Pile Driving in Crushable Glauconite Sand Using X-ray Tomography
Pile Driving in Crushable Glauconite Sand Using X-ray Tomography
Crushable sands such as calcareous and glauconitic deposits are widely encountered in offshore and coastal environments, particularly in continental shelves and shallow marine sediments. Unlike quartz sands, these materials are composed of weak, porous, and often biogenic or authigenic particles that are highly susceptible to grain crushing under installation-induced stresses. During offshore pile installation, high stress concentrations develop around the pile tip and along the shaft, promoting particle breakage, fabric collapse, and local densification. These processes can significantly alter the mechanical response of the soil, leading to nonlinear penetration resistance, changes in shaft friction, and post-installation reconsolidation effects. This study presents results from four physical pile driving tests using calcareous and glauconitic sands to assess the influence of sand type on pile penetration resistance and grain-scale degradation under controlled boundary conditions. Pile penetration resistance was continuously recorded during installation. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans were performed before and after pile driving. The results show that calcareous sand exhibits a more repeatable installation response, whereas glauconitic sand displays greater variability due to heterogeneous particle crushing and fabric evolution. XCT observations indicate that pile inclination develops in both materials, but its effect on lateral load mobilisation is more pronounced in glauconitic sand.
Mohammad Amin Sayyah; Matteo Oryem Ciantia; Mahya Roustaei
11th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG2026)
Special Session 1: Physical modelling – from Practice/Industry to Academia
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICPMG2026-38