European standard and guideline for rapid load testing on piles

During the redevelopment of urban areas, new foundations may be constructed in reworked soil, or existing foundations may be re-used for working and ultimate loads that are often higher than originally foreseen. In these cases, the uncertainty about the bearing capacity of a foundation results in the need for pile load tests. Unfortunately, static load tests may prove to be expensive, requiring a large footprint and take a relatively long time to setup and undertake. Rapid load testing (e.g. Statnamic) might reduce costs, execution time and has relatively low space requirements. Recently a Standard for test execution and guidelines for interpretation have been developed. These are based upon the results of recent research projects undertaken in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. This paper discusses the background and most important aspects of the Standard and interpretation guidelines, and tests interpretation techniques on well-documented case studies.