
Field. Both methods require that piles be redriven
after a satisfactory time delay to obtain soil "set-up."
Fjg. 13 shows a summary of the wave equation predictions of soil resistance vs. penetration for the first
twelve piles on Platform FA. Superimposed on this
figure are the maximum and minimum pile compressive capacities predicted by the soil consultants using
classical foundation exploration and evaluation techniques. From Fig. 13 it can be seen that the piles
penetrated k o m 50 to 70 ft under their own weight.
These piles remained in the soil a day or more before
pile driving commenced. The solid data points indicate
the magnitude of soil resistance acting on the piles during continuous driving. The open data points indicate
the soil resistance during a re-drive after several hours
of time delay. I t can be seen that in the clay the
soil resistance during continuous driving is about one
66

half the static soil resistance which would develop

when the clay reconsolidates and sets up.
When the piles penetrate the silty sand layer the soil
resistance increases rapidly. When the piles are driven
continuously into the sand layer and stopped, it is
apparent from Fig. 13 that the soil resistance encountered during continuous driving can be increased by
the anticipated amount of soil "set-up" in the clay to
arrive at the final pile load bearing capacity.
a
Acknowledgement. This article was adapted from paper OTC 2247

presented by the author a t the Seventh Annual Offshore Technology

Conference, Houston, Tex., May 5-8, 1975. Co-authors of the OTC
paper were Albert M. Koehler of Brown & Root Inc. and V.J.R.
Sutton, B P Petroleum Development Ltd.

About the Author

T . J. Hirsch is a professor of
civil engineering alzd research engineer with Texas
A & M U n i v e r s i t y . He h a s
been act zvely ellgaged i n pile
foundation research and development for over 15 years.
He holds BS, M& and PhD
degrees from Texas A&M a ~ t d
is considered one of the pioneers in the developnze?zt of
the wave equation method of
analysis for the design and
evaluation of piling.
OCEAN ENGINEERING

NOVEMBER 15,1975