APE News |

Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

PCL is the bid winner for the Lake Underhill Bridge in Orlando Florida. This bridge will be built on 30-inch concrete piles many of which are over 200-feet long with some approaching 300-feet.

Due to the length of the piling, it will be necessary to splice. Some of the longer piles will have two splices in order to get the length. PCL is using the Sure-Lock mechanical splice system.

After weap analysis and a field test, PCL choose the Ape/J&M Model 220 hydraulic hammer to do the work. The 220H was chosen because it has a heavy ram (22,000 pounds) and a totally controllable stroke. For this project, the 22,000-pound ram will be operated at short strokes (up to two feet) in order to minimize the stress in the pile while driving.

It is interesting to note that in Florida, when a pile is spliced, the amount of stress permitted during driving is about one-half of the stress permitted in a non-spliced pile. Therefore, hammer selection becomes a little more difficult and we see increased use of hydraulic hammers because of the excellent stroke control and heavy rams.

The hammer in use at Lake Underhill has also been equipped with an e-Saximeter. This is a device, which electronically transmits data regarding the hammer’s energy output. This information is valuable to the engineers in monitoring pile stress levels and writing hammer operation criteria.

Although the project is just starting, to date, hammer operation has been flawless and the pile stress levels are acceptable.

Leware Construction is taking delivery of their new APE D36-42 this month, this is the 3rd APE Diesel Hammer purchased by Leware Construction in the last 3 years. Leware has also purchased a new APE Model 75 Top Drive Auger and APE 475 Power unit this year. We at APE Southeast are very proud to have repeat customers like Leware Construction and will do everything possible to make their jobs more profitable with fast service and top of the line APE / J&M products.

Bergerson Construction, from Astoria Oregon are driving 36″ open ended pipe pile in Port Angeles, Washington.

With this set up a contractor can use a section of standard lead with a pile helmet and reduce the overall leader weight by 30% for increased range.

The pin on bell is available for 32″ to 54″ lead. Contact your local APE regional office for more details.

When “Seaward Marine” of Norfolk VA. was awarded the emergency repair contract for the damaged Chickahominy Dam outside Williamsburg VA. They knew they were up against alot of Murphy’s law, you know anything that can go wrong will go wrong. They had to drive 70′-80′ long steel sheetpile along the whole face of the dam that was falling apart. Well they did what all smart contractors do, “When the going gets tough” they call APE! Mike Troutman, Operation’s manager for Seaward contacted APE Mid-Atlantic and determined that the APE VM-250 (variable moment vibro)would be the ticket for this extremly vibration sensative project. With the project well under way it’s been full steam ahead. We wish Seaward a safe & productive project. Contact your local APE branch for all your piledriving & foundation needs.