Installation pile driver for driving piles: characteristics

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The construction of many modern structures requires the mandatory presence of piles in the ground. For this purpose, a pile driver is used, which we will discuss in more detail in this article. Let's study its parameters and capabilities.

Definition

A pile driver is a special construction machine designed to drive a large number of piles into the ground. Reinforced concrete piles can be either round or square. At the same time, they are produced whole or composite. Piling can also take place not only at construction sites, but also to strengthen slopes, trenches, pits, and strengthen the coastline.

Basic principles of operation

The pile driver, regardless of what type of hammer it uses, works according to the following scheme. The machine stands at the point of work and, thanks to its winch, moves the pile ready for installation from the warehouse, and then brings it to the level of the hammer head. Then the support is fixed in a vertical position on the point, and the machine makes several blows. After that, the verticality of the pile is checked (if necessary, this parametercorrected). Next, the pile drives into the ground to the planned depth or to a predetermined failure, that is, to the minimum possible level of immersion after impacts at the last meter of the support penetration into the ground.

Varieties of pile drivers

Pile driving is a very responsible and rather laborious process that requires attention, patience and certain knowledge and skills. And it is carried out by a special copra body, which can be either a hammer or a vibration exciter.

Hammer, in turn, can be of the following types:

• Mechanical.
• Steam-air.
• Hydraulic.
• Vibrating.
• Pneumatic.
• Diesel.

We will dwell on the last option in more detail, since it has become the most widespread in construction. A diesel hammer is the simplest and most reliable piling tool. It works according to this principle: when the pile is located under the head of the hammer, it is activated and put into action, that is, the impact part is lifted with a special cat and dropped down. At the moment of the fall of the shock part in the combustion chamber, diesel fuel is ignited, the striker explodes and rises to a certain height. His fall causes a blow to the Sabbath. This whole process is repeated cyclically until the driver of the copra with his team stops the supply of diesel fuel.

Tubular-type diesel hammers are used to drive reinforced concrete piles into all soils except rocks. Such hammers are capable of accident-freefunction in a fairly wide temperature range: from -40 to +40 degrees Celsius, which allows them to operate even in cold regions. However, it is important to understand that, like any other diesel units, the described hammers require mandatory warm-up before operation.

Hydraulic hammer

The hydrohammer in some technical parameters is much superior to its diesel counterpart. But at the same time, the hydraulic counterpart is much more expensive.

The hydraulic type hammer is ahead of the diesel version in the following characteristics:

• Less noise level.
• Lower soil vibration.
• Higher service life.

In addition, a hydraulic machine can drive piles very close to nearby buildings. The ease of power adjustment allows the hydraulic apparatus to dose the force of the strike with the highest accuracy, which quite often depends on the soil conditions of a particular area.

Operational costs, according to experts, can be considered complex maintenance and higher qualification requirements that a copra driver must have.

Based on the "Yunttan PM-25" installation, let's study its technical characteristics:

• Pile length should not exceed 16 meters.
• The guide mast is 19.7 meters long.
• The weight of the shock part is 5 tons.
• Total weight - 11.7 tons.
• The course of the shock part is 1 meter 20 centimeters.
• In one minute the number of strokesis between 40 and 100.

How does the pile driver move?

Delivery and installation of a copra at the place of its work is carried out using a running device, which can be:

• Chassis wheel type.
• Crawler propulsion.
• Rail device.

The engine, transmission, equipment for monitoring and controlling the equipment of the entire copra must be mounted on each of the specified basic elements.

Types of working platform

The pile driver can be both rotary and fixed. Models of the latter type have the ability to drive piles only at their location, and the rotary option allows you to drive piles into the ground around the perimeter of the machine's location. For wheeled headframes, the rotation angle is limited to 260 degrees, and tracked units are completely capable of rotating 360 degrees.

Also, depending on the functionality of the copra, they are divided into simple, semi-universal and universal.

Universal models are endowed with the ability to adjust the reach and inclination of the mast, semi-universal machines can only change the inclination, and simple ones have a fixed mast and therefore perform only strictly vertical pile driving.

Technical indicators of headframes

If you do not go into the intricacies of individual models of headframes, then in general their parameters will look like this:

• Driven piles can be 8 to 20 meters long.
• Load capacityranges from 2 to 21 tons.
• Masts have a reach of 1-8 meters.
• Electric motors are 7-96 kW.
• Height of copra is 10-28 meters.
• Mast tilt can be 1:3 - 1:10 tangent of the angle.

Self-propelled pile drivers have the ability to drive piles of various types, including:

• Hollow round.
• Sheath piles.
• Elements of rectangular section.
• Square shaped designs.

The choice of reinforced concrete product, subsequently hammered into the ground and connected to a pile driver, depends on which pile driver will be used. By the way, a pile driver is a replaceable part that connects the pile directly to the attachment for driving.

Pendulum machine

In turn, the pendulum pile driver is used to drive inclined piles into the ground. This is especially true during port construction works. Such machines are fully mechanized and allow you to drive piles of wood and reinforced concrete both vertically and at a certain angle. In this case, the length of the product can be equal to 35 meters, and the weight can reach about 30 tons.

The pendulum driver during its operation is able to set its boom at the required angle and very often has telescopic guides, which allows you to move the boom and turn the truss in a horizontal direction to 360 degrees.

It is important to understand that the installation of a copra should be giventhe most careful attention. The laying of tracks and scaffolds must be carried out with the utmost care and the highest possible precision. The counterweights are especially checked, the number of which must ensure the stability of the entire machine. During transportation, the hammer must always be lowered to the lowest extreme point and securely fastened in order to exclude the possibility of a dangerous emergency or injury to personnel. Also, do not use heavy piling equipment to drive lightweight piles.