As pile driving machines drive piles into the ground to provide foundational support for buildings or other structures, they can create strong ground vibrations, and noise.

Mobile Pile Drivers Rapid construction of railroads heightened the need for fast-moving hammers, which encouraged the development of self-propelled pile drivers. All that you need to do is jet your piling in to stabilize and then place your pile driver on top of the piling, turn on the air (95-100 PSI at 24 to 30 CFM). In this range our pile driver operates at 40 to 55 strokes per minute for maximum efficiency and then observe piling being driven to your described depth.

Many pile driving systems use a hammer weight that slides vertically above a steel pile. (excluding hydraulic systems which generate different types of vibrational disturbances). The hammer, weighing multiple tons is raised and as it reaches its highest point is released. As it slides down it hits the pile driving it into the ground. This process is repeated until the proper depth is attained.

It is not uncommon to have construction sites with hundreds (or even thousands) of piles driven into the ground all day long for consecutive months. These operations are known to create strong vibrations that can potentially damage nearby homes, buildings, sewer lines and other structures. Even when these activities are performed under best-case scenarios, they can cause concern to neighboring buildings and homeowners.

Using monitoring equipment from Instantel, you can record and monitor vibration, air overpressure and/or noise levels on your pile driving site. As recorded data can be viewed almost immediately, you can adjust your pile driving activities before regulatory limits are exceeded or before concerns develop. Warnings and alarms can be triggered based on pre-configured trigger levels that you set, and these can be different for each job. Notifications can be sent to you, or to any party you select, and these can be viewed on computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. An historical record of data can be maintained to protect you from future claims and liability.

Industry guidelines provide safe standards for vibration, air overpressure and noise. Monitoring of pile driving activities that produce these disturbances can be governed by local, regional or federal regulatory bodies. It can also be a best practice for pile driving companies to monitor activities to prevent project downtime due to community complaints.

Micromate Monitoring System

The Micromate monitoring system combines a monitoring unit with a variety of sensors. Our system is scalable, as your monitoring needs change, sensors can be added or removed. If today’s job requires vibration monitoring but tomorrow’s job requires vibration and noise, simply add a noise microphone.

How A Micromate Monitoring System Connects Using THOR and Vision Software Systems

Our equipment is designed to withstand long-term installations and extended exposure to the conditions of a construction site. You can install Instantel monitoring equipment permanently for the length of your project. Using Instantel’s Auto Call Home technology and a modem connected to the monitoring unit, event reports can automatically be sent to your computer so you can analyze the data using THOR, our desktop software, or they can be sent to our cloud-based data hosting site; Vision.

THOR

Our proprietary Histogram Combo recording mode ensures that you never miss an event. With Histogram Combo mode you can monitor the job site 24 hours a day and still get reports when levels are exceeded. Your report will show you the peak vibration levels at set intervals throughout the day but it will also give you a waveform report if there are any exceedances. If your equipment is connected to a modem, the waveform events will automatically be sent using Auto Call Home, then at the end of the day your histogram events will be sent. This allows you to quickly analyze the waveform events and determine if the activities are causing the exceedance or if there is an alternative reason. Histogram Combo mode is ideal when you are monitoring activities that produce repetitive vibrations such as pile driving or dynamic compaction.

Vision

Some project requirements stipulate that project owners, regulatory authorities or other stakeholders must be informed of the monitoring activity and all exceedances. Instantel’s cloud-based data hosting solution, Vision, can provide 24/7 access to event data. Data recorded by your Instantel monitoring equipment can be automatically sent to Vision when the system is connected to a modem. With Vision, you can control stakeholder preferences. For example, you could limit project owners to view events and reports without download access, while a regulatory body could view the events and reports with download access. Vision also lets you create custom reports. You can add event data from other sensors, such as temperature or strain gauges, and show your data over the day, week or even over the entire duration of the project.

Each piece of the Micromate monitoring system is designed, manufactured and calibrated by Instantel. Every part of the system is easy to use and can be quickly configured. With Instantel, you are guaranteed reliable data that can stand up to the most extreme conditions.

Explore More Applications

A pile driver is a device used to drive piles into soil to provide foundation support for buildings or other structures. The term is also used in reference to members of the construction crew that work with pile-driving rigs.

One type of pile driver uses a weight placed between guides so that it can slide vertically. It is placed above a pile. The weight is raised, which may involve the use of hydraulics, steam, diesel, or manual labour. When the weight reaches its highest point it is released, and hits the pile, driving it into the ground.

History[edit]

There are a number of claims to the invention of the pile driver. A mechanically sound drawing of a pile driver appeared as early as 1475 in Francesco di Giorgio Martini's treatise Trattato di Architectura.^[1] Also, several other prominent inventors — James Nasmyth (son of Alexander Nasmyth), who invented a steam-powered pile driver in 1845,^[2] watchmaker James Valoué,^[3]Count Giovan Battista Gazzola,^[4] and Leonardo da Vinci^[5] — have all been credited with inventing the device. However, there is evidence that a comparable device was used in the construction of Crannogs at Oakbank and Loch Tay in Scotland as early as 5000 years ago.^[6] In 1801 John Rennie came up with a steam piledriver in Britain.^[7]Otis Tufts is credited with inventing the steam pile driver in the United States.^[8]

Types[edit]

Ancient pile driving equipment used human or animal labor to lift weights, usually by means of pulleys, then dropping the weight onto the upper end of the pile. Modern piledriving equipment uses various methods to raise the weight and guide the pile.

Diesel hammer[edit]

A modern diesel pile hammer is a large two-stroke diesel engine. The weight is the piston, and the apparatus which connects to the top of the pile is the cylinder. Piledriving is started by raising the weight; usually a cable from the crane holding the pile driver — This draws air into the cylinder. Diesel fuel is injected into the cylinder. The weight is dropped, using a quick-release. The weight of the piston compresses the air/fuel mixture, heating it to the ignition point of diesel fuel. The mixture ignites, transferring the energy of the falling weight to the pile head, and driving the weight up. The rising weight draws in fresh air, and the cycle continues until the fuel is depleted or is halted by the crew.

From an army manual on pile driving hammers:The initial start-up of the hammer requires that the piston (ram) be raised to a point where the trip automatically releases the piston, allowing it to fall. As the piston falls, it activates the fuel pump, which discharges a metered amount of fuel into the ball pan of the impact block. The falling piston blocks the exhaust ports, and compression of fuel trapped in the cylinder begins. The compressed air exerts a pre-load force to hold the impact block firmly against the drive cap and pile. At the bottom of the compression stroke, the piston strikes the impact block, atomizing the fuel and starting the pile on its downward movement. In the instant after the piston strikes, the atomized fuel ignites, and the resulting explosion exerts a greater force on the already moving pile, driving it further into the ground. The reaction of the explosion rebounding from the resistance of the pile drives the piston upward. As the piston rises, the exhaust ports open, releasing the exhaust gases to the atmosphere. After the piston stops its upward movement, it again falls by gravity to start another cycle.

Vertical travel lead systems[edit]

Vertical travel leads come in two main forms: spud and box lead types. Box leads are very common in the Southern United States and spud leads are common in the Northern United States, Canada and Europe.

Hydraulic hammer[edit]

A hydraulic hammer is a modern type of piling hammer used instead of diesel and air hammers for driving steel pipe, precast concrete, and timber piles. Hydraulic hammers are more environmentally acceptable than older, less efficient hammers as they generate less noise and pollutants. In many cases the dominant noise is caused by the impact of the hammer on the pile, or the impacts between components of the hammer, so that the resulting noise level can be similar to diesel hammers.

Pile Driver Wrestling

Hydraulic press-in[edit]

Hydraulic press-in equipment installs piles using hydraulic rams to press piles into the ground. This system is preferred where vibration is a concern. There are press attachments that can adapt to conventional pile driving rigs to press 2 pairs of sheet piles simultaneously. Other types of press equipment sit atop existing sheet piles and grip previously driven piles. This system allows for greater press-in and extraction force to be used since more reaction force is developed. The reaction-based machines operate at only 69 dB at 23 ft allowing for installation and extraction of piles in close proximity to sensitive areas where traditional methods may threaten the stability of existing structures.

Such equipment and methods are specified in portions of the internal drainage system in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina, as well as projects where noise, vibration and access are a concern.

Vibratory pile driver/extractor[edit]

Vibratory pile hammers contain a system of counter-rotating eccentric weights, powered by hydraulic motors, and designed so that horizontal vibrations cancel out, while vertical vibrations are transmitted into the pile. The pile driving machine positioned over the pile with an excavator or crane, and is fastened to the pile by a clamp and/or bolts. Vibratory hammers can drive or extract a pile. Extraction is commonly used to recover steel 'H' piles used in temporary foundation shoring. Hydraulic fluid is supplied to the driver by a diesel engine-powered pump mounted in a trailer or van, and connected to the driver head via hoses. When the pile driver is connected to a dragline excavator, it is powered by the excavator's diesel engine. Vibratory pile drivers are often chosen to mitigate noise, as when the construction is near residences or office buildings, or when there is insufficient vertical clearance to permit use of a conventional pile hammer (for example when retrofitting additional piles to a bridge column or abutment footing). Hammers are available with several different vibration rates, ranging from 1200 vibrations per minute to 2400 VPM. The vibration rate chosen is influenced by soil conditions and other factors, such as power requirements and equipment cost.

Piling rig[edit]

A piling rig is used in foundation projects which require drilling into sandy soil, clay, silty clay, and similar environments. Such rigs can be equipped with a short screw (for dry soil), rotary bucket (for wet soil) or core drill (for rock), along with other options. Expressways, bridges, industrial and civil buildings, diaphragm walls, water conservancy projects, and slope protection are all projects which may require piling rigs.

Pei Drivers License

Environmental effects (offshore pile driving)[edit]

The underwater sound pressure caused by pile-driving may be deleterious to nearby fish.^[9][10] State and local regulatory agencies manage environment issues associated with pile-driving.^[11] Noise limit is 160 dB SEL at 750 m (820.21 yd). Mitigation methods include bubble curtains, balloons, internal combustion water hammers etc.^[12]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Ladislao Reti, 'Francesco di Giorgio Martini's Treatise on Engineering and Its Plagiarists', Technology and Culture, Vol. 4, No. 3. (Summer, 1963), pp. 287–298 (297f.)
2. ^Hart-Davis, Adam (3 April 2017). Engineers. Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN9781409322245 – via Google Books.
3. ^Science & Society Picture Library Image of Valoué's design
4. ^Pile-driver Information on Gazzola's design
5. ^Leonardo da Vinci — Pile Driver Information at Italy's National Museum of Science and Technology
6. ^History Trails: Ancient Crannogs from BBC's Mysterious Ancestors series
7. ^Fleming, Ken; Weltman, Austin; Randolph, Mark; Elson, Keith (25 September 2008). Piling Engineering, Third Edition. CRC Press. ISBN9780203937648 – via Google Books.
8. ^Hevesi, Dennis (July 3, 2008). 'R. C. Seamans Jr., NASA Figure, Dies at 89'. New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-03. His great-great-grandfather Otis Tufts constructed the first steam-operated printing press in the United States and invented the steam pile driver.
9. ^Halvorsen, M. B., Casper, B. M., Woodley, C. M., Carlson, T. J., & Popper, A. N. (2012). Threshold for onset of injury in Chinook salmon from exposure to impulsive pile driving sounds. PLoS ONE, 7(6), e38968.
10. ^Halvorsen, M. B., Casper, B. M., Matthews, F., Carlson, T. J., & Popper, A. N. (2012). Effects of exposure to pile-driving sounds on the lake sturgeon, Nile tilapia and hogchoker. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 279(1748), 4705-4714.
11. ^'Fisheries – Bioacoustics'. Caltrans. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
12. ^'Noise mitigation for the construction of increasingly large offshore wind turbines'(PDF). Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. November 2018.

External links[edit]

Pile Driver Machine

Pei Driver's Abstract