This exciting new application for hydraulic vibratory hammers is gaining traction in the Chinese market. The advantages of concrete sheet piles are the long life, water tightness, cost effectiveness and the fact that they are aesthetically pleasing. Diesel and impact hammers have a high risk of damaging the pile during driving so vibrating methods are preferred. Concrete sheet piles used to shore earth mounds will crumble under the blows of an impact hammer, but vibrating methods will leave them intact and ready for use. With some simple precautions vibrating leaves concrete piles undamaged at the top.
 
One of the top producers of high quality concrete sheet piles is Zhongji piling. The Zhongji sales and development team are pushing for the introduction and acceptance of this method in cooperation with equipment manufacturers. https://www.zpzchina.com. Concrete piles need to be specially reinforced for this application, as the centrifugal force that is unleashed on the pile could easily crack or break the pile. Zhongji uses special strength concrete and has reinforced the concrete with a steel frame and offers the option to facilitate driving by water jetting in difficult soil applications.
 
With decades of experience in The Netherlands, and with projects accomplished in places like Nigeria, Thailand and Malaysia, ICE is excited to be part of this new direction in China. A number of large projects are on schedule for the second quarter of 2013.
 
Vibratory hammers were originally designed for the driving of steel sheet piles, which are narrow and require very little soil displacement. Concrete sheet piles have much larger dimensions and must displace a larger volume of soil particles. Even so, the method has proven to work well for concrete pile applications. Hydraulic vibratory hammers have a strong advantage over electric hammers in this application. The higher frequency and rotation speed mean much less stress on the concrete.
 
Shanghai ICE has customized clamping systems on stock that can handle the wider body of the sheet pile. The clamp also operates at a lower pressure to ensure the pile is not crushed by the clamping force, and is fitted with larger clamp plates to distribute the force over a larger area of the pile.
 
Another option for more control is to use RF technology, this proven method eliminates start up vibrations that could damage the pile and as an added bonus reduces vibrating impact to surrounding structure at the same time.