Pile Driving Equipments

REPORT BY- ROLL NO 21-30

NAMES- HETALI DOSHI
MURTUZA ENGINEER
HIMALAY GAJJAR
DEVYANI GANGAWANE
PRATIK GANEKAR
DARSHAN GOSHWAMI
RAVINDRA GUPTA
VITTAL HADPAD
SUNIL GOHEL
KUSHAL HATANGADI
PILE DRIVING EQUIPMENTS
PILES-

 Pile is basically a long cylinder of a strong material such as concrete that is pushed into the
ground to act as a steady support for structures built on top of it.
 Pile foundations are used in the following situations:
 When there is a layer of weak soil at the surface. This layer cannot support the weight of the
building, so the loads of the building have to bypass this layer and be transferred to the layer
of stronger soil or rock that is below the weak layer.
 When a building has very heavy, concentrated loads, such as in a high rise structure, bridge, or
water tank.
 Pile foundations are capable of taking higher loads than spread footings.
 There are two fundamental types of pile foundations (based on structural behaviour), each of
which works in its own way.
 End Bearing Piles
In end bearing piles, the bottom end of the pile rests on a layer of especially strong soil
or rock. The load of the building is transferred through the pile onto the strong layer. In
a sense, this pile acts like a column. The key principle is that the bottom end rests on
the surface which is the intersection of a weak and strong layer. The load therefore
bypasses the weak layer and is safely transferred to the strong layer.
 Friction Piles
Friction piles work on a different principle. The pile transfers the load of the building to
the soil across the full height of the pile, by friction. In other words, the entire surface
of the pile, which is cylindrical in shape, works to transfer the forces to the soil.
To visualise how this works, imagine you are pushing a solid metal rod of say 4mm
diameter into a tub of frozen ice cream. Once you have pushed it in, it is strong enough
to support some load. The greater the embedment depth in the ice cream, the more
load it can support. This is very similar to how a friction pile works. In a friction pile, the
amount of load a pile can support is directly proportionate to its length.
 WHAT ARE PILES MADE OF?
 Piles can be made of wood, concrete, or steel.
 In traditional construction, wooden piles were used to support buildings in areas
with weak soil. Wood piles are still used to make jetties. For this one needs trees
with exceptionally straight trunks. The pile length is limited to the length of a
 single tree, about 20m, since one cannot join together two tree trunks. The entire
city of Venice in Italy is famous for being built on wooden piles over the sea water.
 Pile Foundation Cross sections of various pile foundations Concrete piles are
precast, that is, made at ground level, and then driven into the ground by
hammering - more on that later. Steel H-piles can also be driven into the ground.
These can take very heavy loads, and save time during construction, as the pile
casting process is eliminated. No protective coating is given to the steel, as during
driving, this would be scraped away by the soil. In areas with corrosive soil,
concrete piles should be used.
 HOW PILES ARE USED?
 As pile foundations carry a lot of load, they must be designed very carefully. A
good engineer will study the soil the piles are placed in to ensure that the soil is
not overloaded beyond its bearing capacity.
 Every pile has a zone of influence on the soil around it. Care must be taken to
space the piles far enough apart so that loads are distributed evenly over the
entire bulb of soil that carries them, and not concentrated into a few areas. load
pattern of pile foundationsThe load pattern of the piles on the soil surrounding
them. This is also called a zone of influence.
 Engineers will usually group a few piles together, and top them with a pile cap. A
pile cap is a very thick cap of concrete that extends over a small group of piles, and
serves as a base on which a column can be constructed. The load of this column is
then distributed to all the piles in the group.
 HOW PILES ARE CONSTRUCTED?
 Piles can be either cast-in-place or precast driven piles. Cast-in-place piles are
made in the following steps hammer a thin-walled steel tube into the
ground,remove all earth left inside the tube,lower a steel ,reinforcement cage into
the tube,cast the pile by pouring wet concrete into the tube.
 The thin walled steel tube is called the casing, and only serves to form a secure
mould for casting concrete that is free from earth and debris. It has no structural
role to play after the casting is complete.
 Some soils are highly cohesive, meaning that if one drills a hole into the soil that is
say 1 foot wide by 50 feet deep, then the soil holds the shape of the hole and does
not collapse into the hole and block it. If such soil is present at the site, then one
does not need to leave a casing in place: one can use the casing to drill the hole
for the pile, and then remove it, and then cast the pile in place. This saves costs as
the same casing tube can be used to drill holes for all the piles.
 Precast Driven Piles are first cast at ground level and then hammered or driven
into the ground using a pile driver. This is a machine that holds the pile perfectly
vertical, and then hammers it into the ground blow by blow. Each blow is is struck
by lifting a heavy weight and dropping it on the top of the pile - the pile is
temporarily covered with a steel cap to prevent it from disintegrating. The pile
 driver thus performs two functions - first, it acts as a crane, and lifts the pile from
a horizontal position on the ground and rotates it into the correct vertical position,
and second, it hammers the pile down into the ground.
 Piles should be hammered into the ground till refusal, at which point they cannot
be driven any further into the soil.
SPECIAL PILES

 Pile driving is very noisy and causes massive vibrations through the soil. For this
reason, it is sometimes difficult to use them in sensitive locations. For example, if
an operational hospital or science lab is to be extended, driving piles would cause
unwanted disturbance. Their use is also restricted in residential areas in many
countries. The vibrations could also cause structural damage to older buildings
that are close by. In such situations it is possible to use micropiling or helical
piling, neither of which rely on hammering.
 Micropiles or minipiles are small piles that are constructed in the following way:
 Step 1: a hole a little larger than the pile diameter and the full length of the pile is
dug into the ground using an apparatus like a soil boring machine.
 Step 2: a precast concrete pile is lowered or pushed into the hole.
 Step 3: a concrete grout is poured into the gap between the pile and the earth.
DROP HAMMER

1. This type of driving hammer is an oldest and simplest form of

hammer and does not require any external source of power.
2. It is basically a block of cat iron, and is lifted to the desired
height of fall with the help of a winch and then release to fall
freely under the act of gravity.
3. The weight of a hammer generally varies between ½ to about 3
tonnes although larger sized hammer are also specially
constructed by the manufacturers. Height of fall is varied
depending upon the energy required per blow.
4. These pile driving hammer employed with a suitable
combination of hammer weight and stroke for a particular type
of pile and combination of soil. These are very suitable when a
source of energy (steam or compressed air supply) is not
available.
HYDRAULIC HAMMER
1. A breaker is a powerful percussion hammer fitted to an excavator for
demolishing concrete structures or rocks. It is powered by an auxiliary hydraulic
system from the excavator, which is fitted with a foot-operated valve for this
purpose.
2. Additionally, demolition crews employ the hoe ram for jobs too large
for jackhammering or areas where blasting is not possible due to safety or
environmental issues.
3. Breakers are often referred to as "hammers", "peckers", "hoe rams" or "hoe
rammers." These terms are popular and commonly used
amongstconstruction/demolition workers.
4. A hydraulic jackhammer, generally much larger than portable ones, maybe fitted
to mechanical excavators or backhoes and is widely used for roadwork,
quarrying and general demolition or construction groundwork.
5. These larger machine mounted breakers are known as Rig Mounted, or
Machine Mounted Breakers.
6. Such tools can also be used against vertical walls (or ceilings for that matter),
since the vehicles involved are massive enough and powerful enough to exert
the forces involved without needing the help of gravity in operating the tool.
Pneumatic or hydraulic tools are particularly likely to be used in mines where
there is an explosion risk (such as underground coal mines), since they lack any
high-power electrical circuitry that might cause a triggering spark.
7. Hydraulic breakers usually use a hydraulic motor driving a sealed pneumatic
hammer system, as a hydraulic hammer would develop a low strike speed and
transfer unacceptable shock loads to the pump system.
 8. Advances in technology have allowed for portable hydraulic breakers. The
jackhammer is connected with hydraulic hoses to a portable hydraulic
powerpack: either a petrol or diesel engine driving a hydraulic pump; or a mini-
excavator or skid-steervia a power take-off driveshaft to the machine's hydraulic
system. Hydraulic power sources are more efficient than air compressors,
making the kit smaller, cheaper or more powerful than a comparable pneumatic
version.

ADVANTAGES OF HYDRAULIC HAMMERS:

 Relatively small and lightweight equipment is required

 Relatively small cross-section and high strength helps penetration in firm soil

 Require minimal site preparation

 Spoil free means minimal cost for disposal of site debris

 Cost-effectiveness where many piles are required

 High productivity compared to traditional concrete raft foundations

 Suitability for a variety of ground conditions.

 DISADVANTAGES OF HYDRAULIC HAMMERS
 Noise – the impact of Hydraulic Hammer Power Supply is audible from a long

distance

 Vibration – often unacceptable for environmental or structural reasons

 Cumbersome plant – for many constricted sites, this form of piling is inappropriate

 Expense and time-consuming deployment when only a few piles are required
 DOUBLE ACTING HAMMER

1. Double acting hammer is similar to single acting hammer except that steam or air acts on both
the side of the piston.
2. Steam or air raises the ram to the top the driving stroke and then drives it downward stroke.
Thus steam or air pushes the ram downward and assist the gravitational force in striking the
blow.
3. This also increases the speed of the downward motion and thus increases the number of blows
per minute.
4. In double acting hammer steam or air is admitted above the piston after the piston reaches to
the top during its upward stroke. During the same time the fluid is allowed to escape from the
underside of the piston.
5. The speed of the hammer is about 100 blows per minute. The energy delivered by each blow is
about 20% more due to steam pressure. This results in 90% more energy per minute as
compared to single acting hammer

Suitability : These are suitable to drive steel sheet

piles
 Single Acting Steam or Compressed Air Hammer

1. Single acting pile driving the ram of the hammer is raised by the steam or compressed air when
works on the underside of the piston.
2. When the ram reaches the top of the upward stroke, the pressure of the steam or air is
released which results in the fall of the hammer by gravity. The falling hammer gives a blow to
the anvil block located at the pile head.
3. The weight of the ram are generally available in the range of 1.5 to 10 tonnes, thus making the
overall weight of the hammer 2 to 20 tonnes.
4. The number of blows per minute are generally around 60.
5. These hammers can also be used under water, where the hammers are lifted and droped in an
enclosed casing.
Advantages:-

 As they deliver heavy blows at faster speed, the time required for driving operation is lesser as
compared to drop hammer.
 Since it uses heavy hammer, it is possible to drive heavier piles in stiff clay and dense
cohesionless formation.
Disadvantages:-

 The speed of driving is slower than double acting hammer hence it is less suitable where fast
driving of lighter piles is required.
 Although they cost less than double acting hammers, they need more investments and are
costlier to operate and maintain than that of drop hammers.
 VIBRATORY DRIVER

 A vibratory pile driver has a number of important advantages compared to a

traditional hammer. Firstly, a vibratory pile driver can be
extremely economical and therefore the preferred method of pile driving.
Installation times are often much shorter than those achieved with impact
hammers. Compared to impact pile driving it also has the advantage
of reduced vibrations and noise pollution.
 vibratory pile hammers contain a system of counter-rotating eccentric
weights, powered by hydraulic motors, and designed in such a way that
horizontal vibrations cancel out, while vertical vibrations are transmitted into
the pile.
 The pile driving machine is lifted and positioned over the pile by means of an
excavator or crane, and is fastened to the pile by a clamp and/or bolts.
Vibratory hammers can either drive in or extract a pile; extraction is commonly
used to recover steel "H" piles used in temporary foundation shoring.
 Hydraulic fluid is typically supplied to the driver by a diesel engine powered
pump mounted in a trailer or van and connected to the driver head through a
set of long hoses.
 When the pile driver is connected to a dragline excavator, it is powered by the
excavator's own diesel engine.
 Vibratory pile drivers are often chosen to mitigate noise, as when the
construction is very close to residence or office buildings, or when there is not
 enough vertical clearance above the foundation to permit use of a
conventional pile hammer (for example when retrofitting additional piles to a
bridge column or abutment footing).
 Hammers are available with several different vibration rates, ranging from
about 1200 vibrations per minute to about 2400 VPM; the vibration rate
chosen is influenced by soil conditions at the site and other factors such as
power requirements and purchase price of the equipment.
 HYDRAULIC HAMMER

1. These hammers are of recent origin and are based on the principle of
differential hammer but utilities hydraulic fluid in place of steam or
compressed air.
2. These hammers utilize high pressure (upto 350 kg/sq cm) hydraulic fluid,
provided by a system consisting of an oil pump and fluid lines. Due to very
high pressure, equivalent driving force can be obtained with economy in
size, spacing.
3. In previous methods of pile driving, we face environmental constraints of
noise, vibration and smoke. Some countries have banned diesel pile drivers
and put check on noise level.
4. Computer installations, now common in offices are extreme lt vibration
sensitive, and pose serious problems for engineers and contractors working
close to existing building.
5. The hydraulic hammer gives maximum driving efficiency, reduced air
pollution, noise and vibration levels. These are completely under operator
control, and economical.
6. Although hydraulic hammers work in the same way as diesel and winch
powered free fall or drop stroke, blow rate and dwell on pile cap are totally
and automatically controllable. This makes it easier to exactly match
performance to piling and soil conditions.
7. Other advantages of hydraulic hammers are lower setup, lower
expenditure in shifting, saving in time due to absence of boiler or air
compressor, fast work and less energy consumption.