Driveability of concrete piles pretensioned with CFRP

Four concrete piles prestressed with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics were cast, in which two piles were fabricated with CFRP transverse reinforcement. The remaining two were provided with transverse steel spiral reinforcement. The piles were designed according to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) guidelines. The Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) was chosen as the primary data acquisition system for the pile driving due to its mobility, reliability and robustness based on the high frequency excitation. The Pre-driving analysis consisted of several stages. The estimated static bearing capacity of the experimental piles was first calculated followed by SPT sampling at the pile driving site to obtain the soil conditions. The percent skin and toe friction, ultimate capacities, driving system parameters, maximum displacements, energy, integrity, tensions and static capacity were determined prior to pile driving. The piles were then driven and the data from the pile driving compared with the analysis.