Shaft Area Profile Evaluator (SHAPE®)

Excavations are rarely ideal cylinders and irregularities can affect capacity and design. SHAPE better characterizes an excavation’s profile in under 5 minutes.

PDI’s Shaft Area Profile Evaluator or SHAPE provides fast, economical visual representation of a foundation’s verticality, radius, and volume.

SHAPE® is a cost-effective quality assurance testing device used for deep foundations such as drilled excavations, slurry walls, barrettes and more to determine the excavation verticality and profile.

It provides superior performance over testing limitations experienced with a sonic caliper due to density of slurry walls.

SHAPE offers 360 degree, 2D and 3D profile views of a drilled excavation in water, bentonite, polymerslurry or open air.

SHAPE’s 8 ultrasonic sensors for wet excavations or 8 lidar sensors for dry holes, acquire data at a rate of 30.5cm per second as it advances through the excavation.

Data is acquired and sent to the main unit, providing quick testing that doesn’t jeopardize the construction schedule.

SHAPE sensor units weigh less than 30 kg and easily connect to Kelly bars or a winch deployment system. An integrated self-calibrating feature automatically adjusts for changes in wave speed.

With a transmitter and receiver across from each other of a known distance at the top of the device, a calibration pulse is generated every time there is data collection (every second). Should the slurry become denser with depth, respective changes in wave speed are calculated to greatly improve the accuracy of the computed radii.

SHAPE can be used in excavations ranging from 51cm to 6 meters in diameter, and up to 150 meters in depth. The entire process can be completed quickly and produces immediate profile views. Remote testing is available via

SiteLink® Technology for projects where an engineer cannot be onsite.

Pile Dynamics, Inc. is the leading manufacturer of quality assurance products for the Deep Foundations Industry. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, PDI has commercial representatives globally. For more information visit www.pile.com/pdi.