Sand Piles

Sand compaction piles are one of the potential methods for improving ground stability, preventing liquefaction, reducing settlement, and similar applications. This method involves driving a hollow steel pipe into the ground. The bottom is closed with a collapsible plate down to the required depth and then the pipe is filled with sand. The pipe is withdrawn while the air pressure is directed against the sand inside it. The bottom plate opens during withdrawal and the sand backfills the voids created earlier during the driving of the pipe. The sand backfill prevents the soil surrounding the compaction pipe from collapsing as the pipe is withdrawn. During this process, the soil gets densified.

There are two types of Sand compaction piles method depending on the system deployed. The first one is the vibratory system with Vibro-hammer and the other one has a non-vibratory system with forced lifting or driving device. But the Vibro-hammer used in this method has a negative effect in the form of vibration and noise to the surrounding environment which makes it difficult to use this method in urban areas or at locations close to existing structures. To avoid these problems, a system with a non-vibratory Sand compaction pile method was developed, which does not require impact or vibration on the driving device to penetrate the ground. The equipment consists mainly of a sand compaction pile-driving device used as a base machine and a forced lifting or driving device with a rotary drive motor to rotate the casing pipe.