Steel piles have clear-cut advantages on projects such as on river or estuary crossings where soils are typically granular and waterlogged and unsuitable for satisfactory pile boring, or where soft recent low bearing strength alluvium overlies bedrock. On cohesive soil sites, there is a wide selection of acceptable pile types and other construction aspects will govern.
Bearing piles are used mostly for supporting vertical loads and for this purpose the main requirements are to:
- Restrict average settlement to a low value.
- Minimise differential settlement.
- Achieve an adequate factor of safety or load factor against foundation failure.
Many technical and cost-benefit factors affect the selection of the most appropriate type of pile for a given structure. Very broadly, these factors can be divided into those related to:
- Site location and operating conditions.
- Type of soil and ground water level during installation.
- Type and size of the loads to be supported by the foundation.
- Type of structure, e.g. land or marine.
- Effect of the pile type on overall construction programme and cost.
Where piles have to resist tensile loading or absorb energy in bending, as in marine dolphins for ship impact, and in integral bridge piers for vehicle impact, there are special requirements to be considered which favour the selection of steel piles. In particular, the ductility of steel piles creates an elastic ‘compliance’ with the superstructure to absorb the impact energy by deflection.
The cost-benefit factors which may favour the choice of steel piles include:
- Total cost of the foundation, where it is important that the comparison between pile types is related to the total construction cost including installation and not just the cost of the pile material.
- Total construction time, where use of driven steel piling can result in a shorter construction period and an earlier project completion date.
- Environmental constraints, where the noise and vibration caused during steel pile driving has now been reduced by developing new installation equipment to be within limits stated in UK legislation.
- Sustainability issues, where steel bearing piles are easy to extract from the ground at the end of structure life and can be reused or recycled so reducing the whole life cost of the building.
Many of the above factors are interrelated, and all require consideration in arriving at the most suitable pile type for a given situation.
Included cover photo from SCI publication P156.
Read about Retaining Walls
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Case Studies
A selection of our work
![Sheet Piling with Press-in Methods adjacent to a live Railway](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_5261-510x382.jpg)
![Wood Wharf, London (Canary Wharf)](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/WW-1-510x382.jpg)
![Port of Dundee East Redevelopment](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/PoD-1.jpg)
![Dual Purpose Sheet Pile Retaining Wall](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HC1e-1-510x382.jpg)
![Permanent Riverbank Flood Defence Sheet Pile Works](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DJI_0108-510x382.jpg)
![Permanent Sheet Pile Basement](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/4b82405f-454e-4ed9-ae44-f2804fd826a8-2-1-510x382.jpg)
![Maritime – Reservoir Sheet Pile Cut Off Wall](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/M_2017_Island-Barn-Case-Study-510x382.png)
![Rail Case Study – Canary Wharf Crossrail Station](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/R_2015_crossrail-510x382.png)
![Highway Case Study – Highley Alveley Bridge](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/H_2006_highley_alveley_bridge-1-510x382.png)
![THAMES TIDEWAY TUNNEL](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/feature-thames-tideway-tunnel-510x382.png)
![Specialist Case Study – Flood Defence Wall](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/00_auto_1400x580_enderby_14-510x382.jpg)
![Building Case Study – Basement Car Park](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_1103-510x382.jpg)
![Building Case Study – Inner City Basement](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/item-large2-510x382.jpg)
![SUSTAINABILTY CASE STUDY – THERMAL STEEL SHEET PILES](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/thermal-pile-015b-1-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – UNDERWATER PILE DRIVING](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC02522-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – UNDERWATER PILE DRIVING](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC01889-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – UNDERWATER PILE DRIVING](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/15k-Sub-sea-7-036-510x382.jpg)
![HIGHWAY CASE STUDY – SERVICE ROAD RETAINING WALL](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/SPG-CaseStudy-Basingstoke-Fussey-1-510x382.jpg)
![MARITIME CASE STUDY – COMBINATION WALL](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/6500-on-1420-tube-01-510x382.jpg)
![MARITIME CASE STUDY – NEW DEEP WATER QUAY](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/A-V-Dawson-077-510x382.jpg)
![RAIL CASE STUDY – EDINBURGH TRAM NETWORK](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_5503-510x382.jpg)
![RAIL CASE STUDY – LONDON UNDERGROUND UPGRADE](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/London-Underground-Chapel-Street-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – FLOOD DEFENCE SUPPORT](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/4D-Eastney-1-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – UNDERWATER PILE DRIVING](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Subsea7-02-cropped-510x382.jpg)
![HIGHWAY CASE STUDY – SLIP ROAD IMPROVEMENTS](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC00956b-510x382.jpg)
![HIGHWAY CASE STUDY – MS3 & MS4 GANTRY FOUNDATIONS](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/mSL271008b-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – CONCRETE PILE EXTRACTION](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_0798-cropped-510x382.jpg)
![BUILDING CASE STUDY – PILE EXTRACTION](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SANY0111b-510x382.jpg)
![BUILDING CASE STUDY – BASEMENT EXTENSION](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_1218b-510x382.jpg)
![RAIL CASE STUDY – WHITE HORSE BRIDGE](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DCP_0809-510x382.jpg)
![SPECIALIST CASE STUDY – OFFSHORE PIPELINE PILE EXTRACTION](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC01999-510x382.jpg)
![BUILDING CASE STUDY – NEW BASEMENT](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hornsey-street-london-510x382.jpg)
![BUILDING CASE STUDY – AUTOMATED DISTRIBUTION CENTRE](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-optimised.jpg)
![HIGHWAY CASE STUDY – WHADDON ROAD BRIDGE](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PICTURE10-510x382.jpg)
![MARITIME CASE STUDY – RETAINING RIVERWALL](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Pontoon-Work-1b-510x382.jpg)
![MARITIME CASE STUDY – THAMES PILE EXTRACTION](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC01734-510x382.jpg)
![HIGHWAYS CASE STUDY – BOX PILE BRIDGE FOUNDATIONS](https://www.steelpilinggroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Box-Pile-Stratford-510x382.jpg)
Steel Piling Group, C/O SCI, Silwood Park, Unit D, Buckhurst Road, Ascot ,Berkshire. SL5 7QN
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