High-Strain Dynamic Load Testing at the Bahía – San Vicente Bridge:Evaluation of Results against Design Values

摘要

The Bahía-San Vicente Bridge, with a length of 1,990 meters betweenabutments, is located in the Chone River estuary in the central part of the Ecuadoriancoast. The bridge site is characterized as an estuarine environment formed by alluvialdeposits with depths between 25 and 85 meters overlying weathered rocks. The designteam decided to build the bridge foundations with open-end steel pipe piles, mainlysupported by skin friction. To verify the installed capacity of the piles, high-straindynamic load tests were carried out.This article assesses the results obtained from the load tests conducted, whichhave shown considerable increases in the capacity of the piles as a function of time, dueto thixotropic characteristics of subsurface materials. Additionally, the results arecompared with the load capacity estimated during the design phase, which has allowedsetting specific parameters for the soils of the region, for use in future designs.