FRANKI GOES TO THE UK

This article describes Atlas Palen's vibrationless screw piling technique, which was developed in Belgium in the 1960's and is about to be introduced to the UK. The technique relies on powerful rigs with extremely high torque, that are specially designed for the system. It involves screwing a soil-compression auger into the ground using a hollow mandrel, so that a hole up to 23m deep is formed without removing any spoil. When founding level is reached, a thin cage of nominal reinforcement is lowered into the mandrel, rotation of the auger is reversed, and concrete is fed in through a hopper. The mandrel and auger are wound out of the ground, to leave a pile of compacted concrete with a spiral thread formed within the compacted soil around the shaft. Pile capacities of the order of 100 tonnes are normal, depending on the soil. Advantages of the system include: (1) the need for only two operatives to drive and attend the self-contained rig; (2) no need for a separate mobile, because a crude but effective crane jib is built-in; and (3) no need for attendant machines and minimum production of mess, because there is no spoil to remove. Screw piles are ideally suited to difficult estuary soils; because of their total absence of vibration, they strongly rival driven piling in urban areas. (TRRL)

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Thomas Telford Limited

    London,   United Kingdom 
  • Authors:
    • WINNEY, M
  • Publication Date: 1990-9-13

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Pagination: p. 23-4,26
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00617578
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
  • Files: ITRD, TRIS
  • Created Date: Nov 30 1991 12:00AM