Vibrationless screw piling, developed in Belgium, is Fbout to be launched in the UK. Mike Winney reports. | offered in the UK from next month by | ABOVE LEFT: Dats fromthe Atlas Palen soren isqracetlly inadequate tem porary support works by Bel ‘gan general contractor | & 32 hens made the perfect fil forademonstration st week ‘of Frank’s Als serow ping | system at Rue de UActivite, Brussels. The purpose of the demonstration was to show off a technique which is to be | Cemertaton ‘Ping & Foundations. joat senvure with NV. Franki SA of lfm A Unique selling point of the marginals pln tecgue, which forms foindtion sone'sat Sir to's driven cast inst pe, etal elimination of bration. Tn the deep hile out at Rue de Tete nee of ground shaking was so evi Stl for safety. Sand cascaded, tumbled Slump rom the erie steep wnsipparte Tanks as the genielyviratoness quietly ston with forming pes the bot oe Shout 7m deep, The only stabisatin Work which appeared to have been done to the Battered it was the alien of stl covering of polythene sheeting persed i pce by rebar to ep ol ain As de demonstration proceeded on Wedhes diy, Fran staf al vstors were agit to 0 fee the general contractor's operatives (ke 9 ride up i the bucket of hydra exeavstr “The men were siruging to tack wet sleder Ang shore wich fd sprung fom cntevered sheet ping at the base of a nniti storey residential bloc teetering above re-eint comer of the st “Anchorages a props of any substance secre the steady spreading sheet ple cat levers were conspicuos bythe absence. A ior collapse appeared hight Tel soul ny ‘work be done that would eypart the lest Shudder to the wet sty sad urdedying the fie. “When something goes wrong, eversone on site tends tobe drawn to the Mig st Frans divisional manager for fndtions, Jn Van Den Poe. Fortunately we wil get ox by the en fhe week he aed with obvious rel Screw pling. was develope in Ben by ‘Abs Palen during the eat 19605 an rebes on powerful, extremely high torque, rigs purpuse designed for the system. ‘The technique involves screwing a soil- compression auger into the ground wi Solow mandrel so that a hele upto mn dep is fexmed thot remo of any spol. When fearing level is reached, a slender cage of | nominal reinforcement is lowered ino. the | ‘andre, rotation ofthe ager is reversed and | concrete fs fed i through 2 hopper. ‘The ‘manic and auger are wound ut ofthe sound piling rig af Ru de PAefivith was logged on a Toshiba portable competer. LEFT: Visitors cringed at the work practices and temporary support of the general contractor, Ww SEPTEMBER 190 NEWCINLEKCIVEER 28z= PLANT toleave a completed ple of compacted concrete with 2 spiral thread formed within the densified sol arcund the shaft ‘This backreaming operation clears away any spoil and water which has tumbled into the unsupported hole. Thickness of the thread form cast on the pile can be increased by applying a Substantial upthrustto the mandrel via the rg’s ‘win table erowd mechanism. AS a result, the ominul diameter of the ple can, depending on the sai, be calculated as the overall diameter of the concrete thread. Pile capacities of the order ‘of 100t are the norm, depending on the soi Bonuses of the system include the need for es to deve even than with tripod shel ‘erude but effective crane 's bait in $0 thore is no need for a sepa mobile, And since there 1 no spod to cat aay nt machines are needed and there is En of mess. Screw ples are ieally suited 10. difcuk estuaral sols the chose found on the Clyde an Avonmouth said Cementation P&P aunaging dlrector Trevor Plulpot: ‘Siturated silty sand is the perfect recipe’ Total absence of vibration makes the techni {que a strong rival for driven plingin urban areas Ital compete with the heavy end of continues Aight suger pling indifie geeuerd conditions and snl dameter caisson piling in situations ‘where bentonite suppor isneeded or extraction of tat systems temporary casing i problems tic. “The biggest success so far has been in Berk where there are rigid sound restrictions’ said Van Den Poe!, Phipot said that his first thought on seeing an Alas rig had been: “My God! It looks old fashioned. Well have to improve it’ His second reaction was that it i ‘very robust. Torque applied to the auger via the splined mandrel shaft is up to 45tm on the Latest models. This, compares with 15tm developed by Cementa- tion's biggest CFA auger rig ch original thought Tees gone into the design ofthe hydraulic poxcered Atlas ny and accessories such as purpose pening cenerete skips hareted by the the auger, closing the base of the mandrel shaft and completing Uwe cone penetration head of this sol displacement tool. A spiral ratchet drive that the lost tips serpped tightly to the nd a ead of seatan remains effective as tation is maintained. “This means that the itside of the mandee! should remain dry ready to receive the frst charge of concrete whatever level of water may be standing in the open uncased hile around the outside. ‘Skiploads ofthe bith stump concrete are run inso that the entice length ofthe mesndel is fled and a substantial excess hydrostatic head is availible before the tool is withdrawn and casting of the pile begins. This mininises the risk ‘Kevving athe Deigite Unsere and aopvtina Mara lt 264 We ahaa Sieiet Keaton gion Sedeare"theente. ‘The pling process. of necks forming in the shat Four large hydranically extended! pad feet stabilise the ig while it is working. wse cam also be used to raise the whole bey ‘of tv atest 40¢ model so thatthe wdercarrage RSI ‘How the cut your steelwork and. advanced steel deckings are also themost | econoniic... PMF’s trapezoidal profiles give better strength/weight ratios to, construction costs and save on steel floor conorete, Being nestablo, they cut transport costs. and crane hook-up time, : Unpropped spans of up to 3.6m-can be achieved, for faster concrete laying. 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