Glossary of Piledriving and Foundation Construction Terms
Welcome to the APE Gloassary for piledriving and foundation construction terms. This is a great place to look for terms that you may be unfamiliar with when working with or researching piledriving technologies. This glossary also contains terms unrelated to piledriving, but that are frequently used on and around foundation construction projects. If you have a question or have term that you would like to add and do not know who to call please contact the APE Headquarters in Washington at (800) 248-8498. Business hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time. For less immediate inquiries, or if you would like an APE sales representitive to get in contact with you, please visit the APE Contact Request Form.
| TERMS | DEFINITIONS |
| Earth Anchors | Robs or cables installed into the adjacent soil mass or rock. Portion beyond zone of active pressure grouted to hold a soldier pile or similar walled excavation. The anchors may be installed horizontally or at a slope. |
| Earth Auger | See Auger. |
| Earth Pressure | Normally used in reference to the lateral pressure or force imposed by a soil mass against an earth-supporting structure such as a retaining wall or basement wall, or on a fictitious vertical plane located within a soil mass. The coefficient of earth pressure refers to the ratio of lateral pressure to vertical pressure existing at a point in a soil mass, and can be "active," "at rest," or "passive" depending on the assumed condition. |
| Eccentric Loading | Load that does not bear axially on the pile, usually due either to the pile being driven out of plumb or plan location or the actual imposed load condition. |
| Edge Form | A low form constructed around the perimeter of an area to contain concrete being placed for flat surfaces such as floors and sidewalks. |
| EIC | Engineering Institute of Canada. |
| Elastic Deformation | Alteration in length of a pile, or structural member due to load (reduction for compression piles, elongation for tension piles). An important factor in evaluating apparent pile movements under test load. Also called Elastic Shortening, Elongation. |
| Elastic Shortening | A reduction in the length of a pile or structurial member due to the imposed load. A factor to be considered in evaluating pile movement under a load test. |
| Elephant Trunk | A steel tube with flared bottom, used to pour concrete under water. The tubes bottom is kept in the wet concrete and the tube is raised as the concrete raises. |
| Elevation | The vertical location of a point relative to a fixed reference (i.e., plus or minus sea level). |
| Embedment | 1. The length of the pile from the surface of the ground or from the cutoff below the ground to the tip of the pile. 2. Extent of penetration of the top of pile into the pile cap. |
| Encased Beam | Steel beam surrounded by concrete. |
| Encasement | See Pile Encasement. |
| End Bearing Pile | A pile that supports the major portion of the load placed upon it by end or tip bearing on a firm stratum existing at some depth below the ground surface. |
| End Closure | A plate or point attached to the tip of a pipe or shell pile. |
| End Resistance | The static soil resistance at the pile end to loading. Also called Tip Resistance. |
| Energy, Impact | The kinetic energy delivered by a pile hammer to the drive cap. |
| Energy, Rated | The manufacturer's specified energy of a powered pile hammer. |
| Engineering Geologist | A geologist, who may also have engineering training, specializing in the application of geology to engineering problems. |
| Engineering News Formula | One of many dynamic formulae for estimating the static load bearing capacity of a driven pile. R = Allowable Pile capacity in pounds with a presumed factor of safety of 6 E = Energy in ft-lbs S = Set in inches/blow R = 2E / S + 0.1 |
| Enlarged Base | 1. A pile base reamed out or enlarged by driving out successive charges of dry concrete or gravel from the base of an open-ended driving tube to form a bulb. This has the effect of increasing the bearing area of the pile and compacting the soil. 2. Pressure injected footing. 3. Prescast concrete base installed with provision for smaller shaft to cut-off level. See Franki Pile. |
| Epoxy Grout | A two (or more) part resin that, when mized, produces a high-strength bonding material. |
| European Lead | A term applied to a lead in which the hammer is mounted in front of the lead. Also called Mast Lead, Monkey Stick, Truss Lead, Triangular Lead. |
| Excavate | To remove soil for a footing or to establish a uniform grade. |
| Exhaust port | 1. The outlet fluid path of all fluid powered hammers. 2. The combined air inlet and exhaust part of a diesel hammer. Also called Air Port. |
| Expanded Base | See Enlarged Base, Compacted Concrete Pile. |
| Expanded Pile | A pile with a mechanical device for expanding the bottom for greater beraing or resistance uplift. |
| Expansion Dam | Part of the bridge that lets it expand and contract with temperature changes. |
| Expansion Joint | A pre-formed piece of fiberous or asphaltic material used to seperate units of concrete to prevent cracking due to expansion and contraction. |
| Explosive Force | The force exerted on a pile by the explosion of the diesel fuel, which is equal to the gas pressure created by the explosion times the area of the cylinder bore. |
| Extended Leads | Pile hammer leads which extend above and attach to the boom of the crane. |
| Extraction | Pulling to withdrawn previously isntalled pile from the ground. Usually done with an impact pile extractor or a vibratory pile driver/extractor. |
| Extractor | See Pile Extractor. |
| Extruded Wye | A device for connecting arch wall sections to the main cells of a cofferdam. Extruded in a solid Y shape, it is an alternative to fabricated tees or wyes. |
| Eye Splice | a loop spliced in the end of a wire rope. |
