deep foundations Static Load Testing Calcasieu Pass Liquefied Natural Gas GRL Engineers Pile Dynamics, Inc.

Static Load Test on Calcasieu Pass Liquefied Natural Gas Project Sponsored

*GRL performed a SLT with GRL’s 500 ton frame on a 30-inch (76.2cm) open-ended pipe pile for the Calcasieu Pass Liquefied Natural Gas (CPLNG) project.*

Static Load Testing (SLT)

Static Load Testing (SLT) is used to evaluate the behavior of deep foundations prior to structure construction and tests the foundation’s axial compression or tension behavior or its deflected shape under a lateral load. GRL Engineers has been performing static load tests for years. The SLT System consists of a Data Acquisition Box placed close to the pile being tested. The box has twelve analog and four digital inputs. Frequently, additional boxes are “daisy chained” together if more channels are needed, such as for a multitude of embedded strain gages. Each Data Acquisition Box is powered by a Ni-MH battery that lasts more than 24 hours, or by any available 110/220 V AC source. The system uses PDI’s proven Smart Gage plug and play technology to automatically detect the sensor’s type and calibration factor, which makes it much easier and quicker to set up the system in the field saving many hours of setup time.

Load, Strain, Displacement, Pressure, Tilt and other measurements can be made with supported sensor types. The data is read at user-adjustable intervals (minimum of five seconds) and can either be immediately sent to a processing device (a PDI Tablet, or any PC running Windows® 10) or saved in local memory until it is requested by the processing device. Signal transmission to the processing unit can be accomplished by either cable or wireless communication, having a range of at least 100m (330 ft). Also, the data can be sent to a cloud server in real time.

SLT Test on Calcasieu Pass LNG, Cameron, LA case study

On August 15, 2019, seven days after the test pile was driven, GRL Engineers completed a Static Load Test with their 500 Ton SLT frame on a 30-inch (76.2cm) open-ended pipe pile for the Calcasieu Pass Liquefied Natural Gas (CPLNG) project in Cameron, Louisiana. The SLT System was used to capture the readings for one Vibrating Wire (VW) pressure gage, one resistive strain load cell and four digital dial indicators for displacement measurement. Data was collected at a rate of one scan every five seconds and graphed every 30 seconds for a total of approximately three hours. The live graph feature with the plotted Davisson Failure Criteria was utilized throughout the test, especially when the pile started to creep and eventually plunge. Within 30 minutes of completion of the load test, the load versus displacement graph was transmitted to the client for review.

Source: GRL's Newsletter: No91_Safe and Accurate Measurement with the Static Load Testing System