ARC 412-18 – Building Technologies 5 –

Alternative Building Construction Systems

First Semester (2022 – 2023)
Ar. ENP. Mark G. Delfin
Section: 4AR-1

PILINGS AND CAISSONS

Research no. 2

Joson, Joshua C.
PILING IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Piling is a process in building construction where deep excavations for massive

foundations are established. Piling is done when a building is supposed to have more
than two or more floors and requires a larger and stronger support and resistance to
massive loads transferred by the structure itself. Pilings are commonly applied on
structure such as High-rise Buildings, Stadiums, Bridges, Elevated Highways, and/or,
elevated Rail Transits.

Piles are either reinforced concrete, steel-concrete composite, or wood column with a
circular or square cross section. Up until the point when their tip touches a dense layer
of soil, they are driven or nailed into the ground. The cap of piles, which are flat
surfaces installed on top of piles, support the base of the building. After that, the load
is piped down to the strata below.

Visual 1.0: Stages of Bored Pile Foundation

TYPES OF PILES IN COPNSTRUCTION

TYPE/S DESCRIPTION VISUAL/S
 These are driven piles
to the densest part of
the soil. It serves as a
column or pilar to
Bearing Piles transmit loads from the
structure. The load
bearing of the pile
resists the compressive
force of the structure.

Friction Piles On the other hand,

Friction piles does not
require to be situated
on the deeper strata of
the soil because it can
resist loads by friction
along the pile surface.

Friction-cum-Bearing Pile Meanwhile, this is a

combination of the two
mentioned types of
pilings. It can set on the
dense soil while is resist
the load by friction or
transmitting these loads
down to the base end of
the dense soil.
Batter Piles For batter piles, they
are established
diagonally to resist
vertical forces and most
commonly seismic
activities would be
resisted precisely.
 Guide Piles Guide Piles is applied
underground when it
involves underwater
construction to
prevent/guide the pile
from disorienting when
being submerged
underwater.

Sheet Piles Sheet pile uses a

different purpose in
construction, although
they are established by
excavation, their
purpose is to prevent
the soil or any debris
from falling to the
excavation site.

CAISSONS IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Caissons is another type of foundation that is applied in building construction that

requires heavy lifting equipment and a more precise management of work due to its
massive structure. A caisson, also called as pier foundation, cannot built not to be
penetrated by water and it is typically established in constructing pier bridge, a
concrete dam, and/or, anything under a river because these foundations can float on
site. Hence the coined term pier foundation.
It may come in two different shapes which could be box shaped or cylindrical. In
installing these foundations, caissons are used when the hard soil is deep beneath the
weaker soil, so auger equipment are used to perform a deeper stratum of excavation.
Similar to Piling, they both require soil boring and digging to soil to reach the denser
soil however they are both installed differently.

TYPES OF CAISSON FOUNDATIONS

TYPE DESCRIPTION VISUAL
 Box caissons are closed at
the bottom and are
prefabricated on land then
floated on site then sunk
down filled with sand,
Box Caissons grace, and concrete or
water.

In some cases, wood

planks are placed on the
base of the structure for
floating.

As the name suggest, this

type of caisson is
established when the
desired/required depth of
excavated ground is
achieved, it is then ready
Excavated Caissons for installing the prefab
caisson on site.

Floating caissons are

prefabricated using large
equipment called floating
docks which will then be
migrated on to the site
where it will be installed as
Floating Caissons
shown in the visual on the
right. These caissons are
box shaped structures and
will be sunken down the
ocean when installing.
 Open Caissons

The working chamber,

which is located in the
pneumatic caisson's
closed top, is kept at a
pressure greater than
atmospheric.

Pneumatic Caissons
Reference

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