Vibration caused by sheet pile driving- effect of driving equipment

Abstract: In many construction works in urban areas vibratory driving is the most widely used technique toinstall sheet piles. But due to vibration-sensitive equipment and structures the amount of inducedground vibration need to be minimized. Hence, it is important to select appropriate vibratorparameters that will minimize the level of induced ground vibration.The main objective of this thesis is to study the effect of the vibratory parameter eccentricmoment (vibrator displacement amplitude) on the induced ground vibration during sheet piledriving. To achieve the objective, a literature review and a full-scale field test has beenconducted. The literature review was conducted to provide guidance for the evaluation of thefield test results.The field study was performed in Uppsala in June 2018, where a series of six sheet pile drivingtests were conducted, the first three sheet piles were driven with lower vibrator displacementamplitude and the next three with higher vibrator displacement amplitude, but the same drivingfrequency was used for all six sheet piles. Five tri-axial accelerometers were used to measure thevibration amplitude on vibrator, sheet pile and ground.Important findings of the field study confirmed that, driving sheet piles with higher eccentricmoment will induce lower ground vibration and higher sheet pile penetration speed incomparison to driving with lower eccentric moment. Limitations and possible future researchworks are pointed out.