Experience with use of driven mace-shaped piles in rural construction

Abstract

During the last few years, driven mace-shape piles have been successfully and economically used in the foundation engineering practice [1-3]. The projects for which use of such piles is rational include various farm structures (for instance, mixed-fodder plants, including soils, production and operation buildings for grain and flour raw materials, as well as for ready products, etc.) [4]. A characteristic of these structrues is the use of columns at 3-6 m spacings which transmit to the foundations concentrated loads of 3000 ~ and more with insignificant moments (up to !00 kN-m). As is known, the load mature and the base soil bearing capacity determine the foundation type. For instance, for clays of low and medium strength, the foundations for such loads are, as a rule, constructed in the form of solid cast-in-place slabs or solid pile fields. The solid pile field solution is determined by the fact that the minimum total area of the gratings for the columns amount to more than one third of the building area, and in this case it is more advantageous to use a solid pile field. To reduce the consumption of concrete for construction of the grating it is necessary to increase the bearing capacity of the piles significantly in order to lower the number of them under each column. For this purpose, the Department of Bases and Foundations of the Dnepropetrovsk Civil-Engineering Institute (DISI) jointly with the Dnepropetrovsk Territorial Branch of the "Ukrorgtekhsel'stroi" Trust carried out experimental and construction work to introduce driven mace-shaped piles at the construction site of a mixed-fodder plant with a capacity of 1050 tons/day in the city of Borispol, Kiev Region.*