Drilled pile behaviour in granular deposits

The results of full-scale pile load tests, field monitoring, and laboratory tests on undisturbed soil samples have been used to compare soil parameters determined from in situ tests and in the laboratory for pile design in granular deposits. These results indicate a close agreement between the field- and laboratory-determined rebound or recompression index of oil sand. Also, a good agreement is indicated between field-measured and calculated pile head settlements. However, the measured average skin friction along the pile shaft in sandy till is about 20% more than the calculated values obtained from empirical and finite element analytical work using laboratory- and field-determined soil parameters. Theoretical t–z curves provided a good approximation of the field behaviour for the pile shaft resistance.