DYNAMIC PILE DRIVING FORMULAE:

Basis:
Wh = Qus
Where,
W = weight of driving hammer
h = height of fall of hammer
Wh = energy of hammer blow
Qu = ultimate resistance to penetration
s = pile penetration under one hammer blow
Qus = resisting energy of pile

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

DYNAMIC PILE DRIVING FORMULAE: HILEY FORMULA

Energy input = Energy used + Energy losses
Energy used = Energy input Energy losses
Energy used = Qus
Energy input = hWh, h = efficiency of hammer (based on hammer type)
Energy losses:
(i) Due to elastic compression:
E1 = 0.5Qu(c1+c2+c3) = QuC
c1 = elastic compression of pile cap, depends on range of driving stress &
pile material
c2 = elastic compression of the pile = QuL/AE, L = embedded length of pile,
A = average cross sectional area of pile, E = Youngs modulus
c3 = elastic compression of soil = 0 for hard soil, 0.2 for resilient soils,
average value = 0.1.
(ii) Due to interaction of pile hammer system:
1 C
E2 = WhW
, Wp = weight of pile,
2

W W

Cr = coefficient of restitution (based on pile material)

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

HILEY FORMULA

W
Wh 1 C R
Q (
)(
), R
s C 1 R
W
2

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

DYNAMIC PILE DRIVING FORMULAE: ENGINEERING NEWS RECORD

FORMULA:
Wh
Wh
(drop hammer )
(single acting steam hammer )
6( s 2.5)
6( s 0.25)
(W ap )h

(double acting hammer )

6( s 0.25)

Qa

Where, Qa = allowable pile load (kg), W = weight of hammer (kg), h = height of fall of
hammer (cm), s = final set in cm/blow (s = average penetration of last 5 blows for drop
hammer & of last 20 blows for steam hammer). a = effective area of the piston in sq.
cm. p = mean effective steam pressure in kg/cm2

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

A 40 x 40 cm reinforced concrete pile 20m long is driven through loose sand

and then into dense gravel to a final set of 3mm/blow, using a 30 kN single
acting hammer with a stroke of 1.5m. Determine the ultimate driving
resistance of the pile if it is fitted with a helmet, plastic dolly & 50mm
packing on the top of pile. The weight of helmet & dolly is 4kN. The other
details are, weight of pile = 74kN, weight of hammer = 30kN, h = 0.8, Cr =
0.4, Use Hiley Formula. c1 + c2 + c3 = 19.6mm
Hiley Formula:

W
Wh 1 C R
Q (
)(
), R
s C 1 R
W
2

h = 0.8, W = 30kN, h = 1.5m, R = W p/W = (74+4)/30 = 2.6, Cr = 0.4, s = 0.3cm

Substituting the values, Qu = 1105kN

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Bearing capacity of single pile by load test:

-Pile load test, most acceptable method to determine load carrying capacity.
-conducted either on driven pile or cast in situ pile.
-it is conducted on single or group of piles (later very costly & only in
important projects).
-Using load test, bearing capacity is determined and load settlement
relation is established.
-Load test is carried out either on working pile or on test pile.
-working pile is driven or cast in-situ with other piles to carry loads from
superstructure. Maximum load should not exceed 1.5 times design load.
-test pile does not carry load from structure. Maximum load about 2.5 times
design load or such that total settlement not less than 1/10 pile diameter.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

-Vertical pile load test assembly is shown in Fig. 15.19.

-It consists of:
(i)Arrangement to take the reaction of the load applied on pile head.
(ii)Hydraulic jack of sufficient capacity to apply load on pile head.
(iii)Set of three dial gauges to measure settlement of pile head.
-Load test could be continuous load test or cyclic load test.
-In continuous load test, continuous load increments are applied to pile head
& settlement of pile head is recorded at each load level.
-After obtaining ultimate load, allowable load is found by dividing it with
suitable factor of safety (2 to 3, 2.5 normally).
-There are different methods of determining ultimate load on single pile.
-it can be determined as the abscissa of the point where curve part of load
settlement curve changes to falling straight line. Fig. 15.20(a).
-it can be abscissa of the point of intersection of initial and final tangent of
load settlement curve. Fig. 15.20(b).

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

-allowable load is 50% of ultimate load at which total settlement amounts

to 1/10 of pile diameter for uniform diameter piles.
-allowable load is sometimes taken 2/3 of load which causes total
settlement of 12mm.
-allowable load is sometimes taken 2/3 of load which causes net (plastic)
settlement of 6mm.
-if pile groups are loaded to failure, ultimate load of group may be found
based on one of the first two methods for single piles.
-If pile groups are subjected only to 1.5 times design load of group,
allowable load is found on the basis of 12 or 6mm settlement criteria
applicable to single pile.
-in case of pile group spaced less than 6 to 8 times pile diameter, stress
interaction of adjacent piles affects settlement considerably.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956