This manual has been developed by the Timber Piling Council as its official recommendation for Timber Piling Design and Construction.
Preface All objects and structures transfer their load either directly or indirectly to the earth. The capacity of the earth to support such loads depends on the strength and stability of the supporting soil or rock materials. Not all foundation materials possess the required characteristics to carry imposed loads or to resist natural or man-made forces without resulting in damage to the structures they support. Consequently, the engineer is faced with the task of designing foundations to distribute high-intensity loads in a manner that can be supported by existing natural subgrade materials, and /or modifying those natural materials.
This design manual follows the design methodology presented in the Federal Highway Administrationšs Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations (FHWA-HI-97-013). The information from this FHWA document has been condensed to focus solely on timber piles and has been supplemented to provide additional guidance with respect to the selection of timber pile structural properties required for design.
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Chapter 12 reviews the geotechnical considerations that are important in defining the site conditions (i.e., subsurface exploration program) and provide the design engineer with the necessary information to perform the foundation design with respect to the subsurface soils.
