Pile Integrity Check

The Pile Integrity Test (PIT) is a material testing procedure .

In practice, all concrete bored piles in a construction site are tested for integrity. Before the pile is tested, the concrete must have fully set. At least the first 10 cm of the pile head is chiselled off to ensure a homogeneous concrete quality. The PIT Pile Integrity Test is a pile test procedure in which the travel time from the pile head to the pile base is measured with the aid of the speed of sound waves. The pile inspector hits the previously prepared bored pile head with a hammer and triggers a sound pulse. The sound wave propagates over the length of the bored pile and is reflected at the base. A measuring sensor measures the impulses at the pile head and forwards the signals to a computer. Consequently, the pile length is determined from this measurement. In the case of a correspondingly “disturbed” pile with constrictions, the sound wave pulse is reflected earlier. The recorded sound wave course can now be interpreted by the bored pile tester.

Web links

• Perfect piles and dilapidated bridge parts - Interview with Ernst Niederleithinger, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing