Pile Integrity Test

It’s a method generally applied to estimate the length of a pile as well as to obtain information regarding damages or defects in it. For that, an accelerometer is placed on the top of the pile, and then the pile is hit with a special hammer generating a compressional wave that travels from the top to the bottom, where part of the energy is reflected back towards the top and registered by the accelerometer.

The image on the right shows the field work and the one on the left shows a typical record where the reflection of the wave can be observed together with the pile’s length.