Drilled Shaft Profile & Verticality Evaluation (SHAPE®)

Shaft Area Profile Evaluator Services

GRL Engineers, Inc., offer SHaft Area Profile Evaluator (SHAPE) services to measure and report the characteristics of a wet pour, drilled shaft excavation. The device uses eight ultra-sonic signals to scan the sides of an excavated drill hole. GRL Engineers SHAPE service provides a quick check of the drilled shaft verticality, radii, shape, and drilled hole volume. During a test, collected data are stored within the device’s internal memory allowing for cable free data collection.

Once the SHAPE device has been quickly connected to a drill rig Kelly bar, it is positioned over the center of the drilled hole. The device is then lowered into a water or slurry filled hole while simultaneously collecting data from all sensors as it is descending or ascending in the drilled hole, at a rate of approximately 1 foot / sec. Following removal of the SHAPE device from the drilled shaft excavation, the device is connected via ethernet cable to the SHAPE Tablet where the collected test data are downloaded, processed, and displayed. This can be done in real time with a GRL engineer on-site, or it can be done remotely with the engineer connected to the SHAPE Tablet via the internet.

Drilled hole profiles of radius vs depth are checked and presented for each diametrically opposite pair of sensors. From the diameters calculated at the top and bottom of the drilled hole, the verticality as well as the offset in a x and y direction can be determined. The theoretical and measured volume of the drilled hole can also be compared as a function of depth.

The drilled hole can also be visualized in a 3-Dimensional (3-D) plot that rotates to provide a 360-degree view. This 3-D plot can be used to assess the verticality and change in radius along the drilled hole depth. At any selected depth, the radius and the offset (eccentricity) can be calculated and reported with reference to the top of the drilled hole.