Bored pile, also known as a drilled shaft, is a kind of reinforced-concrete foundation that plays an essential role in supporting structures carrying heavy vertical loads. The bored piers are usually cast-in-concrete piles installed with the help of a specific pilling machine, used for drilling up to 5o meters into the soil as one way of ensuring sound foundation. The bored piling process requires a specialist contractor as the required skills are quite different in comparison to conventional footings.
Bored piers are of great benefit when it comes to supporting substantial industrial complexes and high rise buildings which require heavy foundations, the ones in a position of bearing loads weighing several thousand tons. Also, bored piling is a popular choice when it comes to bridge construction.
The Process Of Bored Piling
Installation of the bored pile begins by drilling a vertical hole directly to the soil, and this is done with the help of a bored piling machine. The good thing with this machine is that it can be outfitted with special drilling equipment, grabs, and buckets to facilitate the process of removing the rock and soil. Mostly, the piles go up to a depth of around 60 meters and a diameter measuring up to 2.4 meters. During the drilling process, there is also driving of the temporary sleeve or steel cylinder into the soil. However, the temporary sleeve stays in the hole’s upper portion until when the pile is poured.
A reinforcing structure of steel is built after drilling the hole and then lowered to that hole. After this, the hole is then filled with concrete. To support the above structure, the builders may cap the top of the pile with a pier or footing.
For the best results, the bored piling task is supposed to be carried out with the help of bored piling contractor, since the process is a highly specialised operation that requires extensive experience and skills of bored pile engineering and construction in addition to conditions of the site and soil.
Where You Can Use Bored Piles
When it comes foundations, the bored piers in Melbourne are the best for buildings and any other structure imposing loads that weighs thousands of tons. Also, bored piles offer an important application for difficult or unstable soil conditions. Other than the foundation systems, bore piles play a vital role for earth retention in the creation of structural underground walls. Moreover, these piles can be used in the creation of a secant pile wall, used for the control of the migration of groundwater, by placing the piles close to each other, with a distance measuring 75 and 150 mm between these piles. Other than this, you can create the secant pile wall by placing the piles in such a manner that they overlap.
Advantages Of Bored Pile
- They cause minimal disturbance to neighbouring soil
- They minimise subsequent backfill and large excavations
- There is relatively low vibration, which in turn reduces disruption to the neighbouring structures
- It enhances the extension of the piles of various lengths through different types of soil like swelling, soft and compressible into the desired bearing material
- It becomes easy to extend piles to depths below the seasonal moisture variation and frost penetration