Nondestructive Evaluation of Pile Length for High-Mast Light Towers

AbstractRecords of pile lengths are not available for several hundred high-mast light towers (HMLTs) throughout the state of Minnesota. The foundation systems, typically steel H-piles or concrete-filled steel pipe piles connected to a triangular concrete pile cap, risk overturning in the event of pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering 2024-08, Vol.150 (8)
Main Authors: Kennedy, Daniel V., Guzina, Bojan B., Labuz, Joseph F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Concrete piles
Concrete pipes
Cone penetration tests
H piles
Masts
Nondestructive testing
Pile caps
Piles
Pipe piles
Retrofitting
Seismic cones
Steady state
Steel
Steel piles
Steel pipes
Technical Papers
Test procedures
Towers
Vibration
Waveforms
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Summary:AbstractRecords of pile lengths are not available for several hundred high-mast light towers (HMLTs) throughout the state of Minnesota. The foundation systems, typically steel H-piles or concrete-filled steel pipe piles connected to a triangular concrete pile cap, risk overturning in the event of peak wind loadings if the foundation piles are not sufficiently deep to provide the designed uplift capacity. Without prior knowledge of the in situ pile lengths, an expensive tower foundation retrofit or replacement effort would need to be undertaken. However, the development of a nondestructive screening tool to determine the in situ pile length—compared with replacing or retrofitting all towers with unknown foundation geometries—would potentially provide significant cost savings. The main goal of the research is the development of nondestructive evaluation testing techniques for determining in situ pile lengths using steady-state vibration and hammer-impact seismic testing. The foundation testing protocol involves (1) a preliminary site investigation to determine the shallow subsurface geometry and orientation of the foundation pile cap, (2) the use of seismic cone penetrometer (SCP) attached to a cone penetration test rig to capture the induced steady-state and impact waveforms, and (3) data-driven analysis of field testing results to determine the pile lengths.
ISSN:1090-0241
1943-5606
DOI:10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-11485