Assessment of geotechnical conditions for bored piles during construction

Richard Brehaut and Strath Clarke

During the construction of bored piles it is common practice for a geotechnical engineer to validate ground conditions in addition to the roughness and cleanliness of the pile sidewalls and base cleanliness. To date the methods used to undertake bored pile inspections have typically been crude, and provide approximate data at best.

This paper briefly describes the development and application of an inspection device used to verify geotechnical conditions during the construction phase of current major infrastructure projects in Sydney. Recent developments in consumer electronics have provided inexpensive, compact and robust cameras that can capture high resolution video while being remotely operated. When combined with compact, reliable, and safe LED lighting it creates a device which can readily be used to inspect a range of construction environments. The resulting high quality images provide views that have until now rarely been captured.