Methods of Construction of Pile Foundations

Outline of Presentation
1. Methods of installation of piles a. Driven Piles b. Bored Piles 2. Case study:- Piling work at Bandra - Worli sea link ( BWSL )

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Methods of installation
The methods of installation of piles are mainly divided into two types 1. Pile Driving:- In this method the pile (Precast or cast in situ) is driven into ground by means of automated pile driving machines. 2. Pile Boring:- In this method the pile (Mostly Precast) is bored into ground by means of by hand operated or automated augers.

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a. Driven Piles
The piles types which are installed using pile driving methods includes: Timber piles Steel piles Precast concrete piles Prestressed concrete piles Cast-in-situ piles

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a. Driven Piles
Driven piles are installed by means of a driving hammer or a vibratory driver. The various types hammer types includes:1. Drop hammer, 2. Steam or air hammer, 3. Diesel hammer 4. Hydraulic hammer. Use of these hammer types are classified as percussive piling, which is subject to the requirements of Noise Control Ordinance (HKSARG, 1997). The use of noisy diesel, pneumatic and steam hammers for percussive piling is generally banned in built-up areas surrounded by noise sensitive receivers 4/19/2013 5

a. Driven Piles
Driven Piles consists of assembly 1. Dolly, 2. helmet 3. packing or pile cushion The purpose of the assembly is to cushion the pile from the hammer blows and distribute dynamic stresses evenly without allowing excessive lateral movements during driving. In addition, the life of the hammer would be prolonged by reducing the impact stress. Pile cushion (or packing) is generally not necessary for driving steel piles

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Drop hammers
A drop hammer (8 to 16 tonnes) is lifted on a rope by a winch and allowed to fall by releasing the clutch on the drum. The stroke is generally limited to about 1.2 m except for the case of 'hard driving' into marble bedrock where drops up to 3 m have been used in Hong Kong. The maximum permissible drop should be related to the type of pile material. The drawback to the use of this type of hammer is the slow blow rate, the difficulty in effectively controlling the drop height, the relatively large influence of the skill of the operator on energy transfer, and the limit on the weight that can be used from safety 4/19/2013 considerations.

Steam hammers
Steam or compressed air hammers are classified as single-acting double-acting depending on whether the hammer falls under gravity or is being pushed down by a second injection of propellant. A chiselling action is produced during driving as a result of the high blow rate. Some single-acting steam hammers are very heavy, with rams weighing 100 tonnes or more.
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Steam hammers

Single acting Hammer

Double acting Hammer

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Diesel Hammer
In a diesel hammer, the weight is lifted by fuel combustion. The hammer can be either singleacting or double-acting. Due to the high noise level and pollutant exhaust gases associated with diesel hammers, the use of diesel hammers has been phased out in populated areas. The ram weight of a diesel hammer is generally less than a drop hammer but the blow rate 4/19/2013 is higher.

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Hydraulic hammer
A hydraulic hammer is less noisy and does not produce polluting exhaust. The ram of the hammer is connected to a piston, which is pushed upward and downwards by hydraulic power. Some complex models have nitrogen charged accumulator system, which stores significant energy allowing a shortened stroke and increased blow rate.

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Hydraulic Hammer (contd)

As such, the kinetic energy of the hammer depends not only on the height of the stroke but also the acceleration due to the injection of hydraulic pressure. Most new hydraulic hammers are equipped with electronic sensors that directly measure the velocity of the ram and calculate the kinetic energy just before impact. The energy transfer ratio of hydraulic hammers ranges between 0.8 and 0.9

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Vibratory hammers
A vibratory driver consists of a static weight together with a pair of contrarotating eccentric weights such that the vertical force components are additive. The vibratory part is attached rigidly to the pile head and the pulsating force facilitates pile penetration under the sustained downward force. The vibratory driver may be operated at low frequencies, typically in the range of 20 to 40 Hz, or at high frequencies around 100 Hz (i.e. 'resonance pile driving'). Vibratory drivers are not recommended for precast or prestressed concrete piles because of the high tensile stresses that 4/19/2013can be generated.

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b. Bored Piles
Bored piles are mostly formed by machine excavation. Excavation of the pile bore may also be carried out by hand-digging in the dry known as hand-dug caissons . When constructed in water-bearing soils which are not self-supporting, the pile bore will need to be supported using steel casings, concrete rings or drilling fluids such as bentonite slurry, polymer mud, etc.
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Machine Dug Bored Piles

The Machine dug piles are mainly divided into:a.Mini Piles b.Socketed H-Piles c.Continuous Flight Augur piles d.Large dia. Bored Piles

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Mini Piles
Mini-piles are in a range of 100 mm to 400 mm in dia. and can be constructed to a depth of 60 m depth or more, but verticality control becomes more difficult at greater depths. They can be used for sites with difficult access or limited headroom and for underpinning. In general, they can overcome large or numerous obstructions in the ground. A mini-pile usually has four 50 mm diameter high yield steel bars and has a load-carrying capacity of about 1 375 kN.
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Socketed H-piles
Socketed H-piles are formed by inserting a steel H-pile section into a pre bored hole in rock. The hole should have a diameter adequate to accommodate the steel section plus any necessary cover for corrosion protection. Cover to the pile tip is generally unnecessary and the H-pile section can be placed directly on the rock surface of the pre bored hole. The common size of the pre bored hole is about 550 mm. The hole is 4/19/2013 then filled with non-shrink cement grout. 17

Socketed H-piles

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Continuous flight auger piles

Sizes of CFA piles range from 300 mm to 700 mm in diameter and their lengths are generally less than 30 m. Once concreted, reinforcement bars or a steel H-pile section may be inserted to provide resistance to lateral load or to increase the load-carrying capacity. These piles can be installed with little noise and vibration and are therefore suited for sites in urban areas. However, this type of piles cannot cope with boulders. The lack of penetration under continuous rotation due to a hard layer or an obstruction can lead to soil fighting up the auger causing ground loss and settlement.
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Continuous flight auger piles

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Continuous flight auger piles

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Large Dia. Bored piles

Large-diameter bored piles are used to support heavy column loads of tall buildings and highways structures such as viaducts. Typical sizes of these piles range from 1 m to 3 m, with lengths up to about 80 m and working loads up to about 45 000 kN ( 4.5 Lakh tonnes ). The working load can be increased by socketing the piles into rock or providing a bell-out (bulb) at pile base. The pile bore is supported by temporary steel casings or drilling fluid, such as bentonite slurry.
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Large Dia. Bored piles

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Manual Dug Bored Piles

Hand-dug caisson is a very simple and low cost to form large-size bored pile due to the following reasons: No heavy equipment is required except powered tools Requires very little working space Can work for a number of piles at the same time Can work at very difficult condition such as steep slope Boulder inside the bore can be cut fairly easily by human worker. The only drawback is that it is very dangerous for worker working inside the caisson. Therefore, in 1998, the use of hand-dug caisson was banned due to the high accident rate. However, under special condition (e.g. work in steep slope), approval can still be obtained subject to the fulfilment of 4/19/2013certain safety requirements. 24

Manual Dug Bored Piles

The Manual dug piles are mainly divided into:a.Piles using Caisson b.Piles using chisel and grab c.Reverse Circulation Method

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Piles using Caisson

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Piles using chisel and grab

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Piles using Reverse Circulation Drilling

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Foundation design of Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL)

The Bandra-Worli Sea Link is primarily meant to provide an alternative to the Mahim causeway route that is presently the only connection between South Mumbai and the Western and Central suburbs. In the first phase it will connect Bandra to Worli whereas in the subsequent phases the plans are to take it further to Haji Ali and then to Nariman Point.

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Pile Design of BWSL

The foundations for the BWSL project consist of 1. 120nos of 2.0m piles 2. 484nos of 1.5m piles The project's site geology consists of basalts, volcanic tuffs and breccias with some intertrappean deposits The major engineering problems that needed suitable solutions before proceeding with the work were as follows: Highly variable geotechnical conditions of the foundation bed as explained above. Highly uneven foundation bed even for plan area of one pile. Presence of Intertidal Zone (Foundation Bed exposed in low tide and submerged in high tide).
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Problems encountered during Pile Driving

Reverse Circulation Drilling method is adopted for foundation construction. The highly uneven foundation beds and the presence of intertidal zone brought in lots of difficulty in terms of Liner pitching. This problem was solved by constructing a gabion boundary at the bed level around the casing, pouring concrete between the casings to make an artificial penetration of the casing. After setting of the concrete under the water, drilling was commenced using RCD.

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Problems encountered during Pile Driving

It is interesting to note that loss of water head during continuous drilling operation was a major problem while working in the intertidal zone. This water head loss lead to very slow production rate and very high consumption of drill bits. To overcome this problem, pits were made in the low tide at each foundation location using an Excavator and the casing was placed at the bottom of the pits. Then the casing was placed in the pits and was concreted to make an artificial penetration, maintaining the proper water head for continuous drilling.

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Problems encountered during Pile Driving

For several locations, cofferdam construction using steel liner and sheet piles, was not possible due to very hard and uneven strata. Here the problem was solved using circular steel caissons. These caissons were fabricated outside and towed to location using A-frame barge. The caissons were sunk at the location using counterweights. The unevenness at the bottom was sealed using the gabion method. The benefit of this method was that it completely eliminated deployment of resources like Jack up Platform, Crane, Vibro hammer, Compressor, etc. for liner pitching. It also eliminated substantial amount of field works and is pre-fabricated in principle.
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References
Textual Content Foundation design and construction GEO Publication No. 1/2006, Hong Kong Foundation analysis and design by Joseph E. Bowles Geotechnical Engineering by V.N.S.Murthy Images:www.images.google.com Case Study:Making of BWSL - www.hccindia.com
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