VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF THE PILE DESIGN METHOD WITH CONSIDERATION OF DOWN DRAG

Abstract

This article evaluates the performance of the pile design method that considers Down Drag (PDwDD method). The design approach has the main advantage of determining whether or not the proposed pile can meet the design requirements for both bearing capacity and long-term displacement. The approach, however, does not determine specific values of bearing capacity or settlement. This paper uses the PDwDD method to analyze the behaviors of the designed piles and the actual pressed-in piles at a specific project in Binh Duong, Vietnam. The traditional analytical methods used 340 PC piles of 500 mm in diameter and 29 m in length. The final project used 340 PC piles with a diameter of 500 mm and a length of 16.5 m. The article determined whether or not the piles, which were designed with a length of 29 m, and then were reduced to 22 m after the static load test and were finally reduced to 16.5 m after the PDA test, could withstand the building load and satisfy different requirements such as bearing capacity and settlement. The results from the PDwDD method show that the 16.5 m long piles satisfy both bearing capacity and long-term settlement.