Sheet Pile Walls
Sheet pile walls consist of driven interlocked steel panels. Each pile is engaged with and driven in alongside the previous one, thereby creating an impervious wall. Common designs used include Frodingham and Larssen sections, each with a slightly different clutch mechanism.
Sheet pile walls are commonly used in the marine environment for the construction of docksides and piers, and on inland waterways to reinforce canal and river banks. In addition, because they can also be easily extracted, sheet walls are commonly used for creating temporary cofferdams enabling deep excavations to take place safely.
One area that Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering (BBGE) specialises in is Silent Sheet Piling through a joint venture with Giken.
Giken is the pioneer company that originally invented and developed the world's first press-in machine known as the Silent Piler back in 1975, and has been the world leader of press-in piling technologies ever since. Subsequent developments have led to a wide range of equipment available to install most types of steel sheet, tubular steel and even precast plank and hollow section piles for a variety of simple and complex ground conditions and site locations.
The system is based upon utilising previously installed piles as the reaction force to install subsequent piles and progresses by ‘walking along the line’. This has the added advantages, over and above the environmental benefits of being able to work in restricted working areas using the self-feed materials system know as GRB and/or over water or other previously un-accessible areas (e.g. sloping railway embankments and cuttings). The main systems currently available within the UK and Europe are outlined below, please click on a link for further information:
