LOW STRAIN PILE INTEGRITY TESTING
LOW STRAIN PILE INTEGRITY TESTING
Pile Integrity Tester Makes It Economically Feasible to Verify the Integrity of Every Pile on Your Site
Pile Integrity Tester (PIT), also known as Sonic Echo or Pulse Echo methods, is used for the low strain integrity testing. The PIT may be used for auger cast-in-place piles, bored shafts, driven concrete piles and concrete filled pipes. It detects potential defects such as major cracks, necking, soil inclusions or voids and, in some situations, the method can determine unknown lengths of piles. PIT does not require advance planning or access tubes. This makes it the most affordable option when the pile integrity is in doubt.
HOW IT WORKS
An accelerometer attached to the top or side of the installed pile monitors the impact and resulting reflections of a small hand-held hammer. The accelerometer signal is evaluated in the field or transferred to a personal computer for further analysis by PIT-W, a Windows based software. If defect is present along the shaft, its size and location can be estimated by analyzing the propagation and reflection of the wave induced on the foundation by the hammer impact. It is also possible to estimate the depth of the pile toe.