Powerful tool for driveability studies with impact hammers and

vibratory hammers
The Hague Office AllWave-PDP is a dedicated program for onshore
Waterpas 98 and offshore driveability studies for both impact
2495 AT The Hague
The Netherlands and vibratory hammers. It is a Wave Equation
Tel: +31703077499 Program based on the TNOWAVE method of
Heemskerk Office characteristics.
De Trompet 1585
1967 DB Heemskerk
The Netherlands
Being capable of predicting pile behavior during
Tel: +31251245752 driving is vital. Large sums of money have to be
Tyler Office spent when a pile meets early refusal since in
1411 Cumberland Rd almost in all cases remedial actions are taken in
Tyler, TX 75703
U.S.A. order to make the pile penetrate further. These
Tel: +19032160038
remedial actions may be:
Singapore Office
3 Joo Koon Crescent - to continue driving with the same
629008 Singapore hammer, risking that the hammer and the pile get
Tel: +6597713635
damaged;
- to continue driving with a heavier
info@allnamics.eu
hammer, if the pile is strong enough to resist the
www.allnamics.eu higher stress levels;
- to remove the internal soil plug in the
pile, even though this could result in a lower
bearing capacity when the pile is driven to the final
penetration depth. In many cases this can be prevented
when the experts do their "homework" properly, i.e. prepare an accurate pile driveability prediction. .
Nowadays, the combination of data bases on pile driving and computer pile driving simulation is of such a
quality that a reasonable prediction can be made.
,
For this purpose the pile driving simulation program AllWave-PDP can be used. This program enables the
modelling of hammer, cushion/anvil , pile, and soil resistance in a realistic way.
The correct data for all these parameters can be obtained from the database included in the program, which
contains not only models for hammers and cushions, but also static and dynamic parameters of a variety of
soils.

Soil input AllWave-PDP in digitized form

As mentioned before the programs are based on the theory of the wave propagation through a one-
dimensional elastic material, but in reality the pile-soil interaction is a three dimensional phenomenon.
Therefore simplifications have to be introduced and for that reason the soil resistance is split up into two
different components:
 the static soil resistance, which occurs both during driving and during static loading on the pile.
This component of the soil resistance is responsible for the bearing capacity of the soil. In the pile
driving simulation program AllWave-PDP this type of resistance is modeled by non-linear springs,
and therefore is displacement dependent.
 the dynamic soil resistance, which only occurs during rapid loading and movements of the pile, i.e.
during pile driving and dynamic load testing. This type of resistance is not present during static
loading of the pile and thus will not contribute to the (static) bearing capacity of the pile. In
AllWave-PDP this type of resistance is modeled by non-linear dash-pots and masses, and therefore
is both velocity and acceleration dependent.
Some results of an AllWave driveability analysis are:
 Static Resistance during Driving versus blow count curve. With this curve the engineers can
estimate the Static Resistance during Driving by counting the blows over 25 cm or 1 ft.
 Blow count versus depth curve. This curve is essential for hammer selection and it also gives the
installation contractor an indication about the time required to drive the pile to target
penetration. For field tests the graph can be used to check whether the pile behaves "normally".
 Maximum penetration depth for impact and vibratory hammers.
 Maximum stresses in pile for fatigue analysis.
 Estimate pile installation time.

Graphs as function of depth

Graphs as function
of penetration

Graphs as function of penetration

Static resistance/
blow count graph.