Pile Testing

NSS provides site pile testing and pile condition reporting services to the construction industry. These services include Pile Integrity Testing (PIT); Cross Hole Sonic Logging; Pile Length Measuring and consultancy on the capacity and serviceability of piles. We use the latest site testing equipment and analysis software to provide a fast, efficient and cost effective service.

Pile Integrity Testing (PIT)

Defects in concrete piles caused either during or after construction may seriously affect their performance in service. Load testing of piles may be used to check the assumptions adopted in the load capacity design of the piles. However, it is too expensive and time consuming to use load testing as a means of checking workmanship. Modern non-destructive methods based on small strain impulse techniques enable the integrity of all the piles on a site to be established rapidly and economically to enhance confidence in the foundation. The test is performed using a portable, battery powered unit which requires no backup vehicle or vulnerable cables across site that disrupt normal construction activity. The test equipment is based upon the most modern digital data acquisition and signal processing techniques currently available, thus maximising the resolution and effectiveness of the test system. In excess of two hundred piles per day may be tested with this unit, depending on access and pile head condition.

Cross Hole Sonic Logging (CHSL)

The CROSS-HOLE SONIC LOGGER is used to detect defects in concrete structures and in other solid structures such as rock or concrete-rock interfaces. Defects that may be detected using sonic logging include: honeycombing; segregation due to improper concrete placement methods; washout of cement due to groundwater flow; cracks in pile shafts due to shrinkage; inclusion of foreign material causing contamination of concrete; necking and arching of piles due to collapse of side walls during withdrawal of temporary liners.

Vibration Monitoring & analysis of vibrations for optimisation of hammer parameters for compaction of soils, at power house sites due to turbo-generators, during driving of sheet piles, due to traffic in rock mass , in abutments due to movement of overhead trolleys & for assessing safety of constructed due to vibrations imposed by blasting etc.