This document summarizes a presentation on incorporating pile setup capacity in the design of driven steel pipe piles at Fort Hills. It discusses the mechanisms of pile setup in sand, literature on predicting setup, pile designs and load tests at Fort Hills, interpreting pile driving analyzer test data to estimate setup, and applying setup to pile design. The conclusion recommends considering an average 60% setup over 40 days for similar soil and considering 10% production pile testing to confirm setup before finalizing pile lengths.

1. Incorporating Pile Set-Up Capacity in
Design of Driven Steel Pipe Piles at
Fort Hills
Martin Lun, M.Sc., P.Eng.
Co-Authors of Paper: Subhamoy Dasgupta (Suncor Energy)
Changyoung Kim (SK Engineering)
October 3, 2016

2. PRESENTATION SUMMARY
• Mechanism of Pile Set-Up in Sand
• Literature Review
• Pile Designs at Fort Hills
• Data Interpretation for Estimation of Pile Set-Up
• Application of Pile Set-up to Pile Design
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3. MECHANISM OF PILE SET-UP IN SAND
• A number of researches attempted to
investigate the mechanism of pile set-up
but it is still not well understood
• Principal mechanisms include:
• Pore-water dissipation
• Stress Relaxation (due to soil arching)
• Soil aging (re-arrangement of particles)
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4. MECHANISM OF PILE SET-UP IN SAND
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5. LITERATURE REVIEW
• A number of empirical relationships have
been proposed for predicting set-up.
• Most researches exclude the initial pore-
water pressure phase as it is difficult to model
due to the non-linear behaviour.
• Empirical relationship established by Skov
and Denver (1988) is the most popular.
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6. ESTABLISHED CORRELATIONS
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7. PILE DESIGNS AT FORT HILLS
• Surficial geology consists of about 80 m thick
kame deposit (silty sand) over Clearwater
and/or McMurray Formation.
• Thurber completed over 100 auger test holes
and CPT soundings at Secondary Extraction
in 2013
• 2 static pile load tests completed
• Pile designs based on load tests.
• Soil variability assessed by CPTs and THs
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10. PILE LOAD TESTS
• Two static load tests completed on a 610 mm
and 914 mm diameter steel pipe piles.
• Both piles installed to 18 m depth.
• 610 mm size pile reached maximum test load
of 6,200 kN without failure
• 914 mm size pile failed at a load of 9,000 kN.
• Average ultimate shaft resistance ranges
from 75 to 120 kPa based on the load tests
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11. DURING CONSTRUCTION
• Pile acceptance based on driving set criteria
derived from PDA test results
• About 100 driving set criteria were
established based on site conditions, pile
sizes, design loads and driving hammers.
• Of the 10% production piles tested by PDA,
69% were tested at End of Initial Drive
(EOID); 25% at Beginning of Re-Strike
(BOR); 6% at both EOID and BOR.
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12. CHALLENGES DURING CONSTRUCTION
• Aggressive designs based on load tests
(including set-up)
• Need to verify pile capacities during
construction by PDA tests
• Allow to do 10% PDA tests
• Selected piles were PDA tested at BOR.
• Congested site. Access was an issue.
• At the end, project was completed on
schedule and within budget.
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13. PDA TEST DATA INTERPRETATION
• After completion of pile construction, the PDA
test data was screened with respect to soil
conditions, data from both EOID and BOR.
• 24 piles (610 and 762 mm dia.) were installed
in similar silty sand materials with PDA tested
completed on both EOID and BOR.
• Use Skov and Denver 1988 empirical
relationship to fit test data
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15. DISCUSSIONS
• Based on my experience at Fort Hills, the
following guidelines may be followed to
consider setup in pile design:
• Need adequate test holes and CPTs to
delineate subsurface conditions
• A minimum 10% production piles to be
PDA tested at both EOID and BOR,
preferably at the start of construction
• Adequate re-strike required to confirm set-
up
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16. CONCLUSION
• The objective of my paper is to incorporate set-up
and thus, provide better estimate of pile lengths for
future pile designs at Fort Hills.
• An average setup of 60% over 40 days from EOID
may be considered for similar soil type and driving
condition at Fort Hills, provided it can be further
assessed before and/or during construction.
• A thoughtful QA/QC program during construction
provides more than just quality. It may also reduce
project cost in relation to shorter pile lengths.
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17. QUESTIONS?
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