Development and Use of Piles
Uploaded by
ScribdTranslationsDevelopment and Use of Piles
Uploaded by
ScribdTranslationsDEVELOPMENT AND USE OF PILES
The piles predate the
history we know. 12,000
years ago, the Neolithic
inhabitants of
Switzerland drove
wooden poles into the
soft bottoms of shallow
lakes and built their
houses on them at
heights sufficient to
protect them from
marauding animals and
neighboring warriors.
Similar structures are
currently in use in the jungles of Southeast Asia and South America. Venice was
built on wooden stilts in the marshy delta of the Po River, to protect the early
Italians from invaders from Eastern Europe and at the same time to be close to the
sea and their sources of livelihood.
The Spanish explorers gave Venezuela
this name, which means little Venice,
because the Indians lived in huts built on
stilts in the lagoons surrounding the
shores of Lake Maracaibo. Nowadays,
pile foundations have the same purpose:
to make it possible to build houses and
to maintain industries and businesses in
places where soil conditions are not
favorable.
Use of piles
Stilts are used in many ways.
Load-bearing piles that support
foundations are the most
common. These piles transmit the
load of the structure through soft
strata to stronger, incompressible
soils or rock below or distribute
the load through soft strata that
are unable to resist the load
concentration of a shallow
foundation. Load-bearing piles are
used where there is a danger that the upper layers of soil may be undermined by
the action of currents or waves or in docks and bridges built in water.
Tension piles are used to resist upward forces, as in structures subject to
suppression, such as buildings with foundations located below the water table,
dam protection works or underground tanks. They are also used to resist
overturning in walls and dams and as anchors for cables that serve as windbreaks
in towers or are retained in anchored walls and towers.
Laterally loaded piles support loads applied perpendicularly to the pile axis and are
used in foundations subjected to horizontal forces, such as earth retaining walls,
bridges, dams and quays and as fenders and ramparts in port works. If lateral
loads are large, inclined piles can resist them more effectively. These are piles that
are driven at a certain angle. A combination of vertical and inclined piles is often
used, as shown in the figure.
Piles are sometimes used to compact soil or as vertical drains in low permeability
strata. Piles placed very close to each other and wide, thin planks joined together
are used as retaining walls, temporary dams or bulkheads against leaks.
Piles are used in the following situations:
When there is a weak layer of soil on the surface. This layer cannot support the
weight of the building, so loads have to bypass this layer and be transferred to the
stronger soil or rock layer below the weak layer.
When a building has very heavy concentrated loads, such as a high-rise structure,
bridge, or water tank.
Pile foundations are capable of supporting greater loads than more common
foundations such as footings or foundationhttps://www.arq.com.mx/tag/cimentaci
%C3%B3n slabs.
First-order rigid foundation:
The lower end of the pile rests on a particularly strong layer of soil or rock. Thus,
the load of the building is transferred to the strong layer. In a sense, this pile acts
as a column.
The key principle is that the lower end rests on the surface that is the intersection
of a weak and strong layer. Thus, the charge bypasses the weak layer and is
safely transferred to the strong layer.
A widely used technique is to excavate the ground where the volume of earth to be
extracted is equal to or greater than the weight of the construction to be built. Then,
when building inside that excavation on a foundation slab, the weight of the
structure is practically equal to or less than that of the earth that was there and
does not sink because the soil was compacted and was always supporting that
weight.
Another method used in most constructions is to drive or bury piles.
These are made of reinforced concrete and are shaped like a cylinder. They are
like columns that are buried and their function is to ensure that the weight of the
construction to be carried out can rest on deep solid rock. The length of these is
varied and will depend on the soil study. The soil engineer will recommend how
many piles are necessary and their location using topographic coordinates. The
detail drawing also specifies the diameter, steel reinforcement and concrete
strength, as well as its length.
Some piles may be driven or pinned, but most are constructed on site. Using
drilling machines, a hole is opened in the ground and certain materials such as
benthic mud are used to support the walls of the hole being excavated. Metal tube-
shaped sleeves are also used to prevent the walls of the cavity from collapsing,
however there are several ways to make the formwork.
After these processes, the steel reinforcement is placed and then the concrete.
All of these solutions are expensive, but there are circumstances where it is
unavoidable to do so. For example a building in the city. There are usually few
options for available land and if the only land available requires piling, investors will
surely do so.