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Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

American Construction is using the APE Model 600 Vibratory Driver/Extractor with an 8′ caisson beam, caisson to attachment adapter and a 24″ concrete clamp to drive 100′ long octagonal concrete pile for a floating pier at the US Coast Guard. The method of using a driver/extractor has been introduced by Shannon and Wilson to help with fishery issues. Normally an impact hammer would be used for the installation of concrete piles as the total area of soil that needs to be displaced is very high.

There is also a three wedge caisson beam to attachment adapter that allows for the contractor save hours of time unbolting and re-bolting a new attachment to the hammer. With this attachment the change takes place in minutes.

For more information about this job and other innovative advantages APE can offer for your next job call any of our APE offices.

GMR-JV (Granite, Meyers, Rados) hit it big with the SR22 project in Southern California widening freeways and building bridges. That means PILRDRIVING and with Superintendent “Kevin Tipton” as the engine driving this piledriving machine, he has his work cut out for him with over 6,500 pile to drive. “I knew we needed some big guns to get this job done, so I called in APE” says Tipton. “We needed to hit this project hard and fast and I knew I could count on APE to meet my piledriving needs”. With four diesel hammers pounding away daily, GMR has been advancing this project right down the road and choosing APE as their Foundation Equipment Supplier was a great move! “Not only does APE supply the equipment, they supply the service to follow it up with” says Tipton as he watches another pile being driven. Another winning combination to the GMR-JV group and APE!

Attached the first photo of our vibro in Turkmenistan:

An APE200 with single clamps as well as with casing beam and two casing clamps is driving steel pipe piles, box piles and sheet piles of 23 m length at a new gas loading jetty project in Kianli, Turkmenistan

The Incheon Sea Bridge is a 14 km elevated bridge with a cable span center that will link up the Incheon International Airport with the new, state of the art-New Song Do Beach City located across the inlet southeast of Seoul, also known as Incheon Free Economic Zone, or IFEZ. The land construction links three cities south of Incheon; Songdo, Cheongna, and Yeongjong.

A subway system extension and roadway expansion will accompany the bridge east of the airport for some of its infrastructure, including many high rise apartments.

The main piers and approaches for the cable span bridge are built using clusters of 3 meter diameter 67 meter length permanent casing.

Many 2.4 meter diameter permanent casing will be driven for the elevated portions of the bridge. Large, state of the art, Korean built table top drills with built in power units perform the clean out duties.

The APE Tandem 400 driver/extractor with the patented Quad Clamp System is handling the largest casings on the job greatly minimizing the potential need for relief drilling. Later in the job, these hammers will be split apart and then take on the smaller permanent casing independent of each other. This kind of versatility cannot be found in the industry without purchasing other accessories.

Jaehyun Construction had a large hand in building the first island bridge linking the Incheon International Airport to the peninsula heading north. The new bridge under construction now is sure to bring another economic surge to the country.

If you have any questions about this project or any you see on our website, feel free to contact me at the APE Corporate Headquarters or one of our sales representatives at any of our satellite locations. Our experienced staff will do what ever it takes to help protect your bottom line on your next pile driving job.

Dave Yingling

MBEC (CHINA ZHONG-TIE MAJOR BRIDGE ENGINEERING GROUP) has just started another mega job on the Yangtze River. This is the largest cable stayed bridge for high speed train in the world.

Project Name: 6-mile Long Nanjing Da-Shen-Guan High-Speed Railway Bridge Project, part of the 900-mile Shanghai-Beijing High-Speed Bullet Train Mega-Project

Maximum Speed: 190 miles/hours

No. 8 Main Support: 46 ea 9 feet diameter 1” thick casings, 210 feet long, 286,000 pounds;

No. 7 Main Support: 46 ea 9 feet diameter 1” thick casings, 180 feet long, 242,000 pounds;

No. 6 Main Support: 46 ea 9 feet diameter 1” thick casings, 150 feet long, 200,000 pounds;

Equipment employed: two sets of APE Tandem Model 400 King Kongs

Contractor: China Zhong-Tie Major Bridge and Engineering Corp (MBEC)

APE China Engineer/Technician Mr. Yang, Yun Fu is on site providing technical service.

“We are proud to own two sets of APE Tandem King Kong, and we are extremely pleased with the superb service delivered by the APE team”, said Mr. Chen Rong Jian, General Manager of MBEC Equipment Division.

Meridian Construction of Tortola BVI has purchased the first APE / J&M Hybrid Vibratory Driver / Extractor. This Vibro will feature a new J&M 22-30 Gearbox and the patented APE 2- stage suppressor housing. This Vibro will feature an Eccentric moment of 2,200 in.lbs. @ 1,600 VPM

This combination will give Meridian Construction the 80 ton pulling power of an APE Vibro, with the cost effective reliability of J&M Hydraulics proven technology. Paired with the J&M 335 Power unit that Meridian currently owns, they will have the most powerful Vibratory Driver/ Extractor in the BVI.

Jim Casavant
Regional sales representative
Florida & the Caribbean

Jack McQuarrie and his crew prepare to drive a 42″ .750-wall steel pipe pile and a 24″ 1″-wall pipe pile for the Pitt Mann Elevated Bridge in Port Coquitlam, BC. The projected tip elevation is 33 feet into the very dense till starting at an average depth of 360′.

The piles were first vibrated into place with an APE 300 vibro then most of the pile length was driven with a D62 until practical refusal was met.

The final driving with the D180-42 started with mid 50’s blow count per foot and ended 16 plus feet into the till at 150 blows per foot.

The offshore driving system was direct drive. The transferred energy from the hammer to the pile was on average 80% of the rated energy.

If you have any questions concerning this job or any APE products feel free to contact us at your local satellite or Dave Yingling at 800-248-8498

APE’s Middle East distributor is featured in this month’s Construction World Magazine. IMECO is headed by Karl Pacik. Karl buys used ICE and J&M vibratory pile/drivers from APE and sells them in the Middle East. He also sells new APE and J&M equipment. He has helped APE expand and is a key factor in APE’s worldwide expansion.

Bring your hammer to us and we will put it in our new test stand. We will drain out the old fuel, flush the tank, and add fresh clean fuel. We will then run the machine, checking compression and energy delivery. We can inspect the lead guides and tripping device and update any warranty issues. We will then provide a certification that your machine is ready to drive piles. We offer this service for both diesel and hydraulic impact hammers. We also offer free training while your machine is in our facility.

We can put your hammer in our state-of-the-art steam pit and clean it and paint it so that when it arrives on your job site it send an impressive message to the crew and to the owners.

Using the Model 300 driver/extractor, Dave Jellum with Morgan and Oswood, installs a cut off wall next to live rail road tracks to support the heavy rail traffic during the excavation process. The driven piles will be done with the contractor owned 40,000 foot pound single acting diesel hammer. The patented two stage suppressor provides the crane operator a smooth transition from full vibration speed to off. Single stage suppressors with comparable line pull are too rigid and create unacceptable crane boom vibration.

The photos display an affective mathod for stepping sheets in high blowcount non cohesive silts and sands.

For more information about APE’s patented two stage suppressor and other jobsite advantages of APE equipment, click on the location tab above and call any of our office managers.