SS Pile or Super strength pile is a type of precast concrete piles, which mean the SS pile will be produced in the factory and delivered to construction site if there is a need. SS Pile is slightly different compare with other concrete piles, SS Pile has a widen radius and it can supports more loads from structures with fewer number of points. There is two types of stressing of tendons, which is post-tensioning and pre-tensioning, while SS Pile is using prestressing or pre-tensioning. Pile which uses prestressing is to strengthen the strengh of pile, or prevent crack and improves its’ strength so that the pile can carries more load.

Procedure and Sketch of How To Produce Super Strength Pile (SS Pile)

1) PC Bar Cutting and Heading

2) Cage Forming

3) Joints Setting

4) Concrete Placing

5) Concrete Batching

6) Prestressing

7) Spinning

Steam Curing

9) Demoulding

10) Autoclaving

These are all the steps of how to produce a SS Pile. All the procedures must be followed exactly and done it clean and neat. Safety protection must be carried on for workers who involved in the process of producing SS Pile. After the SS Pile has been done, it will be handled and stored in the factory or yard and ready for delivery.

Pile can be done in precast or cast-in-situ, cash-in-situ pile which is casted on the site, while precast pile is casted in the factory and deliver to construction site. This article will be teaching you how to handle and store the precast pile after it has been casted in the factory. Basically this article is writing about handling and storing hollow section pile such as Super Strength Pile (SS Pile). It has several steps need to be followed.

Procedures Of Handling and Storing Piles

1) Two point lifting position to be pitched at 0.2 x L distance from the pile ends (Diagram 1a as above). Alternatively, lifting from the pile ends is to be executed with the following controls :-

i) No jerking movements by the crane.

ii) Crane must be stationary.

iii) Vertical lifting rate at slower pace.

iv) Boom of crane to be swung at minimum rate of movement.

v) Piles are to be carried one at a time.

vi) Wire ropes are to be capable of carrying the load.

vii) Free rotation of the top swivel is to be ensured (Diagram 2 as above).

viii) Wire ropes are to be inclined at least 45 degree acute angle with the pile body. (Diagram 2 as above)

ix) Only PPDC verified / authorized hooks are to be used.

x) Two flat M.S. plate hooks are to be used at cross fin shoe ends or circular / torus hooks for conical shoe ends.

xi) Stoppers are to be put at both sides of the piles and fastened to be ground. (Diagram 1b as above)

2) Lifting from one end for pitching is at 0.2 x L. Pile is to be fastened in such a way to prevent slipping (multiple loop grip tie) with the following controls :-

i) No dragging along ground.

ii) Lifting rate at slower pace.

iii) Lifting piles from the ground is to be done at the open-ends with “C” hook.

iv) Nothing must be below the pile at transfer.

3) Refer to diagram 1a and 1b above for storage details.

i) Piles are preferably to be stored according to their respective lengths.

ii) Spacers of 2″ x 4″ hardwoods are to be placed at 0.2 x L from both ends of the piles and in between the 2 layers of piles.

iii) Preferably the ground is levelled and compacted with a 100mm thick bed of 20mm aggregates.

Super Strength Pile or SS pile is another type of piling which has higher strength and able to carry more loads from any structure with fewer number of points. Most probably SS piles are made of prestressed or spun concrete. SS piles are constructed in round and hollow in cross section and have the lengths up to 12 metres. SS Piles have a nominal bearing capacity in the range 1690 kN to 3500 kN. Of course, SS Pile has its’ own piling machine and it’s slightly different compare to other piling machine.

Features Of Super Strength Pile

1) Economical
Being economical is the basic consideration of every piling contractor. With the wide variety of sizes to choose from, SS Piles allow for optimum selection of sizes, wall thicknesses and lengths to meet contractor’s requirement. In additional to that, the higher strength also means that contract will need fewer number of points to cater for a designed column load.

2) High Concrete Strength
Owing to the Autoclave curing technology and high compaction induced by the centrifugal process, SS Piles are able to achieve concrete compressive strength of more than 78.48Mpa within a time frame of 24 hours. Coupled with SS Piles’ hollow circular cross-sections and prestressing, contractor will have piles with high resistance to bending. Higher concrete compressive strengths also allow SS Piles to be driven hard into rigid bearing strata to attain higher bearing capacity per pile point.

3) Durability
The carefully monitored spinning process which gradually induces a force equivalent to 35 times that of gravity will lower the water to cement ratio further thus increasing the concrete density greatly.

Though the high temperature and pressure of the Autoclave curing technology, the calcium silicate hydrate in the high-density concrete will stabilize and form crystals of tobermorite. Permeability is then reduced. Low permeability also means high resistance to internal steel reinforcement, making the concrete exceedingly durable.

Utilizing SS Piles in extremely corrosive marine condition can also be considered as the low permeability will prevent sulfate and also hinder the more vigorous chloride attack.

4) Consistent High Quality
The quality control team rigorously inspects in-coming raw materials to ensure their compliance with governing standards. An exemplary quality control program including periodical samplings and testings, is conducted constantly to guarantee optimum performance of the SS Piles.

There is many different type of piles in the market, every type of piles has their own procedure of pile driving. Many contractors are not expert in how to drive a pile or procedure of pile driving. Here is a rough procedure on how to drive a pile. Before the piling process is carrying on, soil investigation have to be carried on, so that piling contractor knows what is the condition of soil. If it’s normal soil then the normal piling procedure can be carried on, but if the soil contains rock or stone, another piling procedure will be carried on. The cost for that also will be affected.

Procedure Of How To Drive A Pile

1) Mob Or Bringing Piling Machine To The Site
Firstly, clarify the location that the piling machine has to be moved to. After that, the piling machine will be moving in to the location in site. The piling machine will be set on place.

2) Driving Initial Pile
After bringing in the piling machine, first pile or starter pile or initial pile will be ready to drive in to the ground by following the pile point that shown in the construction drawing. The initial pile will be driven in to the ground until maximum or can’t be driving in anymore.

3) Driving Extension Pile
If initial pile has been fully driving in to the ground, the second pile or extension pile will be jointing to the initial pile and drive again. The extension pile will be driving into the ground until maximum as the initial pile.

4) Cutting Off Pile Head
Let’s say the 6 metres extension pile has been driving in to the round 3 metres depth only and can’t be driving in anymore. The excessive of 3 metres extension pile will be cutting off.

5) Preparation Of Pile Head Or Pilecap
After cutting off the excessive pile, excavate the soil surrounding of the pile about 300mm depth for preparation of pilecap.

6) Load Test
The purpose of load test is to test the strength of the pile. A certain load will be putting on the pile for a certain period. If the concrete pile is crack, which mean the concrete pile is failed to support the load. If the concrete pile left for certain days without any crack, which mean the concrete pile is strong enough to carry the load of the building. Normally load test will be carried on before driving the pile to the ground. If the load test for the concrete pile is failed, then the contractor has to supply another batch of concrete piles.

Piling is a type of ground treatment which is driving a pile into the ground below ground level. Except sheet pile, other piles like concrete pile, timber pile, steel pile, bored pile are used to transfer the building load to the ground. It’s used to strengthen the soil so that the ground able to support the load of the building. While sheet pile is usually used to support lateral load and act as a supporting wall.

There is a lot of different types of piles in the market, many other type of piles have been occurred in the market and still increasing due to improvement of piling technology. Driving method, type of piling machine, procedure of piling are all take into consideration in choosing type of pile.

Length Of Pile

Normally the length of the pile can be 3metres, 6metres, 9metres and 12metres. The depth of piling to be driven into the ground is depending on the condition of ground. If a length of 3m, 6m, 9m, or 12m pile is not enough to support the load of building, another 3m, 6m, 9m, or 12m pile will be joint to the first pile and continuously until it’s strong enough to support the load of building. Or so, the first pile or we called it as “starter pile” will be driving in until it can’t be driven in anymore.

Precast And Cast-In-Situ Pile

Pile can be done in precast concrete pile or cast-in-situ concrete pile. Normally precast concrete pile is used for building work or we can known it as spun pile or RC square pile (Reinforcement concrete square pile). While cast-in-situ concrete pile is used for bridge work or we can known it as bored pile because bridge work has a larger load compare to building work.

Nowadays, piling work is an important ground supporter and is a must to be used on construction unless the condition of soil is hard and strong enough to support the load of building.