Ultimate Strength Of Steel Screw Piles In Sand

Steel screw piles have been in use for about a decade in Australia, with design strengths up to about 1500kN. Screw piles resist applied loads by shaft friction and end bearing at the helix. However, the end resistance is often limited by the structural capacity of the steel helix plate, resulting in design strength that can be significantly less than the available geotechnical strength of the foundation. The paper presents a method for estimating the base resistance of steel screw piles in sand, which compares well with pile load test data.