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Development solutions that support all construction.

End Bearing Piles

Piles are installed with or without a driving shoe on the toe of the lead section. Successive sections are added as the pile is installed to transfer foundation loads through weaker soils down to a suitable bearing layer i.e. bedrock.

The load bearing refusal, or “set”, is defined as the reduced rate of pile penetration, in relation to sustained driving energy (of the hammer), over a given time (see image below for reference)The fact that the pile is driven to the “set”/refusal demonstrates its ability to sustain its design load on a long-term basis.

The pile hammer produces 2800kN per blow, up to 400 blows per minute. About 80% of the energy from the hammer reaches the toe of the pile. The pile can be further filled with grout or concrete and a central reinforcing bar can be installed as needed for tension capacity, which is limited to around 20kN/pile in the end-bearing application.

Skin Friction Piles

Friction piles are installed with an oversized conical grout point at the pile base. As the pile is driven, cementitious grout is pumped through the pipe sections and exits through grout ports within the driving shoe to fill the annular space surrounding the pile.

FILL

SAND

This process encapsulates the pile in grout and forms the basis for the grouted bond zone within the surrounding competent soil to achieve the design capacity. The optimum available skin friction from the soil is immediately determinable by observing the penetration rate of the pile.

Material Specifications

Manufactured as Ductile Cast Iron, also known as Spheroidal Graphite Cast Iron, each pile is immensely strong and durable. Ductile Cast Iron is a development of grey cast iron, a material that has been used for pipeline construction for centuries because of its high resistance against chemical and mechanical influences.

Technical Specifications

High quality Materials

Type of Metal

The extra carbon forms a filtration grid which stops the progress of corrosion and the silicon forms an extremely strong protective layer of iron silicates.

How is performs

The process through which the Ductile Iron Piles are manufactured ensures that the piles can withstand the high-impact energies of the pile-driving process. The process also significantly changes the mechanical characteristics of the pile resulting in increased strength and more ductility.

Will they rust?

The Ductile Iron manufacturing process results in corrosion being via pitting instead of loss of wall thickness which means the pile retains its strength even in highly saline or acidic environments.

Corrosion Assessment

Non-grouted end-bearing piles are exposed to the surrounding ground, therefore certain corrosion rates for the piles must be considered. Most of the existing tables for corrosion of piles and/or sheet piles are set up for steel components. Cast iron behaves differently with respect to corrosion. The corrosion rate of cast iron is generally lower than steel and the casting crust is an additional barrier that slows the corrosion rate.

Corrosion rates depend on the aggressiveness of the ground and are calculated on a site-by-site basis to establish residual load-bearing capacities. Additional corrosion protection measures include: