Load transfer in rapid load piles tests in clays

In order to gain an insight into the behaviour of rapid load pile testing in clays, a full scale pile instrumented with accelerometers, strain gauged sister bars and a tip load cell was tested in a glacial lodgement till near Grimsby, UK. The soil around the pile was also instrumented with radially arrayed buried accelerometers. The test pile was subjected to rapid loading tests, the results of which were compared with constant rate of penetration and maintained load static tests on the same pile. Shaft frictions derived from the strain gauged reinforcement in the pile have been compared with shear strains and stresses derived from accelerations in the surrounding soil to give an insight to the load transfer mechanisms for a rapidly loaded pile in clay.