Driven piling is a piling solution that requires a driven piling rig to drive a concrete or steel pile into the ground.
The piles are driven through the use of vibration or impact hammers to drive the pile typically without the need for concrete. As concrete is not required in most cases, less time is spent waiting for concrete to set.
The Driven Piling process
When used in construction, driven piling will drive a steel or concrete pile into the ground through continuous hammering.
But from start to finish, what is the process of driven piling?
Step 1 – A concrete or steel H-pile will be hoisted vertically and prepared by a driven piling rig. You can find examples of driven piling rigs in our fleet.
Step 2 – The pile is aligned to the setting point before the pile is lowered to the ground ready for hammering.
Step 3 – Once aligned properly, the verticality of the pile will be checked to ensure that it will breach the surface as straight as possible to provide strong support to a foundation.
Step 4 – Just like a hammer driving in a nail, the driven piling rig will drop a free-falling hammer into a dense ballast plug at the bottom of the pile casing.
In some cases, additional casing is welded to the piling to help achieve a required depth. Once a designed set is achieved, piles are sometimes concreted in place and a reinforced cage is inserted to strengthen the pile.
When is Driven Piling used?
Driven piling is used in almost all construction types but it flourishes when the soil that the piling is going into isn’t as hospitable as other soil types. An example of inhospitable soil is when there are many layers of soft soil or where the ground conditions are greatly varied.
With this in mind, driven piling is a great method of piling when a pile is required to be driven through water.
Another benefit of driven piling is that soils are displaced rather than removed, resulting in no spoil arising like you would see in CFA Piling. With this in mind, driven piles are more cost effective piling method for sites that are contaminated or in close proximity to existing structures.
Advantages of Driven Piling
Some of the key advantages of driven piling include:
- Little spoil is produced, making for little to no remove and disposal required.
- Typically stronger from a structural stand point in comparison to other piling methods.
- Usually more cost effective than other piling methods.
- The piles are prefabricated off site, saving time during installation.
Some of the disadvantages include:
- Much noisier installation process compared to other piling methods.
- Not suitable for smaller sites as other buildings or foundations can be affected by the impact of the installation.
- Requires much more skill and planning.
- Hard to determine the exact length required for the pile beforehand, meaning cut-off or splicing could be required on the day.
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