Steel pipe pile is used to create a strong foundation for large, heavy structures such as buildings, bridges and roads. The piles are made of steel pipe that’s driven or drilled deep into the ground in order to help distribute the weight of a structure down to the stronger soil or rock below. There are several different types of steel pipe piling including unplugged open ended, plugged open ended, bottom plate, steel pipe with rock shoe, and Franki pipe pile. Different types of pipe pile will work better for different projects, depending on the nature of the soil and the weight of the structure that’s being supported.
To install pipe pile, steel pipe is forced into the ground. This can be done one of two ways, either by driving the piles or drilling the piles.
Steel pipe piles can be driven into the ground using a large impact hammer. Driving the piles is favored over drilling in situations where the soil is fairly loose, since driving the piles into the ground compresses the surrounding soil and therefore causes greater friction (which increases the load-bearing capacity of the pipe piles).
Steel piling can also be drilled into the ground using rotary boring equipment. Rotary boring is commonly used to install large diameter piles, and also when piles need to be installed in especially hard ground.
In both methods, the piles remain in place due to friction in the soil.
The design of a steel pipe pile system can be customized depending on the ground conditions and support requirements. Because pipe pile is made of steel, it can handle heavy loads and withstand extreme environments.
There are five main types of steel pipe pile. While all the different piling methods involve driving pipes into the earth, different soil conditions and structural needs make some pipe pilings better than others.
Unplugged open ended steel pipe pile has an open end. For this reason, once the pipes are installed the ground level will be the same on the inside and outside of the pipe. Unplugged open ended pipe pile transfers the weight of their load to the soil primarily through friction.
Plugged open ended steel pipe pile has a plug on the bottom of the pipe. For this reason, the soil inside the pipe will be lower than the soil outside of the pipe.
Bottom plate steel pipe pile has a steel plate welded to the lower end. The plate creates compression and increases friction to reduce movement. Bottom plate steel pipe pile is used on rocky terrain where not much soil exists between the rock and the pile, and therefore increased friction is needed to hold the pile in place.
Steel pipe with rock shoe is similar to bottom plate in that it helps increase friction when there isn’t enough soil around. The difference is that rock shoe is used when the pile comes into direct contact with a rock surface. The shoe is able to support the entire load and prevents shifting or sliding along the rock surface.
Franki steel pipe pile is meant to be permanent and is plugged with a concrete filling. This kind of pipe pile can withstand a much stronger driving impact than any other kind of pipe pile.
Pipe piles should have a minimum outer diameter of eight inches, and minimum wall thickness of 0.25 inches. Pile piles are available in many sizes, though 12-inch diameter pipe piles are some of the most common. For pipe piles with a diameter of 14 inches or larger, it’s recommended that they have a minimum wall thickness of 0.375 inches.
Steel pipe piles are favored for many reasons. They’re highly customizable. Because the pipe pile can be tweaked to exact load specifications, costs can also be reduced. Pipe piles are relatively easy to build, and they’re also easy to replace after construction is complete, so their maintenance and replacement costs are some of the lowest. For large structures such as buildings and bridges where a deep foundation is necessary, steel pipe pile is an excellent choice.
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Various types of materials can be used for piles. The magnitude of the applied loads from the superstructure, the subsurface conditions, and the location of the groundwater table are just some of the factors in selecting the correct material for pile foundations.
At present, steel and concrete are commonly used for pile foundation construction. Steel piles are generally installed by driving the pile into the ground by either an impact hammer (dynamic installation) or by pressing the steel pile into the subsurface layers until it reaches the desired depth (non-dynamic installation).
Steel piles are often shaped as pipes, I-sections, W-sections, and H-sections. Engineers prefer the H-sections compared to I and W sections since H-shaped sections tend to have equal web and flange thicknesses.
Steel pipe piles have a wide range of applications. These are used as building foundations, and bridge piers/foundations. Pipe piles are also utilized for port projects as foundation for piers and wharves. The piles can also be interlocked to form a continuous wall to retain soil from the backside such as quay walls, cofferdams, and excavation protection structures.
Pipe piles have an advantage over the other pile materials and shapes, and can be enumerated as follows:
1. High pile axial capacity – pipe piles usually are large in diameter. Recall that a pile’s axial capacity can be attributed to its skin (or frictional) resistance, and its end-bearing (or pile tip) resistance. Both components are dependent on the geometry of the pipe pile, such that the skin resistance increases with the pile’s surface area, and the tip resistance is a function of the pile’s cross-sectional area.
2. High flexural strength – steel generally has a high yield strength, and this translates to high bending moment capacities that can resist flexural stresses due to the loads from the superstructure (for building and bridge structures), or the lateral earth pressures from the retained soil (for earth-retaining structures).
3. Pipes can be used as main components for a combination wall – for sheet pile applications, pipe piles can be used as the main flexural member (usually referred as a King Pile) of the continuous wall, in combination with infill sheet piles (usually a pair of U or Z sheet piles placed between two pipes). This configuration for a continuous wall provides a higher bending moment capacity while maintaining an optimized wall design (i.e., a lower total tonnage of steel is required).
4. Pipe piles can be part of a composite pile – in most cases in engineering projects, steel pipe piles are filled with concrete after the pipes have been driven into the ground, turning it into a composite pile. Having a concrete-filled pipe pile increases the rigidity of the pile element, and provides better performance in resisting various external loads, for both static and dynamic (i.e., earthquake loads or wind loads) conditions.
5. Ease of installation and jointing – due to the geometry of a pipe pile, jointing of piles by welding is relatively easier as compared to other steel structural shapes. This in turn provides a more efficient construction method and can potentially lessen the overall construction duration of the project.
The use of steel pipe piles as foundation and/or earth-retaining structures has been found effective in providing resistance against numerous combinations of gravity and lateral forces. In most cases it has been found as a more cost-effective foundation solution compared to conventional concrete piles (for foundation purposes), and typical U and Z sheet piles (for retaining walls).
Through the combined efforts of design engineers/ engineering consultants and pile manufacturers/suppliers, value engineering and sustainable development can both be satisfied for a wide array of projects.
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