Long-Term Monitoring of Drag Force on Integral Abutment Piles: Instrumentation and Data Analysis
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 1
Abstract
Large structures such as tall buildings, towers, and bridges transfer their loads to competent soil layers through pile skin friction and/or end bearing. When a pile is installed in a compressible soil layer, it may experience additional skin frictional force called drag force due to excessive soil settlement relative to the pile. This paper reports the results of a comprehensive long-term monitoring program of instrumented bridge piles and adjacent soil to evaluate the development of drag forces along the shafts of three piles. The data collected from the monitoring program are presented and discussed in terms of measured responses with time and load distribution along the pile shafts. The data were used to compute and locate the extent of the drag force for each of the three piles and to determine the end of the consolidation process. In addition, the results were used to examine the unified design method and assess the design codes with respect to drag force.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to recognize the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) for its role in supporting the project financially and managing the installation of the field monitoring instruments. Special thanks to Tony Sangiuliano from MTO and James Ng from Blackbird Constructors 407 GP for facilitating the fieldwork and the instrumentation installation.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 1 • January 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 14, 2021
Accepted: Jul 14, 2022
Published online: Oct 21, 2022
Published in print: Jan 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Mar 21, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bridge abutments
- Bridge components
- Bridge engineering
- Bridge towers
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Equipment and machinery
- Foundations
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Instrumentation
- Load factors
- Pile foundations
- Pile settlement
- Piles
- Soil compression
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil settlement
- Structural design
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Towers (by type)
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