Can the Pile Driving Analyzer® (PDA) be used to measure the energy transferred to an SPT rod?

The Pile Driving Analyzer can measure the energy transferred from Standard Penetration Test (SPT) hammers to SPT rods. Often, project specifications require that this measurement comply with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D4633 and ASTM D6066 or the European Standard EN ISO 22476-3. Significantly, the European Standard and ASTM D4633 only accept determinations of this energy from Force and Velocity measurements on the rod.

The PDA can collect the Force and Velocity measurement. For acceptance, the PDA‘s sampling frequency must met the ASTM D4633 or EN ISO 22476-3 requirements. Currently, all PDA modes comply with ASTM D4633 or EN ISO 22476-3 standards. Nevertheless, the collection of this measurement requires the optional SPT Software Program Measurements and the SPT instrumented rod.

The SPT rod is approximately 0.6 m (2 ft) long. It comes with regular PR accelerometers bolted to the rod. In addition, after their calibration foil strain gages are glued to the rod’s exterior. Strain transducers, used for foundation testing, cannot be used on SPT rods. In short, ASTM D4633 requires an instrumented rod.