Development of LRFD Procedures for Bridge Pile Foundations in Iowa Volume I: An Electronic Database for PIle LOad Tests (PILOT)

For well over 100 years, the Working Stress Design (WSD) approach has been the traditional basis for geotechnical design with regard to settlements or failure conditions. However, considerable effort has been put forth over the past couple of decades in relation to the adoption of the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) approach into geotechnical design. With the goal of producing engineered designs with consistent levels of reliability, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a policy memorandum on June 28, 2000, requiring all new bridges initiated after October 1, 2007, to be designed according to the LRFD approach. Likewise, regionally calibrated LRFD resistance factors were permitted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to improve the economy of bridge foundation elements. Thus, projects TR-573, TR-583 and TR-584 were undertaken by a research team at Iowa State University’s Bridge Engineering Center with the goal of developing resistance factors for pile design using available pile static load test data. To accomplish this goal, the available data were first analyzed for reliability and then placed in a newly designed relational database management system termed PIle LOad Tests (PILOT), to which this first volume of the final report for project TR-573 is dedicated. PILOT is an amalgamated, electronic source of information consisting of both static and dynamic data for pile load tests conducted in the State of Iowa. The database, which includes historical data on pile load tests dating back to 1966, is intended for use in the establishment of LRFD resistance factors for design and construction control of driven pile foundations in Iowa. Although a considerable amount of geotechnical and pile load test data is available in literature as well as in various State Department of Transportation files, PILOT is one of the first regional databases to be exclusively used in the development of LRFD resistance factors for the design and construction control of driven pile foundations. Currently providing an electronically organized assimilation of geotechnical and pile load test data for 274 piles of various types (e.g., steel H-shaped, timber, pipe, Monotube, and concrete), PILOT (http://srg.cce.iastate.edu/lrfd/) is on par with such familiar national databases used in the calibration of LRFD resistance factors for pile foundations as the FHWA’s Deep Foundation Load Test Database. By narrowing geographical boundaries while maintaining a high number of pile load tests, PILOT exemplifies a model for effective regional LRFD calibration procedures.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/reports/tr-573_lrfd_vol_1_w_cvr.pdf
• Record URL:
  • http://publications.iowa.gov/id/eprint/20067
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Institute for Transportation
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664

  Iowa Highway Research Board

  800 Lincoln Way
  Ames, IA  United States  50010

  Iowa Department of Transportation

  800 Lincoln Way
  Ames, IA  United States  50010
• Authors:
  • Roling, Matthew John
  • Sritharan, Sri
  • Suleiman, Muhannad T
• Publication Date: 2010-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 110p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge design; Bridge foundations; Database management systems; Geotechnical engineering; Load and resistance factor design; Load tests; Pile foundations
• Uncontrolled Terms: Working stress design
• Geographic Terms: Iowa
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Geotechnology; Highways; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01361085
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: IHRB Project TR-573), InTrans Project 07-294
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 25 2012 2:21PM