GEOLAB_CentriPlug

This repository contains experimental data from Transnational Access project CentriPlug, as part of GEOLAB initiative.

CentriPlug is abbreviated from Centrifuge and Plugging and focuses on evaluating the performance of an innovative, small-scale pile instrumented for plug formation modelling. This device allows continuous monitoring of radial total stress and pore water pressure development during the installation of open-ended pipe piles in cohesive soils. The investigation was carried out in the geotechnical centrifuge to ensure a realistic soil stress condition. The experiments were performed in the 9.0 g-ton, 1.22-meter-radius geotechnical centrifuge. The soil specimens comprised soft to firm clay prepared from a Kaolin KDG powder-water mixture (slurry). The models used two customized open-ended steel pipe piles with external diameters of 26 mm and 30 mm and a thickness of 2 mm. The pore water pressure is captured with optical fibre pressure sensors (OFPS), a transducer used for micro-scale environments. KYOWA strain gage transducers detected the total stresses. The pile installation was conducted under an increased gravitational acceleration field of 50g up to a penetration depth of nearly 90 mm, leaving sufficient time for monitoring the total stress and pore pressure development inside and outside the piles. Additional in-flight testing included T-Bar tests and pile pull-out sequences.