Chapter 3
Piling equipment and methods
There was a world-wide increase in the construction of heavy foundations in the period from
1950 to the 1970s as a result of developments in high office buildings, heavy industrial
plants and shipyard facilities. The same period also brought the major developments of
offshore oilfields. A high proportion of the heavy structures required for all such develop-
ments involved piled foundations, which brought about a great acceleration in the evolution
of piling equipment. There were increases in the size and height of piling frames, in the
weight and efficiency of hammers, and in the capacity of drilling machines to install piles
of ever-increasing diameter and length. The development of higher-capacity machines of all
types was accompanied by improvements in their mobility and speed of operation.
The development of piling equipment proceeded on different lines in various parts of the
world, depending mainly on the influence of the local ground conditions. In Northern
Europe the precast concrete pile continued to dominate the market and this led to the
development of light and easily handled piling frames. These were used in conjunction with
self-contained diesel hammers and winches, with the minimum of labour and without the
need for auxiliary craneage, steam boilers, or air compressors. The stiff clays of the mid-
western states of America and the Great Lakes area of Canada favoured large-diameter
bored piles, and mobile rotary drilling machines were developed for their installation. In
contrast, the presence of hard rock at no great depth in the New York area favoured the
continuing development of the relatively slender shell piles driven by an internal mandrel.
The growth of the offshore oil industry in many parts of the world necessitated the develop-
ment of an entirely new range of very heavy single-acting steam and hydraulically powered
hammers designed for driving large-diameter steel piles, guided by tubular-jacket structures.
In the present day, the increasing attention which is being given to noise abatement is
influencing the design of pile hammers and the trend towards forms of pile that are installed
by drilling methods rather than by hammering them into the ground.
Great Britain has a wide variety of soil types and the tendency has been to adopt a range
of piling equipment selected from the best types developed in other parts of the world for
their suitability for the soil conditions in any particular region.
With the advances in the techniques of installing large-diameter bored piles, and the
increasing acceptance of these types for the foundations of heavy structures, it did appear at
one stage that the capability of the bored pile to carry very heavy loads would outstrip that
of the driven pile. However, with the stimulus provided by the construction of marine
facilities for large tankers and deep-water oil-production platforms, the driven type of pile
can now be installed in very large diameters that approach and in some cases exceed those
of the larger bored piles. Piles are also being used to support heavier loads and to deeper