Pile testing at the Superway

ABSTRACT

The South Road Superway is a 4.8 kilometre non-stop corridor with a 2.8 kilometre elevated roadway between the Port River Expressway and Regency Road in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the largest road project ever undertaken in South Australia. The elevated roadway is a 50 span viaduct, 42 of whose spans are 60m long post-tensioned box girders built by the balanced cantilever method. For successful construction and performance of such a structure it is necessary to be able to accurately predict the behavior of the piles and pile groups under vertical and lateral loads.

Ben Collingwood (Director, Foundation Specialists) and Richard Herraman (Manager, Geotechnical Group, DPTI) will make a joint presentation about the soil investigation, pile testing and pile design for this project.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Ben Collingwood has been heavily involved in the Australian foundation engineering industry for around 19 years, having held positions in research, consulting and contracting roles. He completed a Ph.D in 2000 at Monash University on the effects of construction practices on the performance of rock socketed bored piles, and is a former Chairperson of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Geomechanics Society.

Most recently, Ben spent 11 years with national piling contractor, Wagstaff Piling, where he was responsible for tendering, design, project engineering and project & construction management for many hundreds of commercial foundation construction contracts. He has a detailed technical and practical understanding of a broad range of deep foundation systems, as well as retention and ground improvement works. In 2010, Ben joined Dr Julian Seidel in establishing Foundation Specialists Group, which provides specialist consulting advice in relation to deep foundations and geotechnical engineering both nationally and internationally.

Richard Herraman has managed the Geotechnical Engineering Group of DPTI for over 15 years. During this time his group has provided a range of geotechnical services for many successful transportation infrastructure projects delivered by DPTI. During this time we have become aware of the shortcomings of methods used for the design of retaining structures in unsaturated clay and are researching methods for more rational and cost-effective design.

Engineers Australia members participating in AGS technical sessions can record attendance on their personal CPD logs. Members should refer to Engineers Australia CPD policy for details on CPD types, requirements and auditing guidelines.