Classification of piles based on

execution method

Pile Foundation: Execution methods

Piles can be executed either
- by driving or by boring
Driven piles are those formed by driving precast piles and those
made by casting concrete in a hole formed by driving.
Bored piles are those formed by casting concrete in hole
previously bored or drilled in the subsoil.

Driven Piles

Drilled/Bored Piles

Driven piles
Pile driving is the process by way of which a pile is forced or
driven into the ground without excavation or boring
Driven piles are considered to be displacement piles. In the
process of driving the pile into the ground, soil is moved radially
as the pile shaft enters the ground. There may also be a
component of movement of the soil in the vertical direction.
There are several types of pile driving method in the piling
construction, type of pile driving method used is depending on
the condition of soil and location of the site. However, different
piling machine will be used with different pile driving methods
too.

 Generally Piles are driven by means of a hammer supported by

a crane or by a special device known as a pile driver.
The hammer is guided between two parallel steel members
known as leads.
The leads are carried on a frame in such a way that they can be
supported in a vertical position of an inclined position.
Driving hammers are of the following types:
1. Drop Hammer
2. Single acting hammer
3. Double acting hammer
4. Diesel hammer
5. Vibratory hammer

Driven Piles

 Driven piles are either wood, reinforced concrete, or steel.

Wooden piles are made from trunks of tall trees.

Concrete piles are available in square, octagonal, and

round cross-sections. They are reinforced with rebar and
are often prestressed.
Steel piles are either pipe piles or some sort of beam
section (like an H-pile).
Driving piles, as opposed to drilling shafts, is
advantageous because the soil displaced by driving the
piles compresses the surrounding soil, causing greater
friction against the sides of the piles, thus increasing their
load-bearing capacity.

Bored piles
Bored piles (Replacement piles) are generally considered to be
non- displacement Piles: a void is formed by boring or
excavation before piles is produced.
Piles can be produced by casting concrete in the void.

Some soils such as stiff clays are particularly amenable to the

formation of piles in this way, since the bore hole walls do not
requires temporary support except cloth to the ground
surface.

 In unstable ground, such as gravel the ground requires

temporary support from casing or bentonite slurry.
Alternatively the casing may be permanent, but driven into a
hole which is bored as casing is advanced.
A different technique, which is still essentially nondisplacement, is to intrude, a grout or a concrete from an auger
which is rotated into the granular soil, and hence produced a
grouted column of soil.
There are three non-displacement methods: bored cast- in place piles, particularly pre-formed piles and grout or concrete
intruded piles.

The following are replacement piles:

Augered
Cable percussion drilling
Large-diameter under-reamed
Types incorporating pre caste concrete unite
Drilled-in tubes
Mini piles

Drilled/Bored piles

Also called drilled piers or Cast-in-drilled-hole piles (CIDH piles) or Cast-in-Situ piles.
Rotary boring techniques offer larger diameter piles than any other piling method and
permit pile construction through particularly dense or hard strata. Construction
methods depend on the geology of the site. In particular, whether boring is to be
undertaken in 'dry' ground conditions or through water-logged but stable strata - i.e.
'wet boring'.

Boring is done until the hard rock or soft rock layer is reached in the case of end
bearing piles. If the boring machine is not equipped with a rock auger, then socketing
of the hard rock layer is done with the help of a heavy chisel which is dropped from a
height of about 1.5 metres (depends on the weight of the chisel and design
requirements) by suspending it from a tripod stand attached to a winch crane. The
socketing is carried out until the desired depth within the rock layer has been
attained. Usually, the required depth within the rock layer is considered to be equal to
the diameter of the pile in hard rock layers and is taken to be equal to 2.5 times the
diameter of the pile in soft rock layers.

'Dry' boring methods employ the use of a temporary casing to seal the pile bore
through water-bearing or unstable strata overlying suitable stable material. Upon
reaching the design depth, a reinforcing cage is introduced, concrete is poured in the
bore and brought up to the required level. The casing can be withdrawn or left in situ.

'Wet' boring also employs a temporary casing through unstable ground and is used
when the pile bore cannot be sealed against water ingress. Boring is then
undertaken using a digging bucket to drill through the underlying soils to design
depth. The reinforcing cage is lowered into the bore and concrete is placed by
tremmie pipe, following which, extraction of the temporary casing takes place.

The reinforcement cage may need to be lapped with another cage if the depth of
the pile exceeds 12 metres as that is the standard length of reinforcement bars of
diameter 16mm and above.

In some cases there may be a need to employ drilling fluids (such as bentonite
suspension) in order to maintain a stable shaft. Rotary auger piles are available in
diameters from 350 mm to 2400 mm or even larger and using these techniques,
pile lengths of beyond 50 metres can be achieved.

Such piles commonly fail due to the collapse of the walls of the shaft resulting in
the formation of a reduced section which may not be able to bear the loads for
which it had been designed. Hence at least a third of piles in projects with a large
number of piles are tested for uniformity using a "Pile Integrity Tester". This test
relies on the manner in which low intensity shock waves are affected as they pass
through the pile and are reflected to judge the uniformity and integrity of the pile.
A pile failing the integrity test is then subjected to a pile load test

Drilled Piles

Bored pile is a cast-in-place concrete pile where the bored piles have to
be cast on construction site.
Bored piling is cast by using bored piling machine which has specially
designed drilling tools, buckets and grabs, its used to remove the soil
and rock. Normally it can be drilling into 50metres depth of soil. The
advantage of bored piling is its drilling method, little vibration and
lower noise level.
Usually bored pile is used for those tall buildings or massive industrial
complexes, which require foundations which can bear the load of
thousands of tons, most probably in unstable aor difficult soil
conditions.
The method of drilling bored pile is different from RC Square pile or
spun pile which are using driving method, the piling machine to be used
will be different too.
Bored piling works required specialist bored piling contractor to follow
up instead of hiring general piling contractor.
There is a simple step-by-step method on how to drill the bored pile in
construction site.

How To Drill Bored Pile?

Bored Piles Construction How Bored Piles Are Drilled

1.The first step is to drill a hole of the require diameter into the
ground.
2.When the design depth or foundation bearing layer is
reached, drilling stopped.
3.The hole is then cleaned.
4.Steel reinforcement cage is lowered into the hole.
5.Concrete is then poured into the hole until the designed cutoff level of the pile.
6.After Step5, the construction of bored pile is completed.
Thus it can be seen that bored piles are constructed by first
drilling into ground. Drilling is one of the most important step
in bored pile construction. Only successful drilling can lead to
the next construction step to be carried out. Thus drilling
requires experience and the use of the right tools and
equipment.

1) Adjust the piling machine on the pile axis2) Start drilling until the auger is filled.
and haul with the auger to the drilling
place.

3) Return from the drilling level to the top of

the pile hole

4) Swing to the uploading area.

5) Unload the dirt in the unloading area

7) Relocate the machine and start steps 1 to

6 Repeat steps 2 to 7 until the pile is
completely drilled.

6) Swing back to the top of the hole

8 ) Start erecting rebar cage using a crane.

9) Use funnel for dry method and tremie

for wet method. Start pouring the concrete
and finish the pile

Drilling methods for bored piles

The drilling method is depending on
the condition of soil, piling contractor
has to do soil investigation and decide
which drilling technology has to be
carried on. Piling contractor decide
the correct drilling technology and
minimize
disturbance
of
the
surrounding soil. For cohesionless
soils such as sands, gravels, silts etc,
whether its under the water table or
not, the pile bore hole must be
supported using steel casing or
stabilizing muds such as bentonite
suspension. After these, reinforcement
bar will be put into the bore hole and
concrete will be poured into the bore
hole.

Bored piles can be drilled by using an

auger ( see attached picture of an
auger) that is powered mechanically.
There will be an auger attached to a
the tip of a telescopic Kellybar.

Telescopic means the Kellybar is

extensible, there by enabling drilling to
greater depths.

Drilling rigs can be crane mounted

or as a single unit known as rotary
drilling rig. Both of which is discussed
in greater details below.

Crane Mounted Drilling Rig

The drilling rig is a power unit that rotates the Kellybar which in turn
rotates the auger. The power unit is normally diesel powered. The
Kellybar is slotted through the power unit at the front end known as
the Table. Horizontal rotation of the diesel engine is converted to
vertical rotation which rotates the Kellybar.
There is also a pair hydraulic arms at the table. These arms can
clamped to the Kellybar and are use to raise or lower the the
it slowly over a short lenght. Rotation can be either anticlockwise or
clockwise. The whole power unit, Kellybar and auger assembly is
then mounted onto a base crane.
Drilling starts by pressing and rotating the auger at the same time.
Once the initial hole is formed and depending on the soil material,
the weight of the Kellybar pushes the drilling deeper.
The Kellybar is raised and lowered into the hole by a separate lifting
cable of the base crane. This enables the Kellybar and auger to be
lifted up quickly to the surface to dispose of the drilled material and
later lowered back again to the hole to continue drilling. This
processes is repeated until the desired depth is reached.

Name of Parts
1
KellyBar
2
Auger
3
Diesel Powered Drilling Rig
4
Base Crane
5
Table
6
Hydraulic arms

Crane Mounted Drilling Rig

A crane mounted rig requires on site
assembly and requires the help of
another crane to mount and set up.
As for rotary drilling rigs, there is no
such requirement.
Once mobilized to site it is just a
matter of raising up the leader ,
attached the auger and drilling can
start.

The drilling rig can also be mounted onto

a heavy truck like what is shown in the
picture.

Rotary Drilling Rigs

A compact design in which

the drilling rig is permanently
mounted onto a crawler unit.
The drilling rig is hydraulic
powered giving it a very
powerful drilling capability.
The drilling process is the
same as what is mentioned
above.

However rotary drilling unit

is easy to deploy. There is
no setting up required
compared to crane mounted
drilling rig.

Drilling by Using Continuous Flight Auger

Drilling of bored piles can also be
carried out by using continuous
flight auger (CFA). CFA is used
when bored piles depths are fixed
and the diameter not larger than
1500mm. The construction of
bored piles using CFA is different
from the auger and Kellybar
drilling.
The major difference is this, when
the bored pile desired depth is
reached, the hole can be filled by
injecting concrete down the hollow
stem of the CFA. In this way the
bored pile is concreted as the
auger is slowly raised.

 After completing the concreting and the auger had been removed, a
reinforcing cage is pushed down the shaft while the concrete has not
set. It is not uncommon to push down cage length of 12m. Thus it
can be seen that the final steps of bored piles construction by CFA is
different from the Kellybar and auger process.
However if the drilled hole depth is shallow and the ground stable (
the drilled hole does not collapse), the CFA can be completely
removed. In this case, the concreting can be carried out like those of
the Kellybar and auger method.
Modern drilling rigs can drill bored piles of diameters ranging from
600mm to 4000mm. Due to the convenience of the rotary drilling
rigs, they have become more common nowadays as compared to
the crane mounted drilling rigs. Rotary drilling rigs are self-mounting
and also easily transportable. On the whole this capability which
reduces cost of mobilization.

Sometime referred to as drilled piers, bored piles are cast-in-place piles

ranging from 600mm to 6000mm in diameter with depth that can reach down
to 100 meters. Bored piles are installed by first removing the soil by a
drilling process and then constructing the pile by placing concrete in the
hole. The simplest form of construction consists of drilling an unlined or
unprotected hole and filling it with concrete. Complications that may arise
such as difficult ground conditions and the presence of ground water have
led to the development of special drilling technologies. The choice of the
correct drilling technology must be done in a way as to minimize
disturbance of the surrounding soil. For cohesionless soils (sands, gravels,
silts), whether under the water table or not, the pile borehole must be
supported using steel casing or stabilizing muds such as bentonite
suspension.

2.5 m diameter off shore piles for Del Pan Bridge

Off-shore piles for LRT-1 bridge crossing

Pasig River

Driving of steel casing for Aloragat

Bridge bored piles

Grouping of piles and Pile caps:

Piles may be used to support pad, strip or raft foundation.

Normally, pile foundations consist of pile cap and a group of
piles. Where a group of piles is used to support a column or
pier
base.
The individual piles are spaced and connected to the pile cap
or tie beams and trimmed in order to connect the pile to the
structure at cut-off level, and depending on the type of
structure and eccentricity of the load, they can be
arranged in different patterns.
The load from the column or pier is transmitted to the piles
through a concrete pile cap which is cast over the pile. The
pile cap distributes the applied load to the individual piles
which, in turn,. transfer the load to the bearing ground.
To provide structural continuity the reinforcement of the pile
caps through starter bars protruding from the top of the cast in
situ piles or through reinforcement exposed by breaking off
the top concrete from precast piles.

Figure bellow illustrates the three basic formation of pile groups.

Figure 2-1 Basic formation of pile groups

Q = Vertically applied load
H = Horizontally applied load

Single Piles

Pile Groups

Vertical And Raked Piles

Piled Wall

SELECTION OF THE TYPE OF PILE

Different types of piling have been devised to suit different ground
conditions.
Hence the nature of the ground, where the piling operation is to be
carried out, determines to a large extent the choice of type of pile to
be used.

The other important factors in this regard:

The nature of the structure.
Loading conditions
Elevation of the ground water level with respect to the pile cap.
Probable length of pile required.
Availability of materials and equipment.
Factors which may cause deterioration of pile
Probable cost of pile.