Underpinning is the practice of strengthening and stabilizing foundations to increase their load-bearing capabilities, often necessary when adding extra stories to a building, or when soil conditions alter the original load-bearing capacity of its original foundations.
Piling involves driving or drilling piles into weaker soil until they reach sufficient load-bearing strata, often using push piers and helical piles as popular techniques.
Piling
Piling is a type of foundation constructed by engineers when the soil beneath a building is too weak to support more traditional foundations. Piling uses columns that transfer heavy loads from buildings onto bedrock or stronger layers of soil for support; it may be necessary in areas prone to flooding, high water tables or old excavations. Look out for the best Underpinning Melbourne.
Pile structures are usually constructed using concrete, steel or timber materials. Engineers construct them using various techniques depending on ground conditions and building type they support – with driven piles being the most frequently employed as driven piles have greater potential to support various projects than drilled piles do.
Driven piles are constructed by driving heavy hammers into the earth with great force in order to establish a sturdy foundation for buildings in areas with weak soil layers that cannot bear their load, such as rocks or hard materials such as asphalt. They may also be driven into hard materials like rocks; driven piles may also be installed with other foundation systems like raft and strip footings for maximum performance.
Drilled piles are installed using a special machine and provide a cost-effective solution for foundations on soft ground as they do not require as much labor to install as driven piles. Drilled piles may also be useful in temporary structures like bridges and wharves.
Screw piles are a type of driven piles featuring a helix at their base that allows them to be driven directly into the soil like a screw drill in wood, making them suitable for structural applications such as bridge construction. Their efficiency exceeds other forms of driven piles in soft soil conditions.
All piles must be designed to withstand both static and cyclic loads, which is achieved through performing a buckling analysis. This involves calculating the critical buckling load of the pile and comparing it with its applied load.
Once you understand your critical buckling load, you can calculate skin friction and end bearing capacity to determine if a pile is safe to use for your structure. Also important are environmental considerations which might compromise its structural integrity.
Once you have determined an appropriate pile size, installation can begin. Larger piles should be driven into the ground with a diesel hammer while smaller ones may need to be drilled by hand. Once your piles have been set in place, pour concrete over them and build on top. To connect them more securely together use either a beam or dome-shaped cap over each pile.