Pile driving monitoring (PDA) enables continuous monitoring of the process of driving piles (steel or prefabricated) into the ground. Pile driving is usually done with a hydraulic, diesel, or vibro hammer. The goal of PDA monitoring is to enable the driving of piles to the expected depth or required bearing capacity without exceeding the permitted stresses (tension and compression) in the pile.
In the case when the PDA analysis is part of the test program, which precedes the systematic pile driving, then the driving criteria can be established from the results of the analysis and the driving system can be optimized. When PDA monitoring is performed in the phase of systematic pile driving, the previously defined driving criteria can be checked and the bearing capacity of the pile can be determined during the driving itself in real time.