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Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

Imperial Oil, a division company of Exxon Mobile, approved the first phase of the Kearl Oil Sands Project back in 2009. This $8 billion phase of the project is proposed to produce approximately 110,000-barrels-per-day of crude bitumen; a tar-like form of petroleum.  In the later years, this project will provide the energy needs of North America with 4.6 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen.  If you take a jump and a skip north east of Fort McMurray in Alberta, CA you will end up at the Kearl Lake region of Alberta along the Athabasca River. Here, Kiewit drove nearly 1,650 PS-31 sheet piles back in 2010, which provided cofferdam cells for the construction of a pump house to feed the main water plant. They used the APE 200-6 vibro to drive these sheets constantly in below freezing temperatures. Presently, they are in the process of removing 1,200 of the PS-31s- most of which have been sitting for over eight months. Those whom are well versed in the art of pile driving know that extracting piles are sometimes more strenuous than driving them- the PS-31 sheets were no exception to this matter. Prior to the removal of these sheets, Kiewit sought the expertise of our APE employees. We, of course, answered with a few extraction plans, which helped Kiewit remove 35 sheet pairs in a 10 hour shift on their best day. Currently, Kiewit is using one 200-6 vibratory hammer to extract the piles, while a second vibro sits on stand-by as a back -up hammer. Kiewit is nearing the completion of the sheet pile extraction phase and I feel I speak on behalf of all of us here at APE when I say that we are all excited, as well as proud to see this project through the end.

On Sunday, May 15th 2011, at 5pm the world’s largest vibratory hammer drove the world’s largest pile in 7 and a half minutes! American Piledriving Equipment, Inc with cooperation with First Harbor Engineering Communications Bureau drove the first pile for the East island for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The first pile was 72 feet in diameter, 131 feet tall, and 500 US tons. The first pile took about 3 hours to place into the exact correct position. The difficultly level of the placement was due to the fact that not only did the pile need to be in the exact correct GPS location, it also needed to be face the correct degree to line up the interlocks on each side of the pile. Later this week the first 37 foot wide shell-pile-walls will be driven in between two of the 72 foot diameter piles. Tensions were very high for the last week as many preparations were needed to get ready for Sunday’s main event. Over 40 top engineers participated in the coordinating of the driving procedure. Everybody was separated into many different teams with a total of 60 people involved directly to making sure the first pile drove successfully.

In addition, most of the top engineers for the bridge project, safety administration, environmental protection agencies, government officials, and top level engineers from the China Construction Communications Bureau came to watch the first pile go into the ground. Over 8 boats and 3 ships were in the vicinity to witness the historic operation. Number 3 marine also had a sand-pile-ship nearby that moved closer to allow for more people to stand and watch. Over 200 people came to see the first pile be driven. Prior to the drive many fireworks were lit off on all the surrounding boats and ships including a ship owned by competitor Number 3 Marine Bureau to wish the project luck.

Jerry Cors (Production manager for APE and the Octa-Kong) myself (MD of APE China and technical lead for the Octa-Kong and Shell-pile-wall project) , Mr. Yang Yun Fu (APE China’s engineer) , Mr. Derek Hu (APE China’s assembly manager) , and Steve Gough (International sales for APE USA and head of China sales) were present to run the machine and verify all went smooth. It was a sight to see and I hope to post more information about the project on the APE CHINA website, including a video of the operation (www.apevibro.cn). I have also made the APE China site in both Chinese and English for better communication. Congratulations to all who were involved! and Congratulations to APE USA.

I want to give a special thank you to everybody who worked on this project and made this day possible.

Have you ever had been faced with a vibratory hammer job where the vibration from the hammer does alot of damage to the surounding structures or soils? How about historical buildings or inside plants or mills or around housing areas that are considered extremly vibration sensitive areas? Well APE has the answer! APE’s complete line of Variable Moment vibratory hammers.

The APE branches around the world can help you size & choose the right variable moment vibratory hammer to fit your projects needs. From the smallest the APE 120VM to the largest APE 250VM we have you covered.

These hammers are known and recommended by agencies like The US Army Corps of Engineers, All of the D.O.T agencies across the USA as well as all branches of the milatery. Customers can’t belive what they can do with virtualy no surounding vibration! As these hammers become more known by the piledriving industry the demand is more and more.  Contact your local APE branch if you think you have a upcoming job that this will be the tool of choice. GO APE!

The world’s largest vibratory pile driver is now complete. I want to send a personal thank you to everybody who helped make the Octakong a reality.  From the engineering, machining, fabrication, purchasing, assembly, testing, packing, shipping, and re-assembly in China. All of APE China thanks you!  I know that many of you worked many long hours to make the Octakong come to life and I want to let you know that you should be proud.  The equipment to drive the world’s largest bridge piles will be done with American made equipment.  I am proud of APE and all of our vendors for working so hard with us.  First Harbor Marine Group of China, which is the largest marine based construction group in China, was very impressed with APE’s quality, professionalism, and speed in which we made these 8 hammers.  With Chuck, Daniel, Jerry, Pavel, Mike, Yang, and Steve along side a team of 50 people were able to assemble the Octakong in 12 days. This was no easy task and the eyes of the pile driving world are upon us as we now await to drive our first test pile on May 5th 2011.  If the 72 foot diameter (22 meter) pile can be driven successfully, then it will change the way many other projects around the world can be done.  The Octakong will save nearly 2 years of time compared to using sheet piles.

It is well established that certain anthropogenic noises have a severe effect on whales. Many sounds that humans introduce into the sea today are without precedent in the evolutionary history of marine mammals and other ocean life. Seismic testing associated with oil and gas exploration, military SONAR, and other industrial sources of ocean noise have injured or killed dolphins and whales in many instances. Additionally, behavioral impacts can also be severe, with animals interrupting feeding, nursing, or reproductive activity to flee from disruptive or painful sounds. There is also evidence that whales may be subject to “masking,” where some types of noises interfere with their ability to communicate with each other. As the military and industrial producers of these sounds are required by law in some countries to prevent impacts to marine mammals, there has been considerable debate and litigation in response to this continuing problem. Various mitigation schemes have been proposed, but they have not proven effective in eliminating harm to whales. Despite a wealth of information demonstrating the need to address multiple characteristics of sound, such as form, frequency, and periodicity, mitigation levels have thus far focused only on signal amplitude, or volume. Many of the studies have also been focused on physiological thresholds such as “threshold shift” using sinusoidal-derived signals which may not accurately reflect the types of anthropogenic noises to which whales are exposed.1,2 Mitigation levels based on these thresholds and signal types are often higher than known behavioral thresholds. It is clear from the literature that marine mammals avoid certain types of signals at significantly lower amplitudes than naturally occurring signals or other types, frequencies and forms of anthropogenic signals.

This paper presents data on signal-specific biological responses of cetaceans and calls for incorporation of signal types as well as decibel levels when establishing noise exposure criteria for whales. Given the existing evidence that cetaceans are adversely impacted by a range of noises far below current mitigation levels, a more precautionary approach is needed.

Michael Stocker

This paper presents science-based, interim noise exposure criteria for the onset of direct physical injury in fish exposed to the impact sound associated with pile driving. This paper provides an objective, scientific assessment of pile driving exposures which are injurious to fish. It does not explicitly consider policies of regulatory agencies which are based on mandated legal requirements and consequently result in the application of sometimes limited information for management decisions. The authors recognize that fish may respond to pile driving without experiencing injury, but the paper does not directly address behavioral responses of fishes or other sub-injurious auditory effects in setting interim criteria, largely due to the absence of underlying information.

The interim criteria presented here are based on the best science available at the time of writing. We have used professional judgment and, for the most part, the existing, peer-reviewed literature, to make conservative decisions where data are lacking, or present a range of options. That is, in the face of uncertainty criteria are set at exposures somewhat lower than the present peer-reviewed literature suggest may be the levels that would result in the onset of injury. A dual criteria approach is developed which includes an interim single-strike criterion for Sound Exposure Level (SEL) combined with an interim criterion for Peak Sound Pressure Level. Possible applications of SEL metrics to account for the accumulation of exposure energy across multiple exposures are discussed, although it is pointed out that the available data supporting multiple strike criteria are highly limited. The assumptions on which the criteria developed here are based are listed in an Appendix along with suggestions for the research that is needed to test the assumptions. Because of the high likelihood that this research will call for modifications of the interim criteria, the criteria presented must be clearly understood to be provisional and part of an iterative, self-correcting process that, along with policy guidelines, will continue to evolve for decades as new data become available.

Arthur N. Popper
Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Thomas J. Carlson
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle Portland, MSIN: BPO, 620 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 810, Portland, OR 97204-1423
Anthony D. Hawkins
Loughine Ltd, Kincraig, Blairs, Aberdeen, AB12 5YT, United Kingdom
Brandon L. Southall
NOAA Ocean Acoustics Program, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology, 1315 East West Hwy, SSMC III #12539, Silver Spring, MD 20910-6233
Roger L. Gentry
ProScience Consulting, LLC, Dickerson MD 20842

PDF Download Link: Interim Criteria for Injury of Fish Exposed to Pile Driving Operations

Citemex was hired by Walmart to improve the soils for the first Walmart ever built in a small town called Macuspana in Tabasco, Mexico.

The objective was to improve the soils by injecting concrete into the ground with a 12 m long, 600 mm diameter injection pile in order to build a 25,000 sq foot Walmart, also called Bodega Aurrera in Mexico, in a 3 months length of time.

Walmart takes pride in building their Warehouses in 3 months or less time in Mexico, and due to the difficult driving conditions (SPT: 50 bpm) and low speed of Citemex’s vibratory hammer on site; they realized they would never meet Walmart’s schedule.

That’s when they called APE to come to the rescue.

Citemex had sent a PTC 30H2 with 30 kg*m eccentric moment and twice the weight of our APE 150T (also a 30 kg*m eccentric moment vibro), but the PTC could not even drive the piles to half the depth (6 m) even with pre-drilling.

So APE decided to send the APE 150T with our patented technology of tugsten on the eccentrics, a velocity of up to 1800 vpm, and an amplitud of up to 20 mm. The same eccentric moment hammer but with less weight, more speed, and more amplitude.

On the 1st day, the APE 150T drove (5) piles to depth. By the end of the 2nd day, Citemex drove (15) piles in a 12 hour shift.

From there on it was piece of cake…

Citemex finished their project in the expected time and now he is a loyal customer of APE.

You are probably wondering how can the same size vibro, relatively speaking, can outdrive the other one in the same soil conditions?

APE prides in developing equipment with technologies that go far beyond our customer’s expectations, and that is why APE is the Leader Manufacturer of Piledriving Equipment in the World.

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Franki Segura with your project specifications.

Like my good friend Steve Cress would say…Cheers! And till next time…

It’s time to visit Las Vegas for one of worlds largest gatherings for the construction industry, CONEXPO-CON/AGG. The APE booth is currently in full swing on Silver Lot 4, number S-19122. Stop by and grab some drinks and information while checking out our equipment displays. For this years show we brought along some diesel hammers, vibratory driver extractors, drill, power unit and some of our attachment offerings as well as our D1 impact hammer for giving live demonstrations of diesel hammers in action. We are also giving away some APE hats and shirts so be sure to ask if you are interested. When you make the trip to the Grand Lobby be sure to take a look on the big screen for our advertisement for an upcoming reality series on APE Piledrivers. Besides hanging out with us at the APE booth Conexpo offers plenty for visitors to see and do this year:

• Over 2,000 exhibitors
• A comprehensive education program during the five-day exposition with sessions emphasizing industry issues and trends, management and applied technology
• Product concentration areas making it easy for visitors to locate specific products, services and exhibitors of interest to them including hundreds of new products and technologies

See New Products and Technologies

Get close and size up the newest equipment and technology in the construction industry. Bring yourself up to speed on new systems and instrumentation. See all the latest innovations making our industry greener, safer and more precise.

Meet Today’s Technical Experts

Tap the smartest minds in construction for applicable ideas useful to your business now and in the future.

New Focus on Education

CONEXPO-CON/AGG has a comprehensive schedule planned—a total of 126 sessions—covering an expansive range of topics, including:

• Equipment manager exams
• Crane operator certification programs
• Site development
• Asset management
• Sustainability
• Workforce development

New International Mixer Drive Championship

Sponsored and conducted by NRMCA, this LIVE competition recognizes the most talented individuals worldwide in delivering one of the world’s most versatile building materials.

Three APE hammers have been putting in hours for the I-595 Widening, in Broward County, Florida (Ft. Lauderdale area). The APE 150, 200 and J&M 28-35 Vibratory Driver Extractors have made quick work of 3 miles of sheet pile seawall, a half mile of sheet pile for MSE wall,  18″ and 24″ square pre-stressed concrete piles for bridge construction, 5 and 12 each sealed cofferdams for micro-tunneling launching and receiving shafts. The General Contractor on the Job is Dragados USA, the information about the job along with photos has been provided to APE by Scott Alfele, President of Ebsary Foundation Company.

The following contractors have been involved in project:

• Dragados USA – 3 miles of sheet pile for seawall and ½ mile of sheet pile for MSE wall support
• Dragados Baker JV – 18” sq. pre-stressed concrete piles for bridges
• GLF Construction Corp. – 18” and 24” sq. pre-stressed concrete piles for bridges
• Bradshaw Construction Corp. – 12 ea. sealed cofferdams for microtunneling launching and receiving shafts
• GlobTec Construction Co. – 5 ea. sealed cofferdams for microtunneling launching and receiving shafts

An APE King Kong was spotted in Belle Chasse Louisiana, off Walker Road with GIC (Gulf Inter Coastal). The construction site was a joint venture with Kiewit and Traylor Brothers Construction. The King Kong (APE 400 Vibratory Driver Extractor) made quick work of pulling the 54” caissons. Each pile was 140 feet, they were part of a temporary cofferdam for the construction of the largest pumping station New Orleans. Removing the piles is no easy task but the King Kong pulled them like a champ!