Abstract: | The increase of pile resistance with time is referred to as ‘set-up’. This behaviour of driven piles has been widely discussed in many studies by researchers. Meanwhile, there has been little, if any, information regarding this aspect for drilled shafts. Performing a bearing capacity test for a shaft over time, however, requires higher costs and more complicated rigs compared to a driven pile. A database including results from five Osterberg cell-tested drilled shafts conducted at two different stages is considered, from which the set-up effect is statistically analysed. The reliability-based analysis technique using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) is used to develop separate resistance factors to account for different degrees of uncertainties associated with the predicted reference resistance and the predicted set-up resistance in the framework of the load and resistance factor design (LRFD) method. By incorporating set-up into design, shaft length or number of shafts can be reduced and economical design of drilled shafts can be achieved. |