Gone are the days where many heavy concrete blocks were stacked to test for pile capability. The StatRapid, a new rapid load testing equipment, is an alternative to the traditional static load testing method. With the StatRapid, the construction process is faster and lighter, and uses less labour, and reduces the carbon footprint.
For the construction of almost 2000 housing units in Singapore, 3,732 piles have to be bored with the dimensions of the piles ranging
between 500 and 1,200 mm.
As requisted by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) a total of 34 piles were subjected to testing. Instead all Kentledge tests, many tests could be replaced by StatRapid tests. From the 34 piles tested, 15 were instrumented ultimate load tests, including 8 correlation test between Static Load test and StatRapid load test. For 29 other piles, working load tests were applied.
In this project, as all projects, the time schedule was tight. In order to get the installation of the working piles done in 4 months, required also fast progress in the pile testing program. As result it worked out that a significant advantage in time could be reached. The StatRapid test took only a few days to perform, where a traditional static Kentledge test took a few weeks to perform. The advantages of Statrapid for this project is straight forward: cost reduction by time reduction. No, or limited, interference with other construction activities on site leads to signifant gains in both time and costs. After construction the piles, both the engineering consulants, the main contractor and the piling contractor were satisfied with the obtained results in this project.