The Geotechnical Bearing Capacity of Old Timber Piles

Abstract

In this thesis the geotechnical bearing capacity of old timber piles in Amsterdam is studied. This is necessary because many structures such as quay walls, bridges and houses in the (historic) city centre of Amsterdam are founded on timber piles with ages ranging between 80 and 300 years old. The assessment of the foundation is currently done using many assumptions, these are needed because the piles are not easily accessible and old construction drawings are not always available or accurate. Furthermore, the effect that bacterial degradation of the wood has on the interface friction between soil and wood has never been studied in detail. In the assessment it is currently assumed that degradation has no effect on the geotechnical bearing capacity (Kalt and Dusseldorp (2018)), while in the old Dapperbuurt tests it was found that old piles had a reduced shaft capacity of 40% (Korff (2013)). The study is split into two parts; firstly a laboratory study into the effect of bacterial degradation on the interface friction between sand and wood has been performed, and secondly a sensitivity analysis into the geotechnical bearing capacity of timber piles in Amsterdam soil has been carried out.