ALTERNATIVE PILING METHODS - CHANCES FOR TECHNICAL AND

ECONOMICAL SOLUTIONS

Franz-Werner Gerressen, BAUER Maschinen GmbH, Schrobenhausen, Germany, Franz-

Werner.Gerressen@bauer.de

ABSTRACT

Everybody knows about piling using hydraulic drill rigs and using the so called Kelly drill mode. Kelly
drilling has a lot of advantages as it can work with a wide range of tools facing almost all types of soil
and rock. It can also deal with diameters up to 3.000 mm and bigger or depth of +100 m.
But there is a big concern about Kelly drilling as the installation process is relatively slow.

Therefore, alternative Piling Methods like Continuous Flight Auger Piles (CFA), Cased Continuous
Flight Auger Piles (CCFA) and Full Displacement Piles (FDP) provide a lot of chances in terms of
installation performance and therefore cost, and even more important, time saving potentials. The paper
will show where these systems may be an interesting alternative to the traditional Kelly Drilling. Of
course there are as well limitations in using these methods which should be known and considered.

The paper will describe these methodologies, reference projects will allow showing the results in time and
cost saving in using these methods, but it will also show the limitations for these methods.

Keywords: Bored Pile, Kelly Drilling, CFA, FDP, CCFA, Single Pass Drilling

INTRODUCTION

In the changing construction environment, companies are searching for new technologies or improvement
of existing once to complete their projects in shorter time frames. Especially with the focus of increasing
urbanization, the aim of fast construction becomes more and more important. Looking into the field of
pile installation, either for foundations or for pile walls, significant progress has been undertaken in the
last years with the development of increasingly powerful drilling rigs, tools for more efficient quality
control and safe pile installation. These developments provide piling companies an increased number of
options for the execution of specialist foundation projects when using single pass applications like CFA,
CCFA and FDP.

ALTERNATIVE PILING METHODS

Alternative piling methods provide chances not only for technical and economical solutions, but moreover
for time saving potentials, are the so called single pass methods CFA, CCFA and FDP. Single pass means
in general, that the tool is pushed and rotated into the ground to the final depth in one stroke. After
reaching the final depth, concreting is started and concrete is pumped continuously while the tool is
withdrawn. In the following, the three methodologies will be explained more detailed.

Continuous Flight Auger Piles (CFA)

CFA piles are cast-in-situ piles, where a hollow-stem continuous flight auger is rotated and driven into the
ground at a controlled speed to the specified pile depth (Figure 1, Steps 1-3). Concrete is then pumped
under continuous positive pressure through the hollow stem of the auger to fill the borehole as the auger is
withdrawn (Figure 1, Step 4). Once the auger is completely out of the borehole, a reinforcing cage can be
inserted and driven into the fresh concrete to the designed depth (Figure 1, Step 5).

260 © 2018 Deep Foundations Institute

 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 1: CFA Installation Process

The method is suitable for cohesive soils and granular soils with sufficient cohesive content to allow the
soil transport on the auger, were the undrained shear strength “cu” should be above 15 kN/m² and no
boulder should be present.

Main application for CFA piles is the use for foundations; the use for pile walls is restricted.

Cased Continuous Flight Auger Piles (CCFA)

The basic principle of a CCFA pile is that a continuous flight auger in combination with an outer casing is
drilled simultaneously, but in opposite directions into the ground to the required depth (Figure 2, Step 2).
These characteristics led to the common term Cased Continuous Flight Auger Pile (CCFA). The spoil is
transported upwards by the auger flights surrounded by the casing and exits through openings at the top of
the casing. Once the final depth is reached (Figure 2, Step 3) the concrete pump is activated and concrete
is pumped through the hollow stem of the auger. After completion of concreting the drill string has to be
cleaned (Figure 2, Step 4). The cleaning is done by rotating the casing and the auger in the opposite
direction than during drilling. In some geology it can be beneficial to postpone the cleaning after
reinforcement installation (Figure 2, Step 5).

This procedure requires double rotary drive systems to run auger and casing at the same time. Actually,
different setups of double rotary drive systems exit. One option is the use of two rotary drives, either
working independent or dependent to each other. With a specific geometry this system is also known as
Front of Wall (FoW) system. Another option is to use one rotary drive in combination with a torque
multiplier. The torque multiplier is a mechanical unit attached to the cardanic joint below the rotary
drive. The ratio is fixed at 1:2, so that the torque multiplier doubles the incoming torque, halves the speed
and inverts the direction of rotation of the casing.

Similar to CFA, the CCFA method is suitable for cohesive soils and granular soils with sufficient
cohesive content to allow the soil transport on the auger, were the undrained shear strength “cu” should be
above 15 kN/m² and no boulder should be present. Rock socketing is possible to UCS values of approx.
20 MPa.

Main application for CCFA piles is the use for pile walls, secant and tangent, as support for deep
excavations. Of course, CCFA piles can also be used for foundations as well.

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 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 2: CCFA Installation Process

Full Displacement Piles (FDP)

The hollow stem displacement tool is rotated and drilled into the ground (Figure 3, Step 2-3), by the
torque generated by the rotary drive of the drilling rig and the crowd pressure generated by the crowd
winch, at a controlled rate of penetration to the specified depth. Penetration depth can be increased using
an optional Kelly extension (Figure 3, Step 3). Upon reaching the required depth, concrete is pumped into
the hollow stem of the FDP drill string As soon as the hollow stem is completely filled with concrete, the
process of withdrawing or extracting the auger at a steady rate begins (Figure 3, Step 4). During the
concreting and extraction phase the FDP tool is rotated in the same direction as in the drilling phase.
As soon as the drill string has been completely withdrawn from the bore, a reinforcement cage can be
inserted into the fresh concrete and driven to the specified design depth (Figure 3, Step 5).

1 2 3 4 5
Figure 3: FDP Installation Process

As a variation of the system, using different kind of FDP drill string, steps four and five can be swapped.
In this case, the reinforcement cage is inserted through the hollow stem prior to concreting and an ensured

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installation of the reinforcement cage in the center of the pile to final depth takes place. By installing the
reinforcement cage through the stem, at the bottom of the drill string an artificial bit is push away and will
remain in the ground. Therefore, the system is also called FDP Lost Bit.

The FDP method is suitable for displaceable soils in a range of approx.:

- SPT < 30 or CPT < 15 MPa (for granular soils)
- SPT < 15 or CPT < 1-2 MPa (for cohesive soils),
And undrained shear strength cu > 15 kN/m²

Main application for FDP piles is the use for foundations or ridged inclusions; the use for pile walls is not
possible.

ADVANTAGES, LIMITS AND CONSIDERATIONS

Single pass methodologies provide a lot of chances in terms of installation performance and therefore
cost, and even more important, time saving potentials. Reason for that is that the penetration is taking
place in one step, therefore, much faster as possible using the well-known Kelly drilling method.
Also the concreting process is much faster, as the drilling tool acts like a tremie pipe during the extraction
process, where concreting and extraction of the tool runs simultaneously.

Besides the fast installation process, which is valid for all three methods described, there are exemplarily
some specific advantages which should be named:

- Verticality of CCFA when using for secant pile walls:

The verticality of the pile is controlled and influenced by the outer casing. Attention must be paid
to the accurate alignment of the casing. The relative stiffness of the combined drill string is
significantly higher than that of a CFA auger. The counter rotation of the casing and auger also
has a beneficial stabilizing effect. Therefore, the alignment of the pile wall reaches the same
quality as known for the installation with cased Kelly drilling.

- Increased Load Capacity of FDP piles:

Due to the fact that the soil is displaced in the surrounding area of the pile, significant
densification of the surrounding soil take place. This leads to an increase in skin friction and
therefore an increase in pile capacity. This allows a much more time saving and economical
design as the number of piles can be reduced or the diameter can be adjusted.

- Spoil Reduction when using FDP piles:

Due to the fact that the loosened material is fully pushed into the surrounding soil material and
compacted by the displacement body during the drilling process, practically no vertical soil
transport to the surface takes place which creates an almost spoil free production (Figure 4, left).
Due to that, this system in particularly is well suited for operation in contaminated areas.

Figure 4: Comparison of spoil for FDP (left) and CFA (right)

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Assistance Systems allow the control of the installation process. Most rigs can be equipped with
electronic software for use with the so called "Drilling Assistant", which modulates the optimum rate of
penetration and crowd force during the drilling process for an optimal speed of rotation of the drilling
tool, especially working in single pass methods like CFA, FDP and Cased CFA. The desired initial
parameters can be input by the rig operator with the help of simple onscreen menus.
For instance, the system avoids for a system like CFA-Drilling unwished situations like the well-known
over-rotated and excessive soil removal, known as “over-flighting" (Figure 5). That means penetration
speed is to low compared with rotation speed. This leads to a situation, where the surrounding soil get
loosened and the load capacity of the pile might be reduced. In addition, beside the increased amount of
spoil, also significant overconsumption of concrete can be observed. Both leads to increased cost for pile
installation. Moreover, as a worst case scenario, this can cause ground around the tool to become unstable
and ground settlement induced.

Figure 5: principle of “over-flighting”

By using the "Concreting Assistant", the speed of extraction and volume of concrete can be adjusted. This
involves measuring the volume of concrete continuously throughout the concreting process and
automatically regulating the speed of extraction based on the concrete flow rate. Of course, also the
concrete pressure is monitored and controlled during the concreting process. As control of all relevant
parameters takes place, concrete overconsumption can be reduced and blockages can be avoided.

Concrete/Grout and Reinforcement

Concrete/Grout and reinforcement need to be well designed and prepared when using single pass
applications. Concrete, or grout, need to have a certain workability, especially to allow the installation of
the reinforcement cage immediately after finishing the concreting process. Typically, the max. aggregate
size is limited. In terms of the reinforcement, the cage needs to have a specific design and stability
allowing the installation into the fresh concrete without damages, even when using a small vibrator in
case self-weight is not sufficient.

Range of application

Besides the limitations defined by the soil conditions mentioned before, the single pas methods are also
limited in depth and diameter. The limiting factor on the one hand side is the mast height of the used
equipment, which can be slightly increased by using extension systems for CFA and FDP, on the other
hand to the required retraction force to get the tool out of the ground including the weight of the soil and
the lateral friction.

As guidance it can be said, that typical diameters for CFA are up to 880 mm. In some cases diameters of
1,200 mm could be seen as well. Typical depth is up to 30 m, in some cases depth of 50 m and more were
carried out.

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For the FDP method, the diameter is typically in a range of 400 to 600 mm, very rarely 700 mm. Depth of
approx. 35 m could be seen already.
The use of CCFA, mainly for secant pile walls, is in a range of up to 1,200 mm. Depth limit is 25-30 m,
very much dependent on the equipment.

These numbers for sure are not fixed, as development of equipment and tools as well as project demand
force further development.

JOBSITE EXAMPLES

Reference for CFA

For the modernization of a sugar refinery in Poland, a new storage silo for saccharose need to be build.
The foundation works for the new silo were carried out using a BG 24 with three meter mast extension, an
eight m long concreting Kelly and auger cleaner (Figure 6).

The original design concept of Kelly bored piles was modified the way, that 120 CFA piles, diameter
1,000 mm, to a depth of max. 21.5 m were installed. These piles were partly reinforced to a depth of 9-12
m, installed into the fresh concrete, using a crane and small vibrator, immediately after finishing
concreting.

Figure 6: BG24 H with CFA and Auger cleaner

Despite the challenging ground conditions, more than 200 linear meters of CFA piles per day could be
achieved and therefore met the expectations for time saving. Average installation time for one pile was
approx. 50 min. It could be seen that sufficient torque and puling force is essential to guarantee a
successful pile installation.

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Reference for FDP

For a project in Padua, Italy, an extension of warehouses and a two story parking lot was planned. The
table below shows as well the original design using standard drilled piles in combination with Micropiles
as the alternative design of using the FDP piles (Table 1). The alternative design shows all the effects in
savings which can be expected by using the FDP method, as there are savings in time, concrete and spoil.
The job was executed using a BG 24 (Figure 7) with lattice boom extension using the FDP Lost Bit
system to ensure the installation of reinforcement for the full length (24 m).

Design Comparison

ORIGINAL DESIGN ALTERNATIVE DESIGN

Piles Bored piles 800 mm FDP 610 mm “Lost bit”

Depth 23.44 m 24 m

No of piles 216 372

Micropiles 250 mm

Depth 23.5 m --

No of piles 446 0

Spoil volume 3,065 m³ 400 m³

Concrete volume 2,527 m³ 2,446 m³

Grout volume 398 m³ 0

Estimated time 74 days 47 days

Table 1: Comparison of original to alternative design

Figure 7: BG24 H FDP Lost Bit

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References for CCFA

In the last decade secant pile wall piling projects swopped from the traditional Kelly Drilling to the CCFA
drilling frequently. Many piling projects using CCFA piles for secant pile walls have been completed
with great success in the UK, Germany and Italy. The typical diameters for the piles have been 750 mm
or 880 mm. The tendency for bigger diameters can be seen. In the following we will see two examples
showing the potentials in time saving due to the achievable performance.

First of all, a project reference in Bath, UK. It was expected to install 4 piles, 18 m in length, for every
single day. However, a peak performance of 14 piles per day was achieved with an average of 8 piles per
day over the whole project. Figure 8 shows a BG 36 with BTM 400 during the operation, using the pile
chute system for safe soil transport

Figure 8: BG 36 with BTM 400, with pile chute system

In Naples, Italy, several excavation pits with secant pile walls were built during the new development of a
new subway using CCFA. These pits are needed for the mechanical equipment of the air ventilation
system of the tunnel. Exemplarily, the following table 2 shows the installation steps and required time for
the installation comparing primary and secondary piles to a depth of 15 m.

unreinforced reinforced
Positioning 2 min 2 min
Drilling 8 min 16 min
Concreting 9 min 9 min
Installation of
reinforcement 35 min
1 min
Total: 20 min 62 min
Table 2: Pile construction durations

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As it can be seen, the installation of the reinforcement cage took quite long. Reason for that was the fact,
that due to the very confined jobsite situation, the cages were delivered in three sections and had to be
connected two times during installation.

However, although space on site was very limited (see Figure 9), the works were carried out without any
problems. In this confined environment also the benefit of using flushed the air during drilling to dry the
spoil meant no special facilities for the collection and control of water on the surface were needed.

Figure 9: BG 28 with BTM 400, 15 m pile length, diameter750 mm

The spoil fell down through the soil discharge chute. The required length to keep the chute just above the
ground surface is adjusted by a small winch. Therefore, it was possible to bypass the traffic directly along
the adjacent street and pavements.

CONCLUSION

Single pass piling methods, as shown before, provide a lot of opportunities to the foundation market.
Especially in terms of time saving potentials, the described methods are welcome alternatives to the
conventional piling methods. It could be seen, that all these methods provide as well high cost saving
potentials, due to achievable performance, design adjustments and material cost savings. Therefore,
wherever the demands of timesaving is increasing and the soil and other relevant job site requirements
would allow to use of one of the single pass methods, it should be considered to take this decision.
Doing that, single pass piling methods will become more and more important. But, especially at the
beginning of projects the team needs to gain some experience to adjust the method to the soil conditions.
The drilling rig must have sufficient torque, pull down and extraction force to keep the drilling process
steady at all times, even in difficult soil conditions. A consistent and reliable concrete supply must be
organized as part of the work preparation to ensure a constant operating sequence. Good communication
and coordination among the crew on site is important and changes in staff should be avoided.

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These improvements and advances contribute to a better quality product. However, these will only be
successful if used properly. Therefore the importance of training, understanding and briefing to all
personnel involved is vital to its success.

REFERENCES

Fleming, W. G. K. (1995), The understanding of continuous flight auger piling, its monitoring and
control. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering: 157 - 165..

F.-W. Gerressen, P. Platzek, 2010, Overview of the state of the art of double rotary drilling methods,
Geotechnical Challenges in Urban Regeneration, London, UK

F.-W. Gerressen, H. Kopfmüller, 2016, FDP – Full Displacement Piling - an alternative Method -
Principles and Applications, Sefe 8, Sao Paulo, Brazil

F.-W. Gerressen, 2018, Electronic support in installation of special foundation products - Ensuring safe
production and increasing quality control, DFI-EFFC International Conference on Deep Foundations and
Ground Improvement, Rome, Italy

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