Pile Installation in Calcareous Clays

Through the later years, the authors have been involved with pile driveability predictions, installation and dynamic
monitoring of driven open-ended steel piles installed in the Arabian Gulf. This experience has been gathered into a
database containing over 150 back-calculated offshore pile installation records and that is continuously updated with
new inputs. It includes numerous pile installation in slightly over consolidated calcareous clays. Based on selected
extracts from this database, a new and improved guidance to better characterize calcareous clays is proposed in this
paper to provide an optimized and site-specific pile installation prediction. The developed guidance was used to
optimize installation of new pile foundations of platform X installed in calcareous Clays. This paper also elaborates
how the use of the Dynamic Monitoring System (DMS) and Signal matching analyses from past experience helps to
develop a site-specific approach and minimize uncertainties related to Soil Resistance to Driving, set-up effect and soil
dynamic parameters.