ACIP Pile Installation, Installation Monitoring, Full-scale Load Testing, and Extraction Program
Authors: Marinucci Antonio 
Published: July 2024

The Augered Cast-In-Place (ACIP) Pile Committee of the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) performed a foundation installation, monitoring, performance and extraction program for ACIP piles in the fall of 2016. The purpose of the project was to demonstrate a fully monitored installation of instrumented 18 in (457 mm) and 24 in (610 mm) diameter ACIP piles, including automated monitoring equipment (AME); post-installation thermal integrity profiling (TIP) measurements; compression, tension, and lateral load testing (including monitoring of strain gages embedded along the compression pile shaft); and post-testing extraction of an installed pile for visual inspection. The program was initially planned by the ACIP Pile Committee, and a program site in Okahumpka, FL was selected. Initial funding was provided by the DFI Committee Project Fund with additional funds andin-kind pledges contributed from DFI members and industry partners. In the summer of 2016, the FloridaDepartment of Transportation (FDOT) and its research partners at the University of South Florida (USF)joined the program. Program details were finalized in the summer and fall of 2016. The purposes of this research effort were to demonstrate The fully monitored installation of instrumented ACIP piles, including the use of automated monitoring equipment (AME); The use and accuracy of thermal integrity profiling (TIP) methods with ACIP piles; The load-displacement behavior during compression, tension, and lateral load testing, including the use of and measurement by multiple strain gages embedded along the length of two piles; The integrity and as-constructed geometry of an ACIP pile by extracting an installed pile for visual inspection. To achieve the goals of the project, seven test piles were installed at a site in central Florida: two each for compression testing, tension testing, and lateral testing, and one pile for extraction and visual inspection. The intent of this document is to make the data and information obtained during the demonstration program available to the members of the DFI ACIP Pile Committee, Florida DOT, University of South Florida, and other possible research partners for review, analysis/interpretation, and discussion. The ultimate goals of this endeavor are to advance the overall state-of-the-practice for ACIP piles and to develop documentation for review and use; installation, monitoring, and testing methods; and reporting procedures to allow for both the use of ACIP piles for structural support of bridges and the inclusion of ACIP piles in DOT and other agency specifications in the state of Florida and elsewhere. All of the data presented and discussed herein can be made available in electronic format for additional analysis. Pertinent findings of the demonstration project include the following: The procedures and testing results described in the report highlight the successful installation, monitoring, and load carrying resistance provided by ACIP piles for structural support of bridges per the Florida DOT. The data can be used by the FL DOT as it develops a section for ACIP Piles for Bridges and Major Structures in its Standard Specifications; Grout volumes, as measured by an electromagnetic flowmeter and via manual counting of grout strokes, were in good agreement with each other; The overall grout volume of the extracted pile, when adjusted for the volume of grout observed flowing out of the top of the pile, was in good agreement with the volume calculated by manually measuring the circumference of the extracted pile at 1 ft (305 mm) intervals; Additional research into non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for ACIP piles, in particular Thermal Integrity Profiling, should produce a means to provide additional verification of pile integrity.