Piled foundations are deep foundations installed to transfer structural loads through weak soils to underlying competent soils or rock.
What is piling commonly used for?
Piled foundations are used across the construction industry to support varying sizes of structures such as houses, high-rise buildings, office blocks and highway and rail infrastructure.
Installation methods are largely dependent on the load carrying capacity required, site location and soil conditions. Piles are generally either bored or driven into the ground.
Driven piles are typically square precast concrete, timber or steel sections installed to a set length, displacing the subsoil
While bored piles remove the subsoil in a cylindrical shape and replace it with cast-in-situ reinforced concrete.
Rotary boring techniques have the capability of drilling into rock to form sockets and may be used to overcome certain man-made obstructions.
Piles are also classified both in terms of load carrying capacity and method of installation:
- Geotechnical design – the pile load is carried in end-bearing, shaft friction or a combination of the two
- Method of installation – driven piles are referred to as displacement piles, while bored are sometimes referred to replacement piles.
Van Elle offer the following piling techniques:
- Rotary Bored Piles – Rotary Bored Piles are suitable for carrying high structural loads using specially designed digging tools to install bored piles of large diameter in highly variable and challenging ground conditions to depth. Sometimes referred to as large diameter piles (LDP).
- CFA Piling – Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piling is a highly versatile technique for installing foundations in a wide range of ground conditions. Fast, quiet, and virtually vibration-free, the method is ideal when working next to buildings, homes and in environmentally sensitive areas.
- Driven Pilling – Driven Piling is a fast and cost-effective deep foundation method suitable for a wide range of ground conditions. Our precast piles are manufactured in factory conditions, improving quality control and enabling just-in-time delivery. Steel tube piles and steel H piles are also installed with our fleet of Junttan driven pilling rigs.
- Cased CFA Piling – Cased CFA is a modified version of traditional CFA and combines the benefits of both rotary bored and CFA piling using a temporary segmental casing. The combined technique can achieve better pile installation tolerances in terms of vertically and plan position with enhanced surface appearance.
- Restricted access and specialist piling – Restricted access piling provides a range of piling and other geotechnical solutions in operationally constrained, restricted environments such as inside existing buildings, under bridges and in tunnels and basements, as well as off-track rail environments.
- SFA Piling – Sectional Flight Auger (SFA) piling is a bored soil replacement piling technique ideal for working inside buildings and on sites with restricted access, allowing the installation of CFA piles of up to 900mm in diameter to be installed in restricted access sites with a headroom of just 3.75m.
Van Elle’s impressive range of state-of-the-art piling rigs, tools and hammers is complemented by an extensive fleet of ancillary equipment. This capacity allows us to meet a range of foundation challenges with solutions tailored to each project’s unique combination of loads and soil conditions.
