Effect of pile embedded in sand on load carrying capacity and serviceability limits using new installation method

Due to heavy works at construction sites, method of pile installation is considered as one of the factors that can affect the progress of a project. Well known methods such as jacking, dropping weight, vibration and explosion have been used at sites. It was observed to have some drawbacks during the installation process such as high resistance due to friction and high settlements that can cause failure to the structure. This study is aimed to determine the performance of pile behaviour using a common and a new method of pile installation and to determine its effects on the load-carrying capacity from the axial working load. The rotary-jacking technique is a new technology of installation where jacking and rotating movements happen simultaneously during the process. A stainless steel 25 mm circular pile, a 50 mm circular pile and a screw pile were fabricated as tested piles in this study. A laboratory model setup is used as a physical model to compare with the existing theoretical values calculated using Meyerhof’s theory. This study was administered in two phases where the initial phase is the installation of piles by using two different methods namely jacking and jacking and rotary method. The second phase involves carrying out static load tests for obtaining the ultimate pile capacity. From the results, when 25 mm circular pile is used, it was discovered that the jacking and rotary method requires less loading compare to jacking method during installation when 0.300 kN of loading which is smaller than 0.600 kN due to the change in direction and magnitude of the base and the pile shaft resistance. Load carrying capacity has proven that new method of installation is best chosen when 50 mm circular pile was used, and this was shown in the result of 0.491 kN, which is near to the designed pile load (0.424 kN). For future studies, bigger sized piles are advised to be utilized to reduce load settlement. In conclusion, the jacking and rotary method can be used as alternative practised to be chosen for construction in the future.