At the start of this, it's probably worthwhile to repost the following: In the early 1970’s, when the Brezhnev era seemed most full of promise, an elderly Frenchman travelled from Moscow to Khabarovsk on the Trans-Siberian railway. After only a few hours at the eastern end of the line he boarded the train again for … Continue reading Diesel Hammers: The Russian Hammers and Hemi-Headed Pile Drivers
Now we get into a topic that's potentially controversial: the energy rating of diesel hammers, or any impact hammer for that matter. Let's start with defining what we mean by rated energy. Efficiency and Rated Striking Energy Hibbeler (1989) defines mechanical efficiency as follows: $latex e = \frac{Energy\,Output}{Energy\,Input} $ (15) A quick look at Equation … Continue reading Diesel Hammers: Rated Striking Energy, and Should Diesel Hammers Be Derated?
This is an overview of the motion of the "standard" type of diesel fuel pump cam which is used to deliver fuel from the fuel tank to the combustion chamber of a single-acting, tubular type of diesel hammer. What are Kinematics? As defined in Seely and Ensign, "Kinematics deals with the relation between distance, time, … Continue reading The Kinematics of Diesel Fuel Pump Cams
The most common machines for driving piles are diesel hammers, the main advantages of which are: independence from external energy sources (autonomy), high productivity, simplicity and ease of operation, and low cost of manufacture. The classification and main parameters of diesel hammers are given in GOST 7888-80. All existing and currently used diesel hammers can … Continue reading Diesel Hammers
As noted elsewhere, Vulcan got itself into many products outside of pile driving equipment. One of those was railroad equipment. Some of these didn't work out as planned, as was the case with the Caldwell Steam Snow Plow. Others, ostensibly, had a happier outcome for everyone. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, one of … Continue reading The Hicks Track Laying Machine, and an Example of Belt/Band Friction
More Resources Foundation Design and Analysis: Deep Foundations, Driven Pile Bearing Capacity (for ASD Methods) Foundation Design and Analysis: AASHTO LRFD Method Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations, 2016 Edition. This topic is spread out between the two volumes. Overview Engineers have always designed structures with uncertainty in mind, thus it is not permissible … Continue reading Driven Pile Design: ASD and LRFD Methods
More Resources Foundation Design and Analysis: Deep Foundations, Driven Pile Settlement and Group Capacity Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations, 2016 Edition, Volume I covers the topics discussed in this post, and does so in more detail, you need to look at this if you're serious about this topic. Overview As a general rule, … Continue reading Driven Pile Design: Axial Group Bearing Capacity and Settlement
As mentioned earlier, it would be a long business to catalog all of the methods that have been devised to estimate the axial bearing capacity (with all of the problems of that concept) of driven piles. Here we will show how three of these methods apply to our test case (reproduced below.) More Resources Foundation … Continue reading Driven Pile Design: Three Methods of Analysis
More Resources Foundation Design and Analysis: Deep Foundations, Driven Pile Bearing Capacity Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations, 2016 Edition, Volume I covers the topics discussed in this post. Before I get into the actual estimation (and estimation is the operative word here) of axial capacity, I need to make some important observations, as … Continue reading Driven Pile Design: Axial Loads, General Considerations
Another view of Santa Fe's Vulcan 560 at work. This wasn't the ideal way to lean the hammer, but one of the things that make Vulcan hammers popular was their ability to perform when misused or mishandled. The design of driven pile foundations--the oldest form of deep foundation in use--is something that gets the short … Continue reading Driven Pile Design: Introduction and Overview
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