Pile Driving Equipment for Driven and Driven Cast-in-situ Piles.

Pile driving equipment contains three parts. They are

1. A pile frame,
2. Piling winch,
3. Impact hammers.


Pile Frame
Pile driving equipment is required for driven piles or driven cast-in-situ piles. The driving pile frame must be such that it can be mounted on a standard tracked crane base machine for mobility on land sites or on framed bases for mounting on stagings or pontoons in offshore construction. Fig.15.3 gives a typical pile frame for both onshore and offshore construction. Both the types must be capable of full rotation and backward or forward raking. All types of frames consist essentially of leaders, which are a pair of steel members extending for the full height of the frame and which guide the hammer and pile as it is driven into the ground. Where long piles have to be driven the leaders can be extended at the top by a telescopic boom.

The base frame may be mounted on swivel wheels fitted with self-contained jacking screws for leveling the frame or it may be carried on steel rollers. The rollers run on steel girders or long timbers and the frame is moved along by winching from a deadman set on the roller track, or by turning the rollers by a tommy-bar placed in holes at the ends of the rollers. Movements parallel to the rollers are achieved by winding in a wire rope terminating in hooks on the ends of rollers; the frame then skids in either direction along the rollers. It is important to ensure that the pile frame remains in its correct position throughout the driving of a pile.

Piling Winches
Piling winches are mounted on the base. Winches may be powered by steam, diesel or gasoline engines, or electric motors. Steam-powered winches are commonly used where steam is used for the piling hammer. Diesel or gasoline engines, or electric motors (rarely) are used in conjunction with drop hammers or where compressed air is used to operate the hammers.

Impact Hammers
The impact energy for driving piles may be obtained by any one of the following types of hammers.

They are

1. Drop hammers,
2. Single-acting steam hammers,
3. Double-acting steam hammers,
4. Diesel hammer,
5. Vibratory hammer.

Figure 15.3 Pile driving equipment and vibratory pile driver

Drop hammers are at present used for small jobs. The weight is raised and allowed to fall freely on the top of the pile. The impact drives the pile into the ground.
 

In the case of a single-acting steam hammer steam or air raises the moveable part of the hammer which then drops by gravity alone. The blows in this case are much more rapidly delivered than for a drop hammer. The weights of hammers vary from about 1500 to 10,000 kg with the length of stroke being about 90 cm. In general the ratio of ram weight to pile weight may vary from 0.5 to 1.0.

In the case of a double-acting hammer steam or air is used to raise the moveable part of the hammer and also to impart additional energy during the down stroke. The downward acceleration of the ram owing to gravity is increased by the acceleration due to steam pressure. The weights of hammers vary from about 350 to 2500 kg. The length of stroke varies from about 20 to 90 cm. The rate of driving ranges from 300 blows per minute for the light types, to 100 blows per minute for the heaviest types.

Diesel or internal combustion hammers utilize diesel-fuel explosions to provide the impact energy to the pile. Diesel hammers have considerable advantage over steam hammers because they are lighter, more mobile and use a smaller amount of fuel. The weight of the hammer varies from about 1000 to 2500 kg.

The advantage of the power-hammer type of driving is that the blows fall in rapid succession (50 to 150 blows per minute) keeping the pile in continuous motion. Since the pile is continuously moving, the effects of the blows tend to convert to pressure rather than impact, thus reducing damage to the pile.

The vibration method of driving piles is now coming into prominence. Driving is quiet and does not generate local vibrations. Vibration driving utilizes a variable speed oscillator attached to the top of the pile (Fig. 15.3(b)). It consists of two counter rotating eccentric weights which are in phase twice per cycle (180° apart) in the vertical direction. This introduces vibration through the pile which can be made to coincide with the resonant frequency of the pile. As a result, a push-pull effect is created at the pile tip which breaks up the soil structure allowing easy pile penetration into the ground with a relatively small driving effort. Pile driving by the vibration method is quite common in Russia.

Jetting Piles
Water jetting may be used to aid the penetration of a pile into dense sand or dense sandy gravel. Jetting is ineffective in firm to stiff clays or any soil containing much coarse to stiff cobbles or boulders.

Where jetting is required for pile penetration a stream of water is discharged near the pile point or along the sides of the pile through a pipe 5 to 7.5 cm in diameter. An adequate quantity of water is essential for jetting. Suitable quantities of water for jetting a 250 to 350 mm pile are

A pressure of at least 5 kg/cm^2  or more is required.