Timber Pile Anchors
Timber Pile Anchors
(OP)
Double timber piles are used to support the guy wires of about 30m towers about 25 years ago.
The ground (riverbed) is about 2m of clayey silt underlain by clean sand materials to a depth of 30m. The depth of anchorpiles are not known. Field inspection shows that the anchor piles are inclined 10-20 degrees towards the tower.
For geotechnical performance monitoring of the anchor piles what approaches one should take.
Appreciate your feedback in advance.
The ground (riverbed) is about 2m of clayey silt underlain by clean sand materials to a depth of 30m. The depth of anchorpiles are not known. Field inspection shows that the anchor piles are inclined 10-20 degrees towards the tower.
For geotechnical performance monitoring of the anchor piles what approaches one should take.
Appreciate your feedback in advance.





RE: Timber Pile Anchors
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
Thank you for the feedback. One question is that what you mean by compression value of granular soil. Wonder if it can be translated to SPT.
Also observation of the anchor piles indicated that the horizental loads are more than the vertical loads. I am looking for a reference to see how far the piles can lean towards the applied forces and still be functioning.
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
I would think the loads and soil are probably about the same now versus 30 years ago (e.g. it hasn't fallen down for 30 years), its the wood pile capacity you want to evaluate/test. Or are they planning to enlarge the tower loads and need to know if it has the required capacity?
Are these a battered pair of piles, or are both vertical? If they are battered, then axial compressive/tensile capacity are more important, if not, then lateral pile capacity. Either way, you may want to talk to the wood technology people about how to estimate strength loss or decay, perhaps such as coring in to get small samples. I'm at a loss there.
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
I understand that by compression you mean bearing capacity. Am I right?
At each anchoring position the twin timber piles were presumably driven vertically 25 years ago. Now the piles appear to lean towards the tension forces over time and they have currently an inclination of 11 degrees to 19 degrees. The maximum horizontal movement of the pile tops could reach to 320 mm. One of the question is how much inclination (or horizntal movement) is allowed. How much roration in the pile is acceptable, beyond which we may want to replace the piles. Thank you again.
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
And, what do you mean by "The maximum horizontal movement of the pile tops could reach to 320 mm"? How would you know that when you don't know the pile depth?
RE: Timber Pile Anchors
"Are you sure they are not in the installed position? I could visualize a case where they were battered to limit the shear component of the guy loading, that is, place more of the load in-line with the pile and less in perpendicular."
Michael.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.