ABSTRACT

RELIABILITY STUDY OF PILE DRIVING ANALYZER (PDA)

TO STATIC LOADING TEST FOR PREDICTING THE PILE
BEARING CAPACITY
By

REZA KAZHIMI
STUDENT ID : 25013013
Master of Civil Engineering Program Study
Majoring in Geotechnical Engineering

Static load test tend to be expensive, time consuming and in some practical cases,
many limitations in its application. For small projects that relatively few piles, static
testing is often avoided because of the cost of testing is quite high when compared
to the overall cost. In recent decades, pile driving analysis using wave equation
(dynamic) began to grow and become one of the most commonly used methods.
The analytical method for dynamic load test that is often used is the signal matching
software using CAPWAP.
This thesis will discuss the reliability of dynamic load test (CAPWAP) in predicting
the pile bearing capacity to perform correlation prediction results of CAPWAP
(Case Pile Wave Analysis Program) with the results of static load test. Interpretation
of the bearing capacity by using CAPWAP done using force and velocity of data
obtained from testing Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA). For static load test
interpretation, using Chin method.
Based on the methodology of this research, in this thesis will interpret the pile
capacity of PDA test on Bangkanai PLTMG study sites using software CAPWAP,
and then compared with the results of static load test interpretation using the
corrected Chin method.

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With the purpose of considering the phenomenon of pile capacity changes after the
end of driving (EOD) as a result of soil setup or relaxation, time for dynamic testing
restrike test (with CAPWAP analysis) and static load test compared with the end of
driving time (EOD) also becomes a factor are considered. Most of the time pile
capacity during driving is smaller than the long-term capacity mainly to pile on
fine-grained soil.
Based on several studies that have been done before, setup soil increases linearly
with the log of time, the time difference is considered a good test if the ratio (T1 /
T2) between 0,33 and 1,25. in this study there was no test data has a ratio (T1 / T2)
above 1.25, so in this study will be used two groups, namely (T1 / T2) of less than
0,33 and (T1 / T2) is greater than 0,33.
Another factor that had an impact on the prediction capacity of the pile is set per
blow. A very low set per blow value will produce an estimated capacity that is at
the lower bound, it is because there is a possibility that not all resistance are
activated.
Study results show the CAPWAP method is able to predict the pile capacity which
is obtained from static load test results quite well. The average ratio CAPWAP
predicted results with the results of static load test is 0.84 with a standard deviation
of 0048 and a margin of error of 2.5%. The study results also show that the set /
blow and testing time between static load test and dynamic load test compared with
the end of the driving has an effect on the correlation analysis CAPWAP against
static load test.
The results of this study recommend to get a good correlation between the
CAPWAP and static load test, test time ratio between static load test and dynamic
load test compared with the end of the driving has a value greater than 0,33 and sets
/ blow value of piles is greater than 1 mm .
In this study is also performed back analysis to obtain a range of case damping
constant value (Jc) based on static load test results and the results of CAPWAP.
Case damping constant variation (Jc) which is obtained from back analysis with
static load test and also CAPWAP large enough though to be in the same site. This

should be a consideration when choosing Jc values used in conducting the case

method. In practical, many people assumes Jc values in the range 0.5 to predict the
pile capacity using the maximum case method. Based on the study results, by
assuming Jc values of 0.5 for all cases would result in over-prediction of up to 28%
when compared with CAPWAP.
Keywords : PDA, CAPWAP, static loading test, Chin method, pile capacity
interpretation

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