The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has engaged in several driven pile instrumentation and performance monitoring projects to evaluate the pile response during construction, during and subsequent to axial load testing, and in the years following construction. The intent of the load testing program at this site was to save time and money on driven pile installation by driving the piles to a relatively shallow dense layer of sand, rather than driving through that layer to a deeper deposit of dense sand and rock. This paper describes a project in Clearwater, Minnesota, where a production pile was instrumented immediately after installation, with measurements recorded in the weeks and years to follow, including during the execution of a static load test conducted on the pile. The paper includes site investigation data from both traditional borings (with SPT tests conducted) and cone penetration soundings at the site. Information from the high-strain dynamic monitoring tests and the complete response of the pile during the axial static load test is provided, along with short-term and long-term performance data through the duration of construction and in the initial years following project completion, respectively. The results of the static load test are important to document for local and regional calibration efforts. The construction and extended performance data provide a basis for several interesting observations. Lessons learned from this project are shared to help advance the state of practice in driven pile design.
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