Use of Drainage Holes on Reinforced Concrete Pipe Piles to Accelerate Soil Consolidation

This paper investigates the application of permeable piles (reinforced concrete pipe piles with drainage holes) to accelerate soil consolidation during pile driving. To achieve that, finite element models are generated in ABAQUS with infinite element boundary condition. The results of numerical analyses show that the performance of permeable piles can be improved by drilling drainage holes. However, the influence of these openings on the structural performance of permeable piles has not been evaluated before. The structural behavior of permeable piles is investigated in this study using uniaxial compression tests and four point flexure tests. Although drainage holes could reduce the ultimate compressive strength of pile specimens, the measured values were much larger than design specifications. For bending tests, cracks with smaller width were initiated and propagated over an increasingly wider area in permeable piles, and an improved flexural capacity was obtained. These results of the current study show that permeable pile is an attractive alternative to accelerate soil consolidation.