PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF DYNAMIC FORMULATIONS WHEN USED IN PRECAST CONCRETE PILES: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

The control of pile driving with pre-cast piles is a set of procedures aimed at the safety, functionality, and durability of a structure. Among these procedures are the recording of the set (nega) and elastic rebound, which are variables in dynamic formulas. This article analyzes, through a probabilistic approach, the performance of these formulas for a project executed in Teresina-PI. To this end, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to the correction factors calculated by Ferreira (2017) for the Brix, Janbu, Wellington, Danish, and Dutch formulas. It was found that the behavior of the observed frequencies followed a Log-Normal distribution, due to the smaller distance between the observed and calculated curves. Assuming that the correction factors follow the Log-Normal probability distribution, it was possible to conclude that approximately 100% of the values obtained with the Janbu and Danish formulas are higher than the value suggested by the authors. For the Wellington and Brix formulas, this probability was approximately 90% and 80%, respectively. The worst performance was observed for the Dutch formula, with only 38.2% of the values falling between 6 and 10. The asymmetric behavior of the probability distribution and the variability of the results highlight the indispensability of local calibrations through load tests.