Construction methods · Driven piles

Press-in (silent) piling

A hydraulic machine grips piles already installed and uses their resistance to push the next one in, silently and without vibration. Born for sheet piles in Japanese cities, now used for tubular piles and for widening bridges next to live traffic and housing.

How bridges get built · Driven piles · Press-in (silent) piling

Also called: jacked piles, Giken press-in, static pile pressing

How it is done

Install a reaction stand or the first piles with a crane; the press-in machine walks along the row pressing each pile against the previous ones.
Water jetting or augering assists in dense layers; the machine records the pressing force, which correlates with capacity.
For tubular piles, a rotary press-in variant cuts through gravel and rock.

Where it fits

Urban and railway-side sites, hospitals and schools nearby, embankments next to live roads, sheet piling in confined sites.

Where it does not

Large-diameter bearing piles in hard ground where the reaction is insufficient.

Plant, pace and money

PlantPress-in machine on the pile row, service crane, power unit.

ProductivitySheet piles 15-40 per shift; tubular piles 3-8 per shift.

Cost1.5-3 times vibro-driving; the price of silence.

Risks and controls

What goes wrong

Reaction pile pull-out, machine walking off line in soft ground.

Quality assurance

Press force logs, verticality by machine sensors.

Examples

Tokyo and Osaka urban viaducts, UK railway embankment works.