‘First of a kind’ tests completed as part of £13.4m cliff stabilisation scheme

The latest phase of the £13.4m scheme to stabilise the cliffs behind Scarborough Spa is underway.

Strength validation tests – the first of their kind in the UK – have now been carried out on reinforcement piles being used in a major engineering project to stabilise cliffs behind the Scarborough Spa complex and protect the site for generations to come.

The University of Sheffield AMRC’s Advanced Structural Testing Centre conducted the tests for piling specialists Keller UK, who were appointed to do the work by the civil engineering company overseeing the £13.4m Scarborough Spa Slope Stabilisation Scheme on behalf of Scarborough council.

Andrew Heathcote, technical director at Keller UK, said: “This is the first ever test done in the UK – no-one has produced data from the UK and as far as we’re aware we don’t think it has been done before on this scale. We chose the ASTC because over the years it has tested piles before for a number of industry providers and has a fantastic reputation. We’re very happy with the results.”

Keller is manufacturing 206 concrete-filled steel piles that will be used to reinforce the cliffs behind the seafront heritage buildings to prevent further land movement.

The work requires 15m length piles to be driven deep into the ground to stabilise the soil but restricted access means Keller is having to use smaller 7m sections of piles that will have to be connected together to make the longer required length.

To ensure the connected piles are strong enough to withstand soil movement, Keller approached the AMRC’s Advanced Structural Testing Centre to carry out validation tests to determine the displacement on the piles – using forces of up to 150 tonnes.

Heathcote said: “Our work is being carried out in the Italian Gardens and the restricted access means we have to take the piles in 7m sections so they are smaller. Because of that we have to connect them together to get the longer lengths and there isn’t a lot of data available on the connectors we are using. A lot of the data available is based on drilled-thread collars from the oil industry and they are not designed for bending but more for torsion.

“We’ve been told we need to do tests to show the connectors we are using have the right bending moment capacity – which is what happens when an external force, or moment, is applied onto the pile causing it to bend – and the connectors are key to that. We need to know they are strong enough.”

The first Keller piles arrived on site in Scarborough at the end of last year and work continues. The overall scheme is expected to be completed by December 2019.

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