Understanding CHD pile performance in granular soils

The paper introduces a piling system developed by Roger Bullivant Ltd known as the Continuous Helical Displacement (CHD) pile. The pile has a number of advantages over current piling methods during installation, particularly when installed on brownfield sites. The method has been developed to achieve greater performance when installed in granular material when compared to conventional piling methods. In order to determine the origins of the improved performance, research is being carried out at the University of Dundee on the CHD piling technique. Both model test results and field data analysis work are described which determine refinements for the design of the piles. Model testing was used to compare the performance of simulated CHD, driven and auger bored piles. This work showed that the CHD has enhanced performance compared to bored piles and is more comparable to driven pile behaviour.