Potential for HPC in Driven Pile Foundations

Prestressed concrete piles are widely used as deep foundation elements. In the United States design loads and concrete strengths have changed little over the past thirty years. The perception exists that there is little advantage to increasing concrete strength since the existing design loads are usually much less than code allowable loads. Two examples are given here to show possible advantages of the use of high performance concrete (HPC), particularly high strength concrete. It is shown that design loads are usually limited by driving stresses. Therefore, if higher strength concrete is used, increased driving stresses could produce higher design loads with associated reduced installed cost.