motorbiketocrank
Geotechnical
Just wanted to get some impartial opinions. We design and review a lot of projects in karst limestone regions where micropiles are commonly used for foundation support. Personally, I've always been concerned with a potential failure mechanism being collapse of a group of micropiles into an underlying void. I realize that micropiles obviously aren't end bearing and transfer their load in side shear over the bond length into the surrounding rock. My concern is that this overall load added into the rock mass over a void could cause collapse (obviously would depend on the strike/dip, etc of the rock and size/depth of the underlying void).
In my literature research, however, the main opinion I see is along the lines of "because micropiles aren't end bearing and shed their load in friction, there won't be a problem with underlying voids".
What do you all think? My opinion has been that a core boring should be extended below the pile group to make sure there isn't a large void right below the pile tips (or alternatively one of the piles should be extended to check for such voids". I get huge pushback on the issue, however, basically telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about. So I'd appreciate any experienced opinions.
In my literature research, however, the main opinion I see is along the lines of "because micropiles aren't end bearing and shed their load in friction, there won't be a problem with underlying voids".
What do you all think? My opinion has been that a core boring should be extended below the pile group to make sure there isn't a large void right below the pile tips (or alternatively one of the piles should be extended to check for such voids". I get huge pushback on the issue, however, basically telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about. So I'd appreciate any experienced opinions.
