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10 Things you should know about Pile Integrity Testing

1. Pile Integrity testing is a low strain type test. Dynamic pile testing is a high strain type test. Time domain PIT and frequency domain PIT are both low strain tests. 2. It is unlikely that you will detect the pile toe for piles that are deeper than 30 pile diameters in cohesive soils, i.e. 15m for a 500mm diameter pile in clay. 3. Valid interpretation of data relies on obtaining good quality signals on site, and this depends to a large extent on good pile head preparation. 4. Defects closer to the pile head will be easier to detect than those at depth. 5. To obtain the pile head stiffness and mobility of a pile, you will need to measure the force of the impact blow with an instrumented hammer and also the frequency response of the signal ( i.e. with a TDR2) 6. Pile shaft features detected close to the pile head can obscure anomalies further down the pile shaft. i.e. multiple cracks, so it is a good idea to retest when excavated if possible 7. Approx 90% of defects found by PIT testing are shallow cracks, close to the pile head caused by excavation or plant movement whilst concrete is still green 8. Vibrations on site by plant can cause erroneous results as the sensors used are sensitive to ground movement also. 9. PIT is an indirect result and should not be the final acceptance criteria for a pileit does not replace good engineering judgment. 10. It is generally not possible to use PIT to test piles that are underneath pile caps or structures. Parallel seismic is the method for this.