PILE JETTING

By Gregory P. Tsinker,1 Member, ASCE

ABSTRACT: The state-of-the-art of pile jetting is reviewed. In general,

jetting is a very effective time-saving method of pile driving. It can be
effectively utilized for the driving of both vertical and batter piles. It is
almost indispensible for the driving of wideflangepiles, T-shaped sheet
piles, or similar types of piling. The method requires very simple
equipment, which typically includes a centrifugal pump, jet pipes,
flexible pressure hoses, and a jet pipe handling winch. Theflowrate and
head required for the successful pile jetting primarily depend on
foundation soil conditions and the type of pile.

INTRODUCTION

In general, jetting is a very effective method of pile driving. Contractors

who use the water jet method for pile driving have found that the saving in
time as compared to driving piles with a hammer is very significant. For
example, on a typical job, a concrete pile 35 x 35 cm, 15 m long could be
driven into dense sand in less than a half an hour. The energy saving is also
considerable. In addition, pile jetting is a "quiet" driving process, in that
it does not shake the ground, and it allows for quick reinstallation of
incorrectly driven piles.
Pile jetting is typically recommended when piles (or sheet piles) are
expected to be driven into most sands or loose gravel. This method could
also be very effective for driving piles into hard clay, provided some
special techniques are utilized. It should be noted that jetting is seldom
needed for driving steel sheet piles, but is more often used for driving
concrete or heavy timber piles and sheet piles.1 It is especially effective,
and probably the only means, for driving wide flange, T-shaped, or similar
concrete sheet piles (McGregor 1973; Matlin 1983).
Recently, U.S. Navy civil engineers have developed a prefabricated
footing with an internal water-jetting system, which is used to install steel
piles in all types of sea floors. It accommodates pile placement in clay, silt,
sand, gravel, and even rock or coral. The jetting system enables the footing
to drive through the seabed until it is buried by its own weight. Jets can
also be activated to remove a footing when necessary (ENR 1985).
Jetting can be effectively utilized for the driving of both vertical and
batter piles. It is almost indispensible for driving anchor piles with local
widenings at the end (Tsinker 1972, 1977). Furthermore, jetting minimizes
damage to wood or concrete piles when driving into dense sand or hard
clay. However, the final pile set is usually obtained by driving the last
meter or so without jetting. This is required for piles that are in both
compression and tension because, in general, dynamic action effectively
'Staff Civ. Engr., Acres International Ltd., Niagara Falls, L2E 6W1, Canada.
Note. Discussion open until August 1, 1988. To extend the closing date one
month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The
manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on
February 20, 1987. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
Vol. 114, No. 3, March, 1988. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9410/88/0003-0326/$ 1.00 + $.15
per page. Paper No. 22270.
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increases the density of the sand media surrounding the pile, thus
increasing the frictional capacity.

METHOD
The use of the water jet (sometimes in combination with compressed air)
in a pile-driving operation differs radically in principal from driving with a
hammer or vibrator. In this simple procedure, a stream of water is
discharged near the point or along the sides of the pile, thus loosening the
surrounding soil so that the pile drops through the soil into the underlying
material. Typical pile jetting conditions are shown in Fig. 1.
When using water jets to drive piles into sand, the quantity or flow rate
of the water is a more important factor than the jet velocity. However,
when driving piles into gravel or hard clay, the flow velocity is the more
important consideration. For either procedure to be effective, the velocity
of the water jet must be sufficient to loosen the soil and make it quick, and
the volume of water must be sufficient to force the water to escape by
rising to the surface along the pile's shaft. If the volume of water is
insufficient, air jets may be added to help water travel upwards. It may also
be required, at times, to limit the horizontal radius of the escaping column
of water to about 50 cm, so that adjacent piles are not adversely affected,
particularly wooden piles. Jetting of concrete sheet piles, however, usually
does not affect adjacent, previously driven concrete sheet piles.
In the case of silty sands, pile jetting usually enhances the soil's
properties by removing some of the fine particles, thus increasing the
frictional resistance. If thick layers of clay occur within predominantly
sandy foundations, the return water could be blanketed to prevent it
escaping from the jets. In such cases, the volume of the water and its
velocity must be sufficient to wash loosened clay particles surrounding the
(a) (b) (o)

FIG. 1. Pile Jetting in Different Foundation Soil: (a) Sand; (b) Sand with Clay
Stratum; (c) Sand Stratum Underlayed with Clay: 1—Pile; 2—Jet Pipe; 3—Water
Jet; 4—Sand; 5—Clay; 6— Loose Sand; 7—Jet Hole; 8—Fine Particle Deposition

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 (a) <b)

FIG. 2. Increase in Pile Capacity: (a) Compressed Pile; (b) Anchor (Pull-Out) Pile:
1—Pile; 2—Jet Pipe; 3—Crushed Stone and/or Large Gravel; 4—Loose Sand in Jet
Hole; 5—Water Jet

pile to the surface. This will provide a clear annular space for effective
water return. This is a particularly important consideration when piles are
jetted through a soft clay stratum, ensuring that the soft clay will not close
in around the pile as it is driven. If piles are to be jetted into clay, a
sufficiently thick layer of sand should be placed on the top of the clay so '<
that the piles are driven into the clay foundation through the sand. The
sand particles will then fill the voids produced in the clay foundation by the
water jet. Subsequent dynamic driving, performed to achieve the pile's
final set, will consolidate the sand, filling the voids around the pile's shaft.
However, pile jetting is not always a successful operation for driving
piles. For example, jetting could be prevented by the presence of large
boulders in the foundation soil. During jetting, these boulders will move
down along with the jet, towards the pile's tip. Eventually, the boulders
will interfere with pile movement to the extent that the movement of both
jet pipes and pile are prevented. The presence of large materials in sand
foundations, such as cobbles and coarse gravel, could produce similar
effects. For successful jetting through a soil containing large material, it is
essential that a sufficient quantity of water is used. This phenomenon,
however, can be successfully used to increase pile capacity, by simply
feeding the large materials into the jet hole to allow concentration at
designated locations, such as at the pile tip or the bearing surface of an
anchor pile with widening at the end. This installation procedure is shown
in Fig. 2 and has been discussed by Shestopal (1959) and Tsinker (1972).
It is obvious that the amount of water required for pile driving does not
present any problem if piles are jetted offshore, such as for the construc-
tion of various marine structures. It could, however, create problems when
piles are driven on shore, including the need to dispose of large quantities
328
of water during jetting. In the latter case, sufficient means of water escape
are required.
GENERAL PROCEDURE
Conventional pile jetting requires very simple equipment as detailed in
Figs. 3 and 4. Typically, this consists of a centrifugal pump equipped with
a flow meter and pressure gage, a minimum of two steel jet pipes connected
to the pump by the same diameter flexible pressure hoses, and a winch for

10-. ' IX / ' 6 7 89 2

1
4-^

l
FIG. 3. Typical Pile Jetting Setup: 1—Barge; 2—Pump; 3—Pile Handling Winch;
A—Jet Pipe; 5—Flexible Hose; 6—T-Joint; 7—Manometer; 8—Flow Meter;
9—Valve; 10—Pile

(o) (b)

FIG. 4. Typical Jet Pile Assemblage: 1—Water-Supply Flexible Hose; 2—Flange;

3—Bent Pipe; 4—Straight Pipe; 5—Coupling; 6—Nozzle
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 . •• ..';' < :. ; a^Y >:-""""
! r—•.•Te.-WJ- tt.il. •{+**-•'KV

FIG. 5. Pile Jetting; T-Shaped Con-
crete Sheet Piles (Width of Flange 100
cm; Depth of Web 60 cm) and Concrete
Battered 3:1 Anchor Piles with Widen-
ing at Ends (Widening Width 150 cm)
FIG. 6. Typical Structure of Jet Hole:
1—Jet Area, Soil Liquified and Sus-
pended (Zone 1); 2—Rising Flow (Zone
2); 3—Filtration Zone (Zone 3)

handling the jet pipes. The required jet pipe diameter is usually between
50-100 mm. To increase the velocity of water, the lower end of the pipe is
generally equipped with a nozzle as shown in Fig. 4. The internal diameter
of the nozzle is usually taken as 1/3 or more of the pipe's internal diameter.
Side holes of 6-10-mm diameter help to loosen the soil around the nozzle.
In the case of concrete piles, one centrally located jet pipe is sometimes
used. During the pile-driving process, the jet pipes are usually pushed into
the ground by hand, then moved up and down along the pile to obtain a
"lubricating" effect.
To obtain good results, the operator(s) shoves the jet down first, hauls it
up and down several times, then while keeping the jet down, drops the pile.
This sequence of pile driving is repeated until the pile reaches the desired
depth. Then, as stated previously, regular piles are driven the last meter or
so of depth without jetting by dynamic methods. This, however, does not
apply to sheet piles designed to resist side thrust only, such as sheet-pile
bulkheads. These techniques apply to the driving of both vertical and
battered piles.
During the past 30 years, thousands of vertical and battered concrete
piles of regular construction, and anchor piles with widening at the ends
(sometimes quite large), have been jetted into both cohesive and cohesive-
less soils. A typical example is shown in Fig. 5.
Few known investigations concerning pile jetting have been conducted
to date. The most comprehensive test results published were conducted by
Shestopal (1959) and Tsinker (1972, 1977). Shestopal basically considered
the jetting of steel pipes, while Tsinker tested concrete piles of regular
construction and anchor piles with widening at the end, jetted into sand
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foundations. Significant results of these investigation are summarized as
follows:

1. In the process of pile jetting into a pure sand stratum, three

distinctive zones in the jet hole structure are observed, as shown in Fig. 6.
In the immediate vicinity of the water jet (zone 1), the sand's natural
structure is destroyed, resulting in a heavy sand/water liquid mixture.
Also, the excess water pumped into zone 1 escapes to the surface along the
pile's shaft (zone 2). The upward flow of water in zone 2 "lubricates" the
pile and assists its downward movement. Some water infiltrates into the
adjacent zone 3 and maintains a high pore pressure there. However, in
sand, this excess pressure dissipates almost immediately after termination
of jetting. This is characteristic for pile driving in both dry and water-
bearing sands.
2. Concrete piles jetted into the dry sand have 6-9 times more capacity
then identical piles jetted into water-bearing sand. Dynamic impact,
however, such as from a hammer or pile vibration for the pile's final set,
sharply increases the capacity of piles driven into water-bearing sands.
This happens because the loose sand grain structure in the jet hole
collapses as a result of dynamic impact. This phenomenon is known as
sand liquefaction. Basically, all types of sand, although mostly very loose
fine sands, are susceptible to liquefaction. A few seconds after sand
liquefaction occurs, the entire column of loose sand in the jet hole sinks
causing densification of the sand. The repeated dynamic impact on the
jetted piles does not increase its capacity significantly.
The sand liquefaction phenomenon was not observed while driving
concrete piles or steel pipes into a dry sand stratum. In the latter case,
when the water jet is withdrawn, loose sand settles around the pile in the
jet hole, getting compacted by the movement of water infiltrated down and
out of the jet hole. Further dynamic actions, such as use of a hammer or
vibration for the pile's final set, do not increase the pile's capacity
significantly.
3. In most laboratory and field tests, it has been found that there is some
increase in soil density outside of the jet hole. Despite this fact, however,
some pull-out tests (Tsinker 1972) indicated reduction in pile frictional
resistance up to 10% in comparison with hammer-driven piles.
4. Despite the fact that some fine soil particles wash out, the pile-jetting
process does not change the sandy soil's granulometric composition
significantly. However, soil inclusions such as cobbles or large gravel tend
to settle at the deeper zone of the jet hole.

WATER REQUIREMENTS

On the basis of numerous field tests, Shestopal (1959) suggested that the
following empirical equations may be used to determine the quantity of
water required for pile jetting into a sandy soil:
For a dry sand stratum (water table located below pile tip):

% = 530 (d50)l3f-5 + O.lir/Jk (1)

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 For a saturated sand stratum:

g = 530 (ay 1 ' 3 / 0 ' 5 + OMl-nlk (2)

where Q = flow rate of water required for pile jetting in m3/h; D = pile
diameter, or width in m; d50 = average size of sand particles in mm; / =
designed submerged length of pile in m; and k = filtration coefficient in
m/day.
In the case of pile jetting through several soil strata, the average
coefficient of filtration can be determined from
ZiKn /„

where kn and ln = the filtration coefficient and lengths, respectively, for soil
!
[ layer n.
i Extensive experience in jetting of different kinds of concrete piles in
Eastern European countries, and particularly in the U.S.S.R., suggests the
11
water requirements and jet sizes presented in Table 1 for successful pile
driving.
For determination of the required pump's capacity, head loss in the
water-supply hoses can be computed using the following:

Q\
H=~ (3)
Ay
j where Q is the same as in Eqs. 1 and 2;lh = total length of the water supply
| hoses in m; and KT = empirical coefficient dependent upon hose material
, obtained from Table 2.
The pressure loss in the jet pipes and in the manifold can be determined
using the data given in Table 3. If pressure loss in jet pipes is excessive and
1
velocity exceeds 5 m/s, then it is necessary to increase the number and/or
[ diameter of jet pipes. Selection of jet pipe diameter and pump capacity

TABLE 1. Volume of Water and Head Required for Pile Jetting (Marine Structures
Handbook 1972)
PILE SECTION (DIAMETER)
30-50 cm 50-70 cm
Head at Jet pipe Flow Jet pipe Flow
Depth tip of internal rate of internal rate of
of pile nozzle diameter water diameter water
Soil driving (MPa) (mm) (m3/min) (mm) (m3/mln)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Silt; silty sand; 5-15 0.4-0.8 37 0.4-1 50 1-1.5
fine sand; soft 15-25 0.8-1.0 68 1-1.5 80 1.5-2
clay; sand
Sand and hard 5-12 0.6-1.0 50 1-1.5 68 1.5-2.0
sand loam
Sand with gravel 15-25 1.0-1.5 80 1.5-2.5 106 2-3

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TABLE 2. Factor KT Value for Different Hoses (Marine Structures Handbook 1972)
Hose Material
Jet pipe internal diameter (mm) Rubberized Rubber
0) (2) (3)
33 33 50
50 133 200
65 567 850
76 1,333 2,000

TABLE 3. Flow Rate of Water in m3/hr (Numerator) and Loss of Head in m

(Denominator) per 100 m of Steel Pipe (Marine Structures Handbook 1972)
Internal Pipe Diameter (mm)
Velocity of water (m/s) 25 40 50 60 70 80 100 125 250
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
1.0 1.80 4.50 7.10 10.2 13.9 18.1 28.3 44.2 63.6
6.40 3.70 2.90 2.3 2.0 1.7 1.3 1.0 0.84
1.1 1.95 5.0 7.8 11.2 15.2 20 31.1 48.6 70
7.60 4.4 3.4 2.8 2.3 2.0 1.6 1.2 1.0
1.25 2.20 5.70 8.8 12.8 17.3 22.6 35.4 55.2 79.5
9.70 5.6 4.3 3.5 3.0 2.6 2.0 1.6 1.3
1.50 2.70 6.8 10.0 15.3 20.8 27.1 42.4 66.3 95.4
13.5 7.8 6.1 5.0 4.2 3.6 2.8 2.20 1.8
1.75 3.10 7.9 12.4 17.8 24.3 31.7 49.5 77.3 111.0
18.1 10.5 8.1 6.6 5.7 4.8 3.8 3.0 2.40
2.0 3.5 9.10 14.1 20.4 27.7 36.2 56.6 88.4 127
23.0 13.4 10.5 8.6 7.2 6.2 4.9 3.8 3.2
2.5 4.40 11.3 17.7 25.5 34.6 45.2 70.7 110.0 159.0
34.7 20.5 16.0 1.1 11.1 9.6 7.5 5.9 4.9
3.0 5.30 13.6 21.2 30.5 41.6 54.3 84.3 133.0 191.0
47.9 28.8 24.7 18.6 15.8 13.6 10.7 8.4 6.9
3.5 6.3 15.9 25.2 35.2 48 63 100 154 222

69 39.4 35 24.8 21 18.2 16.2 11.3 9.3

4.0 7.2 18.1 28.8 40.4 54.7 72 114 176 253
90 51 45.5 32.5 27.2 24 21.2 14.7 12.1
5.0 9.0 22.6 36 50.5 68.5 90 142 220 316

140 79 71 51 41.5 37 32.7 23 18.9

Note: For used rusted pipes, the head loss should be increased by a factor 1.15-1.3. Also, head loss in valves,
connecting, curved parts, etc. could be taken as equal to the loss in a straight pipe 5-m long of relevant diameter.

should be done in the following sequence: (1) Using Table 1, select

desirable values of water volume rate and water head required for pile
driving; (2) determine pressure losses in hoses and pipes; and (3) determine
required pump capacity.
CONCLUSION
The state-of-the-art of pile jetting has been reviewed. The writer hopes
that the pile-jetting fundamentals discussed, as well as some practical data
333
presented in this paper, will bring attention of contractors and foundation
engineers to this very efficient method of pile installation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer is indebted to Acres International Limited for assistance in

preparation of this paper, and extends his gratitude to D. Daw for his help
in its preparation.

APPENDIX I. REFERENCES

"Construction of the port marine structures handbook." (1972). Transport

Publishers, Moscow, U.S.S.R. (in Russian).
Matlin, A. (1983). "Wide flange concrete sheet pile warves." Proceedings of
ASCE Specialty Conference, Ports 1983, New Orleans, La., Mar. 21-23,
389-401.
McGregor, T. H. (1963). "T-shaped concrete sheet piles renew deteriorated
bulkhead." Engineering News-Record, Jan. 3, 20-21.
"Pile jetting is simplified." (1985). Engineering News-Record, Dec. 12, 16.
Shestopal, A. O. (1959). Jetting of pipes, piles, and sheet piles. Hydroproject
Institut, Moscow, U.S.S.R. (in Russian).
Tsinker, G. P. (1972). "Rational design of anchor pile with widenings at the ends
for anchored sheet pile bulkheads," thesis presented to Odessa Institute of
Civil Engineers, at Odessa, U.S.S.R., in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Russian).
Tsinker, G. P. (1977). "Performance of jetted anchor piles with widening." J.
Geotech. Engrg. Div., ASCE, 103(GT3), 213-226.

APPENDIX II. NOTATION

The following symbols are used in this paper:

D = pile diameter or width;

dso = average size of sand particles;
H = head loss in water supply hoses;
KT = empirical coefficient depending on hose material;
k = filtration coefficient;
/ = pile submerged length;
/„ = total length of water hoses; and
Q = flow rate.

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