Use of instrumentation for Validating Deep Foundation and Ground improvement Performances

Geotechnical design and their implementation have evolved profusely and taken new dimensions with use of basic and advanced field instrumentations. While design and execution have often seen successful projects, instruments have now proved beyond any doubts on their ability to furnish vital insights on the structural performances, their information, many a times, serving as a warrant for relook into the designs – relook in terms of economy, addressing unsafe practices and in many cases, revamping the associated design philosophies.

Deep foundations and Ground Improvement are the basic applied facets of Geotechnical engineering that comprise major chunk of project cost, invite special attention and monitoring. Deep foundations include Piles of various types and retaining structures like Diaphragm walls, which, double-up as structural supports as well. Ground Improvements are engineering alteration of virgin sub-strata and includes pre-consolidation techniques like Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVDs), Stone Columns, Dynamic Compaction to name a few. All the stated sub-structures and ground improvement techniques depend on valuable information furnished by instruments. Importance of these instruments is nowadays considered life line to the structures and is known to furnish information even during service period of structures.

This paper is an attempt to present few of the important applications of the instrumentation that have led to vital insights of the performances of sub-structure and engineered structures. Specific instrumentation applications included are Pile Load test performance studies; monitoring slope stability and ground improvement performances involving PVDs.