580

Design of large-diameter drilled shafts

for the Northumberland Strait bridge project
D.J. Walter, W.J. Burwash, and R.A. Montgomery

Abstract: The Northumberland Strait bridge, recently named the Confederation Bridge, is a 12.9 km long bridge crossing
Northumberland Strait between Borden, Prince Edward Island, and Bayfield, New Brunswick. The bridge must withstand
large horizontal loads that are due to ice impact, wind, and wave action on the piers and superstructure. The abutment and the
14 shallow water approach piers located on the New Brunswick side of the strait are supported on groups of large-diameter
drilled piles socketed into weak sedimentary rock. Pile designs are based on shaft resistance developed within the bedrock.
Preliminary calculations indicated that piles were required with average socket lengths of about 13.5 m. A pile load test was
carried out at the New Brunswick abutment for the purpose of refining the shaft design parameters. The pile load test was
successful in allowing a 55% reduction in the average design socket lengths.
Key words: Confederation Bridge, Northumberland Strait, bridge foundations, bedrock, drilled piles, pile load test.

Rsum : Le pont du dtroit de Northumberland, nomm rcemment le Pont de la confdration, est un pont dune longueur
de 12,9 km traversant le dtroit de Northumberland entre Borden, le-du-Prince-douard, et Bayfield, Nouveau-Brumswick.
Le pont doit rsister de fortes charges horizontales dues la glace, au vent et laction des vagues sur les piliers et la
superstructure. La cule et les 14 piliers daccs situs dans le dtroit en eau peu profonde du ct du Nouveau-Brunswick
reposent sur des groupes de pieux fors grand diamtre encastrs dans une roche sdimentaire molle. Les calculs des pieux
sont bass sur la rsistance du ft dveloppe dans le lit rocheux. Des calculs prliminaires ont indiqu que les pieux devaient
avoir des longueurs moyennes dencastrement denviron 13,5 m. Un essai de chargement de pieu a t ralis sur le site de la
cule du Nouveau-Brunswick dans le but de raffiner les paramtres de conception des fts. Lessai de chargement a permis de
rduire de 55% les longueurs moyennes dencastrement calcules.
Mots cls : Pont de la confdration, dtroit de Northumberland, fondations de pont, lit rocheux, pieux fors, essai de
chargement de pieu.
[Traduit par la rdaction]

Introduction
The Confederation Bridge is a 12.9 km long toll bridge con-
structed across Northumberland Strait between Borden, Prince
Edward Island, and Bayfield, New Brunswick. The sea-floor
depth varies along the bridge route to a maximum depth of
about 30 m near the centre of the strait. The Confederation
Bridge is unique with respect to most other long bridges in that
it is designed to withstand very large horizontal loads resulting
primarily from ice impacts, wind, and wave action on the struc-
ture.
The bridge spans near the New Brunswick side of the strait
are supported by 14 approach piers founded on groups of large-
diameter, drilled, cast-in-place concrete shafts socketed into
bedrock. The New Brunswick abutment is supported on
smaller diameter drilled shafts also socketed into bedrock.
Piles are designed based on the side resistance generated
within the socketed zone. Preliminary design calculations in-
dicated that piles would be required with average socket
Received August 7, 1996. Accepted May 6, 1997.
D.J. Walter. C-CORE, Memorial University of
Newfoundland, St. Johns, NF A1B 3X5, Canada.
W.J. Burwash. Golder Associates Ltd., Calgary, AB T2P 0W1,
Canada.
R.A. Montgomery. Golder Associates Ltd., Ottawa, ON K2C 2B5,
Canada.
lengths of about 13.5 m. A large-scale pile load test was car-
ried out for the purpose of verifying shaft resistance parame-
ters and optimizing the design lengths of the piles. This paper
discusses the design and construction of pile foundations for
the New Brunswick approach piers, provides details of a large-
scale pile load test that was carried out at the New Brunswick
abutment, and discusses how the results of the pile load test
were used to reduce the design pile lengths at the approach pier
foundations.
Subsurface conditions
Several drilling programs were carried out at the New Bruns-
wick abutment and approach piers between the summer of
1994 and May 1995. At least two boreholes were drilled at the
site of each approach pier to depths of up to 26 m below the
sea-floor elevation. The stratigraphy generally consisted of
04.5 m of overburden overlying weak sedimentary bedrock.
Triple-tube core barrels were used for continuous core sam-
pling of the bedrock. Preliminary logging of the core was car-
ried out in the field prior to the core being crated and
transported to Borden, Prince Edward Island, where it was
logged in detail by the project geologist.
The rock sequence across Northumberland Strait was pre-
viously described by Kosar et al. (1994), and consists of an
often complex series of interbedded sandstone, siltstone, and
mudstone with thin conglomeratic and brecciated horizons.

Can. Geotech. J. 34: 580587 (1997). 1997 NRC Canada

Walter et al. 581

Fig. 1. New Brunswick approach pier foundation concept in (A) plan view, and (B) cross section.

1997 NRC Canada

582
Table 1. Computed shaft friction used for preliminary design of pile lengths.
Uniaxial compressive
Rock unit
strength of rock (MPa)
Mudstone 3.2
Siltstone 8.9
Sandstone 11.6
Because of the complex stratigraphy, it is possible to draw only
very broad lithological correlations between pier sites. Even
on a very detailed scale (i.e., between drill holes for an indi-
vidual pier site), correlations are often difficult or impossible
to achieve either stratigraphically or lithologically because of
the complex bedding patterns.
Rocks at the site are typically red in colour with occasional
green reduction patches along joint surfaces. At depth the rock
is uniformly grey, most likely representing different deposi-
tional conditions. The rocks seen in onshore outcrop and in the
core have been deposited as sediments in a fluvial or estuarine
environment. It is likely that the coarser sediments were de-
posited by braided rivers and that the siltstones and mudstones
represent overbank deposits left by major floods. Thinly lami-
nated mudstones are believed to have resulted from quiet depo-
sition in lagoonal embayments or locally ponded areas. The
thick sequences of silty mudstone suggest quiet periods when
more limited volumes of coarse sediments were being brought
in. Softened seams are seen in mudstones in outcrops and in
the core; they are generally less than 5 mm thick, however,
seams of up to 0.2 m are not uncommon. Naturally occurring
(as opposed to drilling induced) softened zones appear to be
of two main types, namely thinly laminated or fissile mud-
stones, and brecciated mudstone and siltstone. There is no
doubt that a weathering profile exists and is expressed in terms
of rock softening and weakening, joint spacing, and bedding-
plane separation. This is reflected in the rock quality designa-
tion (RQD) measurements, which were generally lower near
the bedrock surface and increased with depth. Similarly, the
total core recovery (TCR) and solid core recovery (SCR)
measurements indicated a greater occurrence of lost core near
the bedrock contact than deeper in the rock formation.
Approach pier foundation concept
The New Brunswick approach spans vary from 66 to 93 m in
length and are supported by an abutment and 14 approach
piers. The approach piers are located offshore in water that
varies from about 1 to 7.5 m in depth. Each approach pier is
supported on six drilled shafts of 2 m diameter and socketed
into bedrock. The six drilled shafts are arranged in a circular
configuration and are battered outwards at a 0.25H:1V slope
(Fig. 1). The use of battered shafts allows much of the horizon-
tal pier load to be transferred to the foundation rock as axial
load in the piles. The pile cap is located within a steel-encased,
cast-in-place concrete ice shield, which is constructed at the
approximate mean sea elevation.
The bridge was designed using limit-states methodology.
The approach piers must withstand factored loads of
5060 MN in the vertical direction, bending moments of
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 34, 1997
Unit shaft friction in compression
Unfactored (MPa) Factored (MPa)
0.36 0.14
0.60 0.24
0.68 0.27
80200 MN/m, and horizontal loads of 1419 MN. The maxi-
mum factored compressive axial load within individual piles
varies from 14 to 20 MN. Foundation resistance factors are
based on the Ontario highway bridge design code (Ministry of
Transportation of Ontario 1991). A resistance factor of 0.4 is
used for axially loaded piles in compression, and a resistance
factor of 0.3 for axially loaded piles in tension. For the New
Brunswick approach piers, compression loads govern the de-
termination of pile lengths.
The location and thickness of softened zones within the
bedrock cannot be predicted to any degree of certainty and can
potentially be located at shallow depths below the pile tips. In
addition, it is difficult to carry out underwater inspections of
battered piles to ensure that the pile tips are acceptably
cleaned. Because of the potential loss in end bearing due to the
compression of sediment and excavation debris left at the pile
tip, or due to compression of softened zones located at shallow
depths below the pile tips, the piles were designed based on
shaft resistance only.
Socket walls were mechanically roughened by constructing
rectangular grooves, measuring 0.24 m in height and 0.11 m
in depth at a vertical spacing of 1.0 m. The roughened socket
walls help to increase the load transfer between the pile and
the foundation rock. The grooves help prevent slippage be-
tween the pile and rock, and because the concrete pile is much
stronger than the bedrock, any slippage will likely occur
through the rock located between the grooves. Additional re-
sistance is also achieved because prevention of slippage results
in dilation along the pilerock interface and an increase in the
radial stress (Horvath et al. 1983). The unit shaft friction de-
veloped by the primary rock units was estimated as a function
of the uniaxial compressive strength of the intact rock and the
pile wall roughness as outlined in the Canadian foundation
engineering manual (Canadian Geotechnical Society 1992).
This relation, which was largely based on work by Rowe and
Armitage (1987), is shown as follows:
1/2
qs qu
[1] = fr b
pa p
a
where qs is the unit shaft friction, qu is the uniaxial compressive
strength of rock, b is an empirical roughness factor with a
conservative design value of 0.63 (Carter and Kulhawy 1988),
fr is a resistance factor for limit-states design (0.4 for compres-
sion and 0.3 for tension), and pa is atmospheric pressure. The
preliminary design shaft friction parameters computed for the
mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone units at the New Brunswick
approach piers are shown in Table 1.
Design stratigraphic cross sections were developed based
on the subsurface conditions identified at each pier location.
1997 NRC Canada
Walter et al. 583

Fig. 2. Pile load test assembly at New Brunswick abutment.

1997 NRC Canada

584
Fig. 3. Monitoring of test pile during curing period (Feb. 25 to Mar. 5).
(A) Concrete temperatures. (B) Concrete strains.
The shaft resistance was computed for each rock unit making
up the design pile length, and the total pile resistance was
obtained by summing the shaft resistance provided by the in-
dividual rock units along the pile shaft. For conditions where
the factored load equals the factored resistance, the prelimi-
nary design socket lengths vary between 10.5 and 17.0 m at
the 14 New Brunswick approach piers. It was recognized that
the computed preliminary pile lengths were conservative, and
that design pile lengths could be reduced if the actual shaft
resistance developed was greater than that predicted by the
preliminary design. Accordingly, a pile load test was carried
out to refine the parameters used for final design of the ap-
proach pier piles.
Pile load test
A pile load test carried out offshore was considered to be
prohibitively expensive and, accordingly, only onshore lo-
cations were considered for the test. Of the available on-
shore locations, the New Brunswick abutment was eventually
selected for the pile load test because the bedrock stratigra-
phy at the abutment was most representative of the bedrock
conditions observed at the New Brunswick approach piers.
This is particularly due to the presence of significant thick-
nesses of mudstone (MDST), siltstone (SLTST), and sand-
stone (SS) at the abutment location. A thin layer of conglomerate
(CONG) was also encountered. Figure 2 shows a simplified
representation of the stratigraphy at the test location. In this
figure, the rock strength (R) was defined in accordance with
the standards established by the International Society for
Rock Mechanics (1978).
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 34, 1997
Test pile installation
The pile load test was carried out using a large-capacity down-
hole jack in a 0.91 m diameter shaft. The use of a downhole
jack for this large-diameter pile test had several advantages
over traditional pile testing methods including the ability to
test two piles simultaneously in one shaft, elimination of the
normal requirement for a large load frame at the ground sur-
face, and the elimination of the need for reaction piles.
The 0.91 m diameter test pile was constructed in February
1995. The test setup (see Fig. 2) consisted of a 27 MN capacity
downhole Osterberg cell (jack) located between a 4.0 m long
upper test section (UTS) and a 2.6 m long lower test section
(LTS). The upper test section was constructed within a depth
interval containing a series of thin, approximately 1 m thick,
layers of interbedded weak mudstone and siltstone. The lower
test section was located within a massive sandstone unit con-
taining a small amount of siltstone and mudstone. The length
to diameter (L/D) ratio was 4.4 for the upper test section and
2.9 for the lower test section. The Osterberg cell used for the
pile test was 0.8 m in diameter, with a maximum extension of
just under 150 mm. The jack was hydraulically controlled and
was operated using a hydraulic pump at the ground surface.
To minimize the end-bearing resistance of the test pile, a
void was constructed at the base of the lower test section using
high-density polystyrene insulation placed between two layers
of sheet steel. The void was designed to allow 32 mm of move-
ment prior to reaching full compression. Both the upper and
lower test sections were instrumented with strain gauges and
telltales. Two telltales were located at the tops and bottoms of
the upper and lower test sections (total of 8 telltales). Three
pairs of sister bar strain gauges were fastened to the rebar cage
in the lower test section and four pairs were fastened to the
rebar cage in the upper test section. Additionally, two horizon-
tal embedment strain gauges were installed within the upper
test section to allow monitoring of concrete temperatures and
strains during curing of the concrete.
The test pile was drilled using a Wurth rotary drill mounted
on a 0.94 m diameter steel casing driven into bedrock. The drill
rig used seawater as a drilling fluid and reverse circulation for
removal of drill cuttings from the excavation. A pneumatic
grooving tool was used to cut 0.1 m high by 0.1 m deep
grooves in the sidewalls of the excavation at a 0.75 m vertical
spacing. Cuttings from the grooving process were removed
from the bottom of the excavation using an airlift.
The excavation sidewall roughness was measured before
and after the grooving process using a three-arm caliper tool.
The results of the caliper measurements were inconclusive be-
cause the calipers were slightly smaller than the diameter of
the grooves cut into the excavation sidewalls. The excavation
was dewatered to a depth approximately 12 m below the top
of the casing using the airlift, and a video camera was used to
carry out an inspection of the sidewalls. The video indicated
that the excavation walls were relatively rough, and grooves
were clearly observable in the siltstone and mudstone forming
the upper test section. The excavation could not be dewatered
sufficiently to inspect the sandstone in the lower test section.
The pile was cast on 25 February 1995 and a period of
approximately 10 days was allowed for the concrete in the test
pile to cure prior to carrying out the load test. Concrete with a
compressive strength greater than 45 MPa was specified for
the test pile. Concrete cylinders tested on March 6 had an
1997 NRC Canada
Walter et al.
Fig. 4. Load schedule for pile test.
Fig. 5. Response of test pile to load. (A) Top of upper test section
(positive movement is upwards). (B) Bottom of lower test section
(negative movement is downwards).
average unconfined compressive strength of 48.6 MPa. To en-
sure that the strains measured during the test were a result of
load being applied to the pile and not strains associated with
curing of concrete, both curing strains and concrete tempera-
tures within the test pile were monitored during the curing
period (Fig. 3). The pile test was not carried out until the con-
crete temperature and curing strain rate had stabilized.
Pile test
The load test was carried out on March 7 and 9 according to
the loading schedule shown in Fig. 4. Load was initially ap-
plied to the test pile in a series of 1 MN increments, with the
load held for 4 min at each load level. When the load reached
585
Fig. 6. Unit load transfer at maximum load.
8 MN, the pile was unloaded to 2 MN and a series of 30 rapid
loadingunloading cycles was carried out within the 25 MN
range. The purpose of the rapid loadingunloading stage was
to determine whether cyclic loads such as those resulting from
wind, waves, or ice impacting the bridge pier would result in a
loss of adhesion between the pile and the rock. Figure 5 con-
tains plots of load versus pile movement for both the upper and
lower test sections during the pile test. Only very small pile
displacements were observed as a result of the load cycling
stage of the test.
Following the cyclic loading stage, the pile was loaded back
to 8 MN in 2 MN increments. Beyond 8 MN the load was
increased in 1 MN increments, holding for 4 min after each
load increment was applied. During this stage of the test, the
1997 NRC Canada
586
Fig. 7. Shaft resistance of piles in weak rock. Data are from Matich (1967), Freeman (1972), Osterberg (1973), Rosenberg (1976), Williams
(1981), and Horvath (1983). NB, New Brunswick.
rate of upward displacement of the upper test section acceler-
ated and was considered to have reached failure at a load of
approximately 14 MN and at a total upper test section dis-
placement of approximately 40 mm (Fig. 5). At this stage of
the pile test, the displacement of the lower test section was less
than 8 mm. The test was temporarily stopped, as continuing to
extend the jack at this time would only result in further dis-
placement of the upper test section with little or no increase in
capacity.
The load on the test pile was reduced and held at approxi-
mately 4 MN while a fast-setting concrete plug was cast on
top of the upper test section. The purpose of the concrete plug
was to provide additional capacity for the upper test section
such that the load in the Osterberg cell could be increased
sufficiently to fail the lower test section. After allowing 24 h
for the concrete plug to set up, load was reapplied to the test
pile in 2 MN increments to 14 MN. The load was then in-
creased in 1 MN increments to a maximum of approximately
17.6 MN before the test was stopped due to full extension of
the jack. At a load of 17.6 MN, the total downward displace-
ment of the lower test section was approximately 15 mm. The
total upward displacement of the upper test section during the
test was approximately 125 mm and the total Osterberg cell
extension was 140 mm.
Interpretation
The unit load transferred to the foundation along the pile shaft
is shown in Fig. 6 for the maximum upper test section vertical
load of 14 MN and for the maximum lower test section vertical
load of 17.6 MN. Load transfer is computed based on the
known loads at the top and bottom of each test section and
using the strains measured in the strain gauges installed within
the piles. Although the data show some scatter in the measured
unit load transfer along the pile shaft, ultimate shaft resistances
were determined for each of the three individual rock types
along the shaft of the test pile.
Observations of cores obtained from boreholes drilled at the
New Brunswick abutment and the 14 New Brunswick approach
pier locations show some variations in rock properties at different
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 34, 1997
locations. The mudstone located at the test pile site was con-
sidered comparable with the weakest mudstone observed at the
approach piers. Accordingly, the smallest measured unit load
transfer in the upper test section (0.60 MPa) was selected as a
reasonable unfactored design shaft friction value for mud-
stone. The siltstone at the New Brunswick abutment has some-
what better rock mass strength properties, as determined using
the rock mass rating (RMR) system developed by Bieniawski
(1974), than the siltstone found at several of the New Brunswick
approach piers. Accordingly, the lower bound unit load trans-
fer (1.11 MPa) measured in the siltstone of the upper test sec-
tion was selected as the unfactored design shaft friction value
for siltstone. Although 1.11 MPa is slightly less than the unit
load transfer measured in the siltstone during the test, it is
considered to be representative for the siltstone found at the
New Brunswick approach piers. Because the lower test section
was constructed primarily in sandstone, the average unit load
transfer to the foundation in the lower test section of 2.16 MPa
was selected as a representative unfactored design shaft fric-
tion value for sandstone. As shown in Fig. 7, the shaft friction
parameters determined from the pile test are comparable to test
results obtained by others for drilled shafts in similar materials.
Final design of aproach pier foundations
Final design pile lengths were calculated for individual approach
pier foundations using shaft friction parameters obtained from the
pile test. To ensure that the production pile geometry remained
similar to that of the test pile, the minimum L/D ratio of the pro-
duction piles was limited to 3 (design socket lengths of no less
than 6 m for 2 m diameter production piles). A sacrificial length
of 0.5 m was added to each pile to allow for limited or zero
adhesion support in the very weathered surficial bedrock. The
sacrificial length was increased to 1.0 m where a pile casing was
driven into bedrock and the expected penetration of the casing
into rock was less than 1.0 m. The average final design socket
length of the approach pier piles was 7.5 m, which was approxi-
mately 55% of the average socket length calculated for the
preliminary pile design.
1997 NRC Canada
Walter et al.
Conclusions
The pile load test at the New Brunswick abutment was success-
ful in providing design shaft resistance parameters for the three
primary rock types observed on the project and allowed the
bridge piers to be constructed using drilled shafts that were
substantially shorter than those analysed during the prelimi-
nary design. Although high-capacity, large-diameter pile load
tests are very expensive to carry out, the cost of this pile load
test was more than offset by the savings associated with reduc-
ing socket lengths at the approach pier structures.
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to thank Strait Crossing Joint Venture for
permission to publish this case history.
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