Proposed Revisions To The Piling Standard The Effect Of Geotechnical Investigations And Test Loads

Proposed revisions to the current version of the Australian Piling Standard will affect the way that the geotechnical and structural engineering professions and the pile construction industry will consider the geotechnical capacity of piled foundations. Significant changes are to the manner in which geotechnical investigations and test load programmes affect the geotechnical strength reduction factor, which are generally lower than the current standard. The proposed changes also reduce the permissible settlement under test load Special consideration will be required for the structural capacity of piles which are to be test loaded to prove ultimate geotechnical capacity.

This paper discusses some of the proposed changes and compares them to the current requirements. The general emphasis will be for piles for normal industrial, commercial and residential structures. The developers of large infrastructure and heavy industrial projects usually recognize the importance of comprehensive investigation and test programmes and require little incentive to implement them.