Non-destructive Testing for
Integrity Testing of Concrete Piles
Shedding light on the hidden parts of concrete piles
The inspection and evaluation of concrete piles and
deep foundations are often challenging, mainly be-cause
these elements are not easily accessible for
visual inspection. The process of quality control
and quality assurance for this group of elements is very
much through indirect measurement of other parameters,
such as resistance of a pile to driving or drilling. In other
words, the process of quality control in pile construction is
somewhat blind and comes down to the inspector’s experi-ence
and pile installer’s know-how. Non-destructive testing
(NDT) and evaluation can shed light on this hidden part of
concrete piles.
TECHNICAL
Inconsistency in pile materials, structural deficiencies and
damages during pile construction or driving can affect the
performance of these elements. Depending on pile materials,
and how the pile system transfers the load to the subsoils,
deficiencies in materials, design, construction and/or instal-lation
can reduce the load bearing capacity of piles. An
effective transmission of superstructure loads is performed
when no major issue accompanies the piles such as cracks,
voids, soil intrusion or necking occurs. The consequence
of such deficiencies might be challenging when a super-structure
stands on weak piles and deep foundations. This
might vary from partial settlement to significant damage or
By Farid Moradi and Hamed Layssi, FPrimeC Solutions Inc.
PHOTO AND FIGURES COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS
PILING CANADA 85