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Steel pile

Preformed steel piles can consist of H-sections, box sections, but also tubular sections, which usually are not filled with concrete after driving. Because of corrosion risk, there has been reluctance by some engineers to employ steel piles. However, in natural, uncontaminated ground, the corrosion rate of steel is low. Steel piles can be driven with very high capacity driving tools, depending on the site conditions. Hydraulic impact hammers are commonly used, but in many countries, where environmental aspects are of less importance, diesel hammers or heavy drop hammers are preferred. In granular soils, vibratory hammers are the most efficient method of pile installation. However, at present it is difficult to assess the load bearing capacity of vibrated piles. Compared by pile length, steel piles tend to be more costly than concrete piles, but they have high load-carrying capacity for a given weight of pile, which can reduce driving costs. Slender H-section piles have a low displacement volume, which can be an advantage, when soil displacement or heave are a potential problem. In some ground conditions (stiff cohesive soils), driving H-section piles may become difficult because of soil plugging. Installation of steel piles can be combined with grouting along the shaft or at the pile tip. In this way, the driving resistance can be reduced and the shaft resistance can be increased, similar to the MV-pile. The bearing capacity of steel piles can also be increased by post-grouting. Although steel piles have their widest application in the form of sheet piling, they are also used to a considerable extent as bearing piles in foundations. They have the following advantages compared with other pile types. Steel piles: can have a high carrying capacity, when driven to a hard stratum can withstand even hard driving without risk of damage. can readily be cut down and re shaped for further driving cause relatively small soil displacement can be readily extended/spliced without much delay by welding or splicing, thus long piles can be installed without the need of a very long leader can be readily cut if not driven to full penetration, and the cut-off portions can be reused or have value as scrap material can be roughly handled without risk of damage can have good resistance to lateral forces and buckling can be easily combined with water jetting and grouting.

Steel piles are used in marine structures where their resilience and column strength are advantageous in resisting impact forces from the berthing of ships. Corrosion may not be a drawback, as there are effective methods of protecting steel piles. The four main types of steel piles in general use are: H-section piles. Box piles. Tube piles

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