State of Practice of Deep Foundation Quality Control—A Comparison between North America and Europe

Deep foundation elements come in many different forms, including driven piles, drilled shafts, and augered cast-in-place (ACIP) piles/continuous flight auger (CFA) piles. Each of these foundation types requires different testing methods to ensure that the particular element has satisfied the design intent. Various quality control tools exist to evaluate the load-bearing capacity and structural integrity of these various elements. As loads on the individual foundation elements increase, there is typically less redundancy, and therefore, a higher risk to the project and owner. Each pile becomes more critical that it performs correctly. Assuring that the foundation has been installed as intended becomes critical. There are many new advances in quality control test methods to evaluate if the installed foundation will meet the design intent. These advances offer innovative, powerful, and cost-effective solutions to deep foundation projects. The way quality control methods are deployed varies in different parts of the world. This paper addresses the current state-of-practice for deep foundation quality control methods and compares how these methods are being deployed in Europe versus North America.