Planning for Driving Offshore Pipe Piles

Difficulties in driving offshore piles to design penetration are not infrequent and result in costly delays. Some of the more frequent problems are illustrated by six case histories of long piles driven to penetrations from 200 ft to 300 ft in various offshore regions. Drivability of the installed piles for each of these cases was investigated in retrospect by the one-dimensional wave equation, a technique that can also be applied as an important step in preconstruction planning. The need for supplemental procedures to aid pile driving because of unfavorable installation conditions can frequently be anticipated from combined evaluation of wave equation results and practical pile driving experience. Supplemental pile installation procedures such as jetting and predrilling should be performed under close engineering supervision to assure that the completed pile installation is consistent with design requirements.