Characteristics of gravelly granite residual soil in bored pile design: An in situ test in Shenzhen

Granite residual soil is widely distributed in south China and is treated as a special soil. Its design parameters in rotary drilling bored piles are a matter of debate due to lack of in-situ pile load tests. Back-analysis of test piles is a reliable means of studying the geotechnical capacity of granite residual soil for pile design. In this study, a series of in situ tests was conducted comprising six full-scale instrumented test piles in gravelly granite residual soil in Shenzhen to consider the effects of different construction methods. The six piles were constructed with three different rotary drilling methods. Two commonly used design methods were investigated in the back-analysis: the SPT and effective stress methods. The results of the loading tests and strain gauges were used to obtain the back-analyzed parameters of the ultimate shaft resistance and ultimate base resistance for gravelly granite residual soil with these two design methods.