History of Pile Drivers
A pile driver is a machine that is used to push piles into the ground. Piles are basically poles and the purpose of driving them into the soil is so that they can provide support to structures. To put it simply, they form part of the foundation in construction.
Pile driving has been in existence for a long time with early versions of the technology going as far back as 5 millennia. Back then, however, it was human beings who had to generate (physically) the force necessary to drive the piles into the ground. Currently, all this is done by use of machines with human beings only playing a guiding role i.e. operating the machines.
Pile drivers started playing a major role in the construction industry in the 1800s at the onset of the industrial revolution. It is during this period that human beings abandoned manual pile driving for machine power. The primary energy source at the time was steam.
The most important thing has always been to ensure that the piles are not in any way compromised in the event that they encounter an opposing force. Structural integrity, to say the least, is absolutely essential.
Steam pile drivers worked on the concept of energy transfer. This energy basically came from high-pressure steam which would suddenly be released to a hammer (connected to pistons). It is this part of the pile driver that would then direct energy to the head of a pile consequently driving it into the ground.
Steam was widely used in the 1800s but with the wide-scale adoption of fossil fuel in industrial processes, diesel became the preferred source of energy for pile driving. Even with diesel pile drivers, the concept was still the same i.e. using pressure to push piles into the ground.
Basically, how it works is that diesel is introduced into a combustion chamber at a particular moment in time. Here, it mixes with air and compressed to the point of ignition; it immediately combusts to create an explosive force which is then directed to the pile. Diesel-powered pile driving equipment produces significantly more energy than steam-powered ones.
What goes in must eventually come out; this phrase applies to pile driving, as well. For a new structure to be constructed where an older one sits, the latter has to come down. If piles were used to construct the same then obviously they will have to be removed. It is for this reason that the vibratory pile extractor was invented. The work of this device is simple; yank out piles from the ground.
As the name suggests, a vibratory pile extractor uses vibration forces to get the job done. The reason vibrations are necessary is because of the high friction that exists between piles and the surrounding soil. It is, therefore, very difficult (if not impossible) to pull them out using conventional means. The vibrations are generated by hydraulic-powered weights and they come from all directions. However, as a result of several complex processes that occur in the extractor, only vertical vibrations are transferred to the pile effectively loosening the soil surrounding it. Different machines have different vibration capabilities with some producing over 20 vibrations every minute.
Pile driving has been in existence for a long time with early versions of the technology going as far back as 5 millennia. Back then, however, it was human beings who had to generate (physically) the force necessary to drive the piles into the ground. Currently, all this is done by use of machines with human beings only playing a guiding role i.e. operating the machines.
Pile drivers started playing a major role in the construction industry in the 1800s at the onset of the industrial revolution. It is during this period that human beings abandoned manual pile driving for machine power. The primary energy source at the time was steam.
The most important thing has always been to ensure that the piles are not in any way compromised in the event that they encounter an opposing force. Structural integrity, to say the least, is absolutely essential.
Steam pile drivers worked on the concept of energy transfer. This energy basically came from high-pressure steam which would suddenly be released to a hammer (connected to pistons). It is this part of the pile driver that would then direct energy to the head of a pile consequently driving it into the ground.
Steam was widely used in the 1800s but with the wide-scale adoption of fossil fuel in industrial processes, diesel became the preferred source of energy for pile driving. Even with diesel pile drivers, the concept was still the same i.e. using pressure to push piles into the ground.
Basically, how it works is that diesel is introduced into a combustion chamber at a particular moment in time. Here, it mixes with air and compressed to the point of ignition; it immediately combusts to create an explosive force which is then directed to the pile. Diesel-powered pile driving equipment produces significantly more energy than steam-powered ones.
What goes in must eventually come out; this phrase applies to pile driving, as well. For a new structure to be constructed where an older one sits, the latter has to come down. If piles were used to construct the same then obviously they will have to be removed. It is for this reason that the vibratory pile extractor was invented. The work of this device is simple; yank out piles from the ground.
As the name suggests, a vibratory pile extractor uses vibration forces to get the job done. The reason vibrations are necessary is because of the high friction that exists between piles and the surrounding soil. It is, therefore, very difficult (if not impossible) to pull them out using conventional means. The vibrations are generated by hydraulic-powered weights and they come from all directions. However, as a result of several complex processes that occur in the extractor, only vertical vibrations are transferred to the pile effectively loosening the soil surrounding it. Different machines have different vibration capabilities with some producing over 20 vibrations every minute.