Evaluation of the bearing capacity of piles constructed in Thi-Qar, Iraq, using direct methods of SPT.

The determination of the bearing capacity of pile value has been of concern to geotechnical engineers. Increasing the geotechnical structures established in Nasiriyah, located in southern Iraq, places great responsibility on geotechnical engineers in assessing the values of the viability of bearing the piles for different projects and proposing the most appropriate methods for this area. In this study, different methods for estimating the value of the bearing capacity from direct Standard Penetration test (SPT): Meyerhof (1976), Aoki Velosso(1975), Bazaraa & Kukur (1986), Shariatmadari(2008), Decourt (1995) for Al-Eskan Interchange in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq. Three criteria were used to rank the best method. The first method was by plotting the predicted value versus measured value and the second method was by estimating the means and standard deviations. The last one was by using the probability distribution method. The results of this study indicated that the predicted value of bearing capacity of pile calculated with Meyerhof's equation is the closest to the measured value from the interpretation of static test load. This conclusion contributes to using the appropriate method for the preliminary pile foundation design for soil in Nasiriyah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]