In view of the perspective of the principal
The quality of execution of a pile foundation element is always a reason for concern because of the invisibility of the finished product. For cast-in-place piles, this is important especially.
Next to the quality of the body of the pile the bearing capacity and stiffness is determined by the interaction with the surrounding soil.
Recently, the nature of construction contracts for works of infrastructure in the Netherlands has been changed by the government considerably. In former days, the type of foundation pile was described into detail in combination with intensive checks of the quality by the principal during construction. Nowadays the principal relies on the formulation of functional demands in construction contracts and supervision takes place on a larger distance. With a system of quality control, the building contractor has to prove that the functional demands set by the principal
have been fulfilled.
For that, the availability of a suitable technical method of performance check for a pile is a prerequisite. From this need, there is a merit for both the principal and the builder to get available a relatively fast and sufficient accurate test for the load bearing capacity of a foundation piles.
The rapid pile load test gives the opportunity to fulfil the need described above probably.
Therefore, the construction department of the ministry for Public Works and Water Management in the Netherlands does support the initiative to make the rapid pile load test operational for practical use.
Possible tests for piles
