Heave of Driven, Cast In Situ Piles Due to Driving Displacements

Driving displacements resulting in ground and pile heave are common when piles are driven into saturated, fine grained soils. In the case of preformed piles such as precast concrete or steel pipe piles, it is a relatively simple matter to redrive all piles that have been observed to heave. However, driven cast in situ concrete piles may suffer distortion or fracture of the freshly-cast concrete shafts or separation of shaft and base as ground displacements occur during pile driving. This paper presents heave measurements and loading test data for cast in place concrete piles installed in dense sands, alluvial deposits consisting of alternating sands and clays, residual soils and weak rocks.