*****************Registration Open until 12 March 2015******************

INTRODUCTION

Piling works are required for almost all the construction projects in Malaysia. To verify that the pile can serve its intended functions, pile load testing is required. This practice has  been  in  place  since  the  start  of  the  piling  works.  With  the  ever  increasing construction  activities  in  built-up  city  environment,  it  is  good  for  the  industry  to constantly  look  at  our  current  practice  and  observe  good  practice  of  the  testing  to ensure  safety  of  pile  design  but  also  to  ensure  its  effectiveness.  This seminar will highlight good practice of pile load testing that will ensure its relevancy for future pile work in Malaysia.  Professors, piling specialists, testing experts and regulators will share their knowledge in this area. The practicing engineers and public are welcome to share their view in this area during the forum session.


SEMINAR CONTENT

1.) Rapid Load Test - from Theory to Practices in Singapore by Prof. Chew Soon Hoe

Pile  foundation  needs  to  be  ascertained  on  its  bearing  capacity  and  its  settlement behavior.  This  presentation  will  introduce  a  new  method  of  pile  testing  –  Rapid  Pile load test - which was accepted in ASTM Standard in 2008, as well as Australian and Japanese National Standard. This method employs a very innovative concept of using enhanced  acceleration  on  a  small  mass  to  achieve  a  large  force  via  Newton  Law. Hence, a testing load of 100% can be achieved by a mass of 5% (of test load) that was subjected to an acceleration of 20g. The test set-up is fast and easy, and the testing duration is short. This presentation will present the theory, as well as a number of case studies in Singapore. The piles were typical piles designed and installed in various soil profiles commonly encountered in Singapore. Correlation tests with conventional static test were conducted and excellent comparison between the static test results and the Rapid Load Tests results were obtained.

2.) Load Testing using Kentledge and Reaction Pile Method by Er. Foo Hee Kang

The bored cast in situ pile foundation are extensively adopted in Singapore to support various structures like MRT, bridge, factories, Commercial and residential building. With the building getting taller and bigger, the load on foundation piles also get heavier. In view  of  the  complexity  of  the  soil  condition  in  Singapore,  it  is  difficult  to  predict  the behavior of foundation piles with accuracy, even with the use of sophisticated analysis. The actual performance of foundation pile is best verified by performing load test. The presentation will illustrates the experience of large pile load test using Kentledge (up to 5,700 ton) and Reaction system (up to 7,600 ton) in term of safe design, quality control and productively aspects.

3.) Bi-Directional Load Testing Method by Er. Chandrasegaran

Conventional ultimate pile load test methods with kentledge and reaction piles methods are reliable but require lots of preparation in terms of transporting and  handling large number  of  concrete  blocks  safely  or  installing  additional  piles  as  reaction  piles.  Bi-directional  testing  is  one  of  the  methods  that  provides  alternative  to  the  conventional testing methods and is more environment friendly and can be used in certain geological conditions successfully. It has been in use for more than 2 decades now. The talk will cover the theory behind the method, installation procedure and review some of the case histories, which had mixed results and discuss both advantages and disadvantages in deploying the method of testing.

4.) Pile Instrumentation Techniques for Driven, Jacked-In and Bored Cast-In-Place Piles by Ir. Dr. Lee Sieng Kai

The common use of conventional sacrificial cast-in strain gauges and sleeved rod tell-tales method is generally limited to bored pile application. An innovative instrumentation and analysis technique, called Glostrext method has also been used widely, providing an improved and practical way for ease of instrumentation application for various load tests methods on driven, jacked-in and bored cast-in-place piles.  Key aspects of instrumented load tests and recent case histories will be discussed, including pros and cons on various pile instrumentation techniques and interpretations.

5.) Non-Destructive Tests on Bored Piles - Dynamic Load Tests (PDA), Low Strain Integrity Testing (PIT) and Sonic
      Logging by Engr. Chong Mun Fai

The trend today is construction of buildings and infra structures in buildup areas. These requires high carrying capacity non displacement piles to be installed. Due to limited site space, non-destructive testing on these piles has become a common tool to establish the quality of the installed piles. Low Strain Integrity Testing (PIT) and Sonic Logging is a good tool for establishing the integrity of the installed piles. Dynamic Load Test (PDA) is utilized to confirm that the installed piles is able to sustain the design capacity and also integrity.


BIODATA OF SPEAKERS

1.) Prof. Chew Soon Hoe, a Professional Engineer, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore. His research interests include geosynthetics, soil improvement, slope engineering, land reclamation, deep excavation in soft soils, geo-environmental engineering and geological engineering. He has conducted research on pile testing using innovative method since 1998. He has published some papers on Statnamic Pile Testing as well as the vibration effect of this new method. He was awarded “Defense Technology Prize”, from Ministry of Defense, Singapore in 2006. His research on the innovative use of cement mixed soil in  Geotube for  Pasir Panjang  Port  Extension  work  also  won  him  the  “Ministry  of Transportation – Minister’s Innovation Award (excellent) prize”, 2011. He was awarded with the “Friends of Waters” award in 2013 by PUB.  He is a council member of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore, IES (2006-2013 and 2013-2015).

2.) Er. Foo Hee Kang, Managing Director, Resource Piling Pte. Ltd., Singapore. A Keller Group Company, Resource Piling Pte. Ltd. was founded by him 21 years ago. He  obtained  his  B.Eng  (Civil)  from  University  of  Singapore  in  1978.  He is a Senior Member of Institute of Engineer, Singapore and a registered PE (Civil) Singapore. He is an  active  member  of  GeoSS  and  was  awarded  GeoSS  Outstanding  Geotechnical Entrepreneur in 2012.

3.) Er. Chandrasegaran, a registered PE in Singapore and PE (Geo) in Singapore and Malaysia. He has more than 25 years of design and construction experience in both major building developments as well as underground infrastructure in the region in the role of both consulting engineer as well as a specialist subcontractor. Chandrasegaran is  currently  Regional  Design  Manager  with  Bachy  Soletanche  Singapore  Pte  Ltd covering the region that includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Australia. His  major  area  of  expertise  is  in  the  deep  excavation,  deep  foundations  and  ground improvement. He is a committee member of GeoSS (2014-2015).

4.) Ir. Dr. Lee Sieng Kai has more than 23 years of experience in the field of geotechnical engineering and pile test instrumentation technologies.  He  obtained  his  Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from University of Malaya in 1990, and was conferred PhD in  Foundation  Engineering  in  2011  by  the  same  University.  His  research  has  been awarded  with  three  GOLD  medals  in  the  national  and  international  innovation competitions.  He is a Professional Engineer registered with Board of Engineers, Malaysia and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Engineers, Malaysia. Presently, he is the managing director of Glostrext Technology Sdn. Bhd. and Glostrext Technology (S) Pte. Ltd.

5.) Engr. Chong Mun Fai is a graduate from Monash University Melbourne, Australia. He has been involved in the foundation testing industry since 1989. During the years he attended numerous PDA Users Days in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and also USA where in-depth training of High Strain Dynamic Load Testing and also interpretation. He was also a committee member of the Geotechnical division of IEM in the session of 2005/2006. He was also in the organizing committee of The 7th International Conference on the Application of Stresswave Theory and also published a paper there. At present he is the Managing Director of Dynamic Pile Testing Sdn Bhd which he set up in 1994. Most of the work are in Malaysia but the services of DPT has spread to countries like New Zealand, Australia, Guam, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Singapore and the middle east like Saudi, UAE and Yemen.

6.) Dr. H. M. Aziz is a Deputy Director of Air Base and Maritime Branch, JKR. He has served in JKR since 1983. He obtained his PhD from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA. Dr. Aziz will be one of the Panelist in The Forum.