Bored piles is a type of foundation structure made of reinforced concrete.

It is used to carry heavy loads by transmitting the load to a stable soil strata. As the name suggest, bored piles is constructed by first drilling a hole in the ground until a competent load bearing layer is reached. Once this achieved, a reinforcement steel cage is lowered into the drilled hole and the hole is filled with concrete. Thus due to the method of construction of bored piles, it is also known as cast in place piles. Bored piles varies in diameter and depth. The dimension can varies from 450mm to 2000mm. The diameter or depth of the bored piles are determined by the designers who will size the bored piles according to the load requirement and as well as the soil condition of the site. Bored piles is widely used and they can be constructed in most soil condition and over water. Due to their flexibility they are widely used in deep foundation for high rise buildings, jetties, bridge foundation and can even be used as vertical retaining structures like a retaining wall or sheet piles wall. In this case the bored piles is known as contiguous bored pile wall. Bored piles is designed either as a point bearing piles or friction piles. If competent load bearing layer like bed rock is present, then the bored piles will be designed as an end-bearing pile. This means that the load carrying capacity of the piles is mainly derived from the bearing capacity of the rock layer at the toe of the pile.

On the other hand bored piles which are designed as friction piles the load carrying capacity of the piles is derived mainly from the skin friction between the pile surface and the surrounding soil. The designers may some time design bored piles as a combination of skin friction and end-bearing piles. Bored piles can be constructed as a single pile or a in a pile groups. The can also be inclined to a certain angle. Angle bored piles also known as raked piles are found in structures that requires resistance to horizontal load like in a retaining wall or bridge and piers foundation. However the construction of angle bored piles poses some construction challenges. When bored piles are constructed close to one another or overlapping slightly, this is known as contiguous bored piles wall or secant piles wall. Below are some simplify diagrams of bored piles uses:-

Single Bored Piles

Group of Bored Piles

Inclined or Raked Piles below Retaining Wall

Contiguous Bored Piles Wall

Concreting of bored piles marks the final stage of of the construction. Once the required depth or design depth is drilled the drilling stops. The drilling auger is then changed into a cleaning bucket to clean up any loose debris left at the bottom of the hole. This process will take place for a few times until the bottom is reasonable cleaned. Cleaning bucket can be used in both dry holes and holes under drilling fluid. In some instances, an inspection of the base will be required in large diameter dry holes. This will be done manually by lowering a competent inspector down the hole. This process can be dangerous and it would be better to send cameras down. In fluid filled hole, inspection will not be possible, but the drilling depth will be continued to be monitored for any soil collapse.

Lowering of Reinforcement cage When all is fine, the reinforcement cage is lowered into the drilled hole. Sometimes the cage does not go down all the way thus it will need to be suspended at the top. There are designs where the cage goes all the way, ie as in tension piles, thus there is a need to provide a clearance between the bottom of the cage and the bottom of the hole. Round spacers are used to spaced out the cage from the soil surface. When the reinforcement cage is in, the next phase is to lowered in the tremie pipe. In a wet hole the tremie pipe is installed all the way down. However if it is a dry hole, the tremie pipe will be install 1/3 to 1/2 of the drilled depth. A tremie pipe is used to allow concrete ( tremie mix) to be poured right to the bottom of the bored piles without segregation. This is it when the cement and stones separated during a free falling situation. By this time the concrete truck will have arrived at the site , once the cubes taken and slump test done and passed, the truck will then proceed to the respective bored piles and poured out the concrete. The concreting process duration is dependent on the size of the piles. After each pour, the depth of the concrete rise is determined by lowering a measuring tape. Every so and then, small sections of the tremie pipe is removed during the concreting process.

During concreting, the drilling fluid in the hole is also displaced, this fluid is pumped back to the storage silos for reuse or to be de-sanded when it becomes to contaminated with drilling debris of fine sand, silt, etc. Once the process of concreting is completed, any casing used is taken out by using a vibratory hammer and the area cordoned off to indicate a freshly concreted pile. The tremie pipes are cleaned and ready for another concreting session. During all this, a service crane is used with an excavator standing by for general light lifting.

Dry hole concreting of Bored Pile

Wet hole concreting of bored pile As can be noted from the above 2 photos, once can tell what types of concreting is being done. In the wet hole situation, drilling fluid is being displaced why none is observed in the dry hole situation. A sump pump is always used in wet hole situation as can be seen there is a

pump head next to the bored pile casing in the wet hole concreting. Judging from the picture, well a dry hole working environment is preferred as the work site will not be turning up messy.

Round Spacers used along the reinforcement cage And this is what I meant about using round plastic spacers. These are hardy, consistent and easily installed. It is sage too if anyone of the space is dislodged. Using this is preferred to own fabrications of concrete spacer cast on site.

Bored piles as mentioned in this post What is Bored Piles? are constructed following the sequence below. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The first step is to drill a hole of the require diameter into the ground. When the design depth or foundation bearing layer is reached, drilling stopped. The hole is then cleaned. Steel reinforcement cage is lowered into the hole. Concrete is then poured into the hole until the designed cut-off level of the pile. After Step5, the construction of bored pile is deem 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 the next construction step be carried out. Thus drilling requires experience and the use of the right tools and equipment. In this post we will take a look at the types of drilling machines used.

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. Below is a picture of a crane mounted drilling rig.

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

The drilling rig can also be mounted onto a heavy truck like what is shown in the picture below.

A Truck Mounted Drilling Rig Rotary Drilling Rigs

A Rotary Drilling Rig 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. A crane mounted rig requires assembly on site assembly and requires the help of another crane to mount and set up. As for 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. On the left is an example of a rotary drilling rig. Drilling By Using Continuous Flight Auger

Continuous Flight Auger Rig 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. On the left is a picture of a Continuous Flight Auger Rig. 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. In the next post we will look at the types of drilling tools used. <<< - Note: Pictures source, www.soilmec.co.uk and www.soilmec.it - >>>

In the bored piles construction we had looked at the method how bored piles are generally drilled. Continuing on the subject of drilling, this post we will look at the type of drilling tools used. There are a number of ways to drill or to form the required diameter and depth of the bored piles. In this post we will look at the rotary method. The rotary method is perhaps the most common method used. The circular action produced by the engine is used to remove or excavate away material from the ground to form the bored pile of the right diameter and depth. In normal dry ground situation, the most common tool used with the rotary method is the auger. There can be two types of auger, the short auger or the continuous flight auger.

Bored Pile Auger Both tools will be rotated into the ground and by the rotary action , soil is excavated in the process. This is repeated until the required design depth is achieved. The process of auguring can only be carry out when the drilled bore pile hole remains dry. That is the bored pile hole remains dry and stable ie without collapsing. Should the hole be unstable, it can be stabilized using casings.

Continuous Flight Auger On the other hand, if the ground water table is high and the drilled whole is wet or filled with water, casing can still be used with the hope that it sealed of the hole thus allowing dry condition drilling. If this is not possible than drilling had to be carried out in submerged condition ie under water. In this case the auger will need to be changed to a drilling or boring bucket.

Drilling or boring bucket Again in drilling under water, the bored hole has to be stabilize from collapsing during and after drilling. Most commonly casing is used and if this failed, than there is the option of using bentonite slurry or polymer fluids to stabilized the hole. Drilling will still make use of drilling bucket.

Cleaning Bucket When the founding depth is reached, the base of the bored pile will cleaned using a cleaning bucket before concreting. Thus far the drilling discussed in this blog is for soft to hard cohesive soil. However if boulder or drilling in rocks is required, than the drilling tools will be different.

Once hard rock formations are encountered or there is a need to socket the bored piles into rock foundations due to design requirement, than the drilling will need to use tools geared for rock drilling.

Rock Auger With Bullet Teeths As rocks have different hardness, thus drilling tools can be adapted to drill in different degree of hardness. As an example, the versatile auger can be modified and installed with bullet teeth with replaceable bullet style carbide teeth turning it into a rock auger.

Bullet Teeth with Holder Rock augers are used under dry drilling conditions when the drilled bored pile hole is dry. However there are times when the drilling is under fluid used to stabilization fluid. In this case, the drilling in rock will make use of rock boring bucket. The purpose of using bucket is to allow the drilled materials to be collected into the bucket and disposed off.

Rock Boring Bucket

When the drilling hits very hard rocks like granites, than the drilling tools are changed. There are 3 ways to drill in very hard rocks. In dry or semi-dry conditions the drilling can make use of down the hole hammers. DTHH comes in various sizes from 100mm to 600mm. For large diameter piles ie 1m and above, DTHH can be maneuver around to achieve the required diameter.

Chisel for Rocks When DTHH cant be used, then the piling contractor can have the options of using chisels or coring bucket. Chisels are large heavy rectangular object with a sharpened. The chisel is lifted above the rock level to a certain height and allows it to free fall thus slowly chiseling or pounding away at the rock level. Effectiveness of this method depends on the mass, cutting tip of the chisel. The rest is the job of gravity.

Coring Bucket The next tool is coring bucket.This tool has bullet teeth with replaceable bullet style carbide teeth arranged in a circular pattern in various diameters. Through the weight and circular action of the boring rig, the coring bucket slowly cored into the rocks. The working principle is like the cement coring. However the coring process may fractured the rock into pieces, these loose pieces are picked up using cleaning or boring bucket. As coring is under the stabilization fluid, the fluid acts as a coolant and lubricant during the coring process.

Coring Barell The availability of tools depends on the piling or foundation contractors. An experience and established foundation contractors will have all the above tools and more at their disposal to counter any types of geological conditions.