Concrete Piles.

Concrete piles are the most widely used in the developed countries and may be cast in situ, precast,
reinforced and prestressed.

(a) Precast
This type is commonly used where:

(i) The length required can be realistically predicted.

(ii) Lateral pressure from a stratum within the soil prole is sufcient to squeeze (neck) a cast-in-situ
pile.
(iii) Where there are large voids in sections of the soil which would possibly have to be lled with an
excessive amount of in situ concrete or could cause loss of support for wet concrete prior to setting.
(iv) For structures such as piers and jetties above water level on coastal, estuary and river sites.

Though precast piles can be manufactured on site it is more common to have them designed,
manufactured and installed by specialist subcontractors.

There are disadvantages in the use of precast concrete piles as follows:

(i) It is not easy to extend their length.

(ii) They are liable to fracture when driven into such obstacles as large boulders in boulder clay and the
damage can remain out of sight.
(iii) Obstructions can cause the pile to deect from the true vertical line.
(iv) There is an economic limit, restricted by buckling, of the unrestrained length of the pile.
(v) Noise and vibration caused by driving can cause nuisance and damage.
(vi) There can be large wastage and health and safety risks to the workforce caused by noise and
vibration due to the need to cut off the projecting length after driving.
(vii) The accuracy of the estimated length is only proved on site when short piles can be difcult to
extend and long piles can prove to be expensive and wasteful.
(viii) The relatively large rig required for driving often needs extensive hard-standings to provide a
suitable surface for pile driving.

The advantages of precast concrete piles are:

(i) It is easier to supervise the initial quality of construction in precast than in situ.
(ii) The pile is not driven until the concrete is matured.
(iii) Stresses due to driving are usually higher than those due to foundation loading so that
manufacturing faults are more easily discovered and, in effect, the pile is preload tested (provided the
defects can be detected).

The reinforcement, while adding to the load-bearing capa- city, is mainly designed to cope with handling,
transporting and driving stresses.

(b) Cast in situ

There is an ever increasing variety of cast in situ piles offered by specialist piling subcontractors. The
piles are
usually circular in cross-section and are regarded as small- diameter piles when their diameters are
from 250600 mm and larger-diameter piles when their diameters exceed 600 mm; large-diameter
piles are now possible with dia- meters up to 3.0 m.

The advantages of cast in situ piles are:

(i) They can be constructed immediately, thus cutting out the time required for casting, maturing and
delivering of precast piles.
(ii) There is no need to cut off or extend excessive lengths of the piles as they can be cast in situ to the
required level.
(iii) They can be cast to longer lengths than is practical with precast piles.
(iv) Most obstructions can be hammered and broken through by the pile-driving techniques.
(v) The placing can cause less noise vibration and other disturbance compared to driving precast piles.
(vi) Soil taken from boring can be inspected and compared with the anticipated conditions.

The disadvantages of cast in situ piles are:

(i) It can be difcult to place and ensure positioning of any necessary reinforcement.
(ii) Concrete quality control is more difcult.
(iii) There is a danger of necking from lateral earth pressure.
(iv) Young concrete is susceptible to attack from some soil chemicals before it has set and hardened.

(c) Prestressed
Prestressed concrete in superstructure design is made of higher strength concrete, requires smaller
cross-sectional area and can be made impact-resistant. The same results apply to prestressed piles
relative to comparison with pre- cast reinforced piles. Their advantages compared to precast reinforced
are:

(i) Handling stresses can be resisted by a smaller cross- section which can result in a more economical
pile.
(ii) It is easier with the smaller section to achieve longer penetration into load-bearing gravels.
(iii) Tensile stresses that are generated up from the toe of the pile after the hammer blow can be
compensated for by prestress.
(iv) The reduction of tensile cracking of the concrete can lead to greater durability.

The disadvantages of prestressed piles are:

(i) The smaller section provides less end bearing and total peripheral skin friction.
(ii) Deeper penetration into end-bearing strata (gravel, compact sand, etc.) may be necessary.
(iii) It is more difcult to extend the length of a precast driven pile.
(iv) As in prestressed concrete superstructure elements, stricter quality control in manufacture is
necessary.