A case study on pile relaxation in dilative silts
Abstract In the mid 1980s the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge was built in Rhode Island spanning the west passage of Narragansett Bay. The bridge was to be founded primarily on pre stressed concrete piles acting as friction piles. A test pile program was conducted at the beginning of construction and the measured capacity of the piles was significantly lower than predicted values. This led to significant delays in construction, cost overruns, and ultimately led to a change in the design of the foundations. The overall objective of this thesis is to evaluate the results of the test pile program and attempt to understand why the measured capacities were so much lower than design values.