APE News |

Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

Yesterday was a big success for APE China and APE USA.  We successfully drove the world’s largest sheet pile (shell pile wall) in 11 minutes of drive time.  The pile was 11.3 (37 feet) wide and 22m (72 feet) tall and 16mm (.62″) thick.  The pile was driven with a tandem APE 200-6 hammer (built at APE China) powered by two 1050HP Cummins engine power units (also built in APE China). The hammers were mounted to a special beam designed by Casper, Phillips and Associates.  The clamping system was also made at APE China using 4 short cassion beams and 4 APE model 200 caisson clamps.

Project Details:

These shell pile walls will be used on the Hong Kong-Macau Bridge project, currently the largest construction project in China.  The decision to use a single shell-pile-wall instead of sheet piles came about for several reasons.  The first reason being that driving sheet piles out at sea is very difficult and time consuming process.  In order to fit the time line of the bridge construction completion date they will need to complete 2 shell pile walls per day.  Driving sheet piles would be drastically slower.  The second reason to use shell-pile-walls instead of sheet piles is due to margin of error of the large diameter cassions that these shell-pile-walls will be interlocked to.  In our test situation, the interlocks that the pile was to fit into were .5m (1.64 feet) wider at the top than at the bottom.  This means that as the pile was driven into the ground it was literally being compressed by 1.64 feet, causing the pile to bulge out and create added resistance.  If this job were to use sheet piles it would be extremely difficult to custom shape each sheet pile to fit the unknown margins of error between each interlock.

The importance of the success of this project are far higher than we originally expected.  The fact of the matter is that if this shell-pile-wall pile failed than it would delay the entire Hong Kong Macau bridge project and also create engineering nightmares to think of a new design that can meet the time line given.  All of the top officials in charge of the entire bridge project were present to verify with their own eyes the success or failure of the APE tandem 200-6 system.  It is now safe to say, even in the most difficult conditions that will be given during the project, this pile can be driven with success.

As many of you may know APE is in the process of completing the largest pile driving setup in the world. The Chinese government will be driving the largest piles the planet has ever seen for the construction of one of the world’s longest bridges. APE was selected to build the hammer for the job, it has been hailed as the Octakong! The complexities, deadlines and cultural complications make this project the largest challenge APE has faced for a single customer.

Plans for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge have been in the works for several years (link here) , it will connect three major cities of southern China. Congressman Dave Reichert recently visited our facility to show his support for the stimulation of the local economy through the monetary scope and physical size of this project (link here). With is article are 3D renderings by our engineers of the finished Octakong. We won’t be able to see it fully assembled until it hits China.

APE wanted to take a moment to let our vendors know how much we appreciate our partnerships. We also would like to broaden the understanding for our “need for speed” in terms of the parts needed to assemble the Octakong. Together we are making this project a reality whether some of us realize or not. The world is watching and we are positive we can show the world that APE, with our network of vendors, was able to meet the Chinese demands and do the job right and on time. The ship dates for the Octakong are approaching, and time is important, the folks here at APE appreciate all the help we have had from all of our partners in meeting our extreme deadlines for this project.

DeWitt Construction- a long time loyalist to APE, rented a D62 impact hammer package from APE NW to proof some piling for the Army Corps of Engineers. DeWitt was driving about 200 of the 18″ & 24″ -3/8″ wall pipe piles. First they used their Vulcan air hammer with a set of fixed leads to start the piling, but once they realized they needed some more “bang for their buck”, they new exactly who to call. In the end, we got a nice rental- Awesome! Even better though, is the fact that this jobsite was less than a five minute drive North of the competiton’s yard! Needless to say, we had to capitalize on this. So, Josh Greisen and myself loaded up the camera and some t-shirts and took off to visit the jobsite. Check out the video and pictures below!

[tubepress video=”eW9C3lZJH9k”]

Vice Construction had a job with Alabama Power where pulling in a crane on the job site with a vibratory hammer wouldn’t be possible. So APE teamed up with Erickson Air Crane to come up with a solution that has worked in the past, a Flying APE 150 Vibratory Hammer! The location was a tough squeeze and there were times the team was driving the cans within a hundred feet from peoples homes. The helicopter had to work at a “higher” than normal altitude due to the fact that the clearing tract for the job was not wide enough for the helicopter to work in, so needless to say the air crane had to remain above the tree line.

You can imagine the pilot had his work cut out for him; the longer the line, the more difficult it will be to maneuver. The piles were 48 inch (3/8 wall) and up to 48 feet long. Piles were driven the week after thanksgiving. On Monday, November 29th the job site had some of the worst weather of the year. Tornado warnings, storms, wind, rain, we were not able  fly unfortunately. The APE 150 finished its job Friday. Once we found the groove, things went smooth (As smooth as one can go with a 9000 h.p. helicopter overhead churning up 100 m.p.h. winds below).

New Years Eve in Saint Louis, and a customer with a problem on the job site.

The Vibro from the competition was not up to the task, and Gershenson Construction was desperate for a solution as they had driven for 3 days to set the template as shown in the pics.

50’ PZC 18 driving double sheets.

The competition had no larger Vibros available, and told Gershenson Construction it would be the 8 of January before they could ship one to the job site.

A quick phone call and a quick solution.

Thanks to Joe Wright and the APE Texas Staff we were able to get a Model 300 with 630 Power Unit loaded out and on the road on New Years Eve.

Gershenson Construction was amazed that APE staff were answering the phone and sourcing equipment on a Holiday.

• All sheet was driven to grade by the end of the work day saving Gershenson Construction a total of 6 days down time.
• The pile bucks on the job site send APEs personnel in Texas, and in Saint Peters their regards, and we are told to be looking for more of their business in the future.
• The folks renting the Apartments near the job site send their thanks for the larger vibro also.
• They tell me they had two ceilings come down inside the apartment building while driving with the competitions Vibro.
• The APE Model 300 drove to grade with absolutely no vibration to the surrounding area.
• Thanks again Joe Wright and the Texas Crew for getting that 300 loaded out and headed to Saint Peters on New Years Eve.
• Thanks to Willy Kirch at BTC Trucking for having a truck waiting in the Texas yard within an hour, and delivering to the Saint Louis job site on time over a holiday weekend.
• Thanks again John White for allowing APE Saint Peters to bypass the paper work in getting this American Piledriving Equipment on location to help a new customer meet his deadline.

At the DFI Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California, Franki Segura presented the idea to the DFI Committee to host a Super Pile in Mexico.

The idea was well received by both the DFI Organization Committee and the President of Mexico’s Geo-Technical Engineering Society (www.smig.org.mx)

As a result of this meeting, Walter Paniagua President of  SMIG invited Franki Segura and Theresa Rapaport to participated in the XXV Annual Reunion of the Geo-Technical Society in Acapulco, Mexico.

More than 400 industry experts were present at the show where APE had a booth and plenty of traffic.

As a result of the show, a new strategic alliance between APE and an important Mexican Foundation Equipment Distributor is about to take place.

Also, at this meeting APE, DFI, and SMIG continued planning Mexico’s Super Pile Event expected to happen November 2011.

Mexico is starting to feel the presence of APE.

Steve Cress invited Mexico’s New Salesman Franki Segura to join his Pilebuck training on October 27th.

Steve and his crew dedicated one entire day to train 15 Pilebucks and Franki on Maintenance, Operation, Rig-Up, Testing, and Components for:

APE Power Units

APE Clamps

APE Vibratory Hammers

APE Diesel Impact Hammers

By the time he was done, we all understood why Steve Cress  and APE California is in almost every pile-driving job in California, if not all of them.

Thanks Steve!

You certainly Lead by Example…

URS chose the fully APE fixed leader with telescoping leads so that they could avoid using a massive template system to drive the 120′ x 14″ H-piles on a 1 on 2 batter on their levee job in New Orleans. After a short learning curve and Ape replacing one service tech with no sense of urgency with one that had a high level of urgency to train the URS mechanics on the maintenence of the Ape equipment the customer was able to drive up to 33 piles a day per rig.

West Coast Contractors rented the X13 Impact Hammer in replacement of their ICE 40-S diesel hammer to drive 120-foot spliced 12” pipes for the foundation of a chromite plant in Coos Bay, Oregon. The X13 is a revolutionary design incorporating a diesel hammer-like ram into an enclosed hydraulic impact hammer housing. The idea is to use air compression from the piston to pre-load the pile cap and essentially reduce the chance of breaking the pile top while capitalizing on the energy efficiency of a hydraulic impact hammer as opposed to a traditional diesel hammer. The X13 eventually failed, but it proved its worth when replaced with a J&M 115 hydraulic impact hammer, which immediately began bending the tops of the pipe piles.  The prototype hammer soon returned to the Kent shop to be repaired, but it left the West Coast crew with a glimpse of the future of the pile driving industry.

J.G. Leone & Sons from Atlanta GA. came up north to the “Patapsco Water Treatment” plant in Baltimore MD. to drive miles & miles of steel pipe piles, 45 miles to be exact! Joe Leone SR. knew he would have to drive these piles hard and fast each day to make his tight schedule. Joe called Jimmy Deemer of APE Mid-Atlantic in Virginia Beach VA. to see what they could come up with to achive this goal. APE reccomended their new line of pile rigs the APE Model 85 machine outfitted with a J&M Model 115 hydraulic impact hammer.  These pile rigs are “state of the art” with alot of features no other machines can offer. These piles range in sizes of 12″ dia 14″ dia as well as 24″ dia. All of them are either 50 foot or 55 foot sections and are spliced with a completed length of 100′ or 110′

Joe choose to drive the 1st section with the APE / Nissha rig and come behind it with a crawler crane outfitted with an APE D-50-42 diesel impact hammer and swinging leads to complete the second section. This is an ideal set up for doing what we need to do says Joe Leone SR. The APE D-50-42 diesel impace hammer is another diesel impact hammer only APE can offer to contractors, no other pile equipment supplier has them. Along with Joe Leone SR Joe Leone JR and son John Leone are here to help out with this task. They do anything from running either machine to what ever is needed to be done.  We wish them all the best with a safe & productive project.

Contact your local APE branch to see what they can do for you, on your current job or upcomming job. APE is the largest supplier of pile & foundation equipment in the World …….GO APE!