Process, equipment, and method on how to do sheet pile driving or sheet piling at the site, moreover.
Process, equipment, and method on how to do sheet pile driving or sheet piling at the site, moreover.
SHEET PILE DRIVING METHOD
There are three general methods of sheet pile driving that we used in the construction field today. These methods are the same with driving steel pipe casing. These driving processes are Impact Driving, Vibro Driving, Pressing, and lastly, Driving with Assistance.
SHEET PILE DRIVING METHOD - IMPACT DRIVING
One of the earliest form of pile driving is the impact driving. Impact driving is best known by using drop hammer. Drop hammering uses a falling weight to create the impact at the top of the pile. Today, the most durable drop hammer we use is the hydraulic hammer. Other type of drop hammer are air hammers and diesel hammers. These drop hammers utilize an explosive force to drive the striking hammer. However, as the newer hydraulic hammers operate at significantly higher efficiencies and are far less noisy than older diesel hammers, the diesel are now less preferred to used. Additionally, impact driving is less preferred. Because its great impact blow tend to cause damage on the sheet piles.
Impact driver for sheet pile at site.
SHEET PILE DRIVING METHOD - VIBRO DRIVING
Perhaps Vibro-driving is the most common method of driving sheet piles into the ground. Sheet piles are driven into the soil by generating vibrations in the the ground. Vibrations agitate the surrounding soil to reduce its resistance.
The dynamic weight of hydraulic hammer or pile driver produces a high induced force at low intervals. On the other hand, on a vibratory hammer, a relatively low steady load at a high frequency is induced to the pile caps. The risk of fractures and cracks is eliminated since the vibratory hammer has a low impact.
The vibration case has two pairwise eccentric weights that rotate in a vertical plane to create vibration. Because of this, they generate each a centrifugal force Fc. A vertical vibration cycle is produced when two unbalanced eccentrics are rotated in opposite directions.
A Vibro hammer driving sheet pile.
Parts of a vibratory hammer head.
Vibration cycle of a eccentric dynamic weight of a vibratory hammer.
Process, equipment, and method to do sheet pile driving or sheet piling at the site, moreover.
SHEET PILE DRIVING METHOD - PRESSING
The more sophisticated driving method used for sensitive areas is the pile pressing. Pressing method operate by jacking the piles into the ground using the adjacent piles as a source of reaction. This is a low and low vibration method. This makes it ideal for residential areas. There are two generic types of pressing rig. The Japanese rigs and the panel driving rigs.
The Japanese method uses a rig that progresses along the line of piles. It does not need to be lifted onto each pile by a crane. This means that access requirements are reduced. However, the machines are often specific to a particular generic section size. Therefore it is important to match the pile section to the driving method.
The panel driving or pressing rigs are suited to installation in heavy clays. It requires a crane to move from pile to pile. It was necessary to bolt the plates to each pile with an older multi-ram. However, recent advances have eliminated this requirement.
A Vibro hammer driving sheet pile.
DRIVING ASSISTANCE METHOD
Driving can be made easier using various assistance methods. These can significantly improve the construction of a sheet pile wall. The two main methods are jetting and pre-auguring.
Jetting involves delivering a water jet to the soil at the toe of the sheet pile thus reducing the friction of the soil.
On the other hand, pre-auguring refers to the use of a continuous flight auger to penetrate the ground along the pile. Soil should only be loosened along the line and must not remove when using this technique.
Pile Jetting
However, both methods change the soil properties around the sheet piles so the impact of their use must be considered.
