Steel pipe pile transfers the vertical load of a building or structure to deep or stable soil strata. They are of high demand because of the need for deeper and larger foundations due to level up in magnitude of construction projects. It is also mandated by the increase in number of construction projects, especially infrastructures, situated in bodies of water which are of course requiring foundations to penetrate bed rocks.
Steel pipe piles are widely used in foundation works for marine structures (ports & offshore platforms), urban civil structures, infrastructures like oil & gas plants, bridges’ footings & abutments, and even as casing for concrete bored piles.
For designers, the major advantage of steel pipe pile is the versatility of options using their wide range of sizes (length, diameter, & thickness) to have custom designs conforming to different engineering requirements.
At site, they are easier to handle and install compared to other materials like concrete piles, reducing construction cost and time. They produce less noise and ground disturbance, minimum to zero breakages, and low vibration during driving.
Apart from vertical load bearing as foundation piles, in many cases steel pipe piles do being utilized as retaining wall supporting horizontal earth or water pressure, like Steel pipe-pipe interlocking wall or mostly Steel pipe-sheet pile interlocking wall .
Steel pipe-sheet piles combination walls system are installed in seawalls, breakwaters, retaining walls and cofferdams. It utilizes king pipe piles as main structural members, while steel sheet piles as intermediates infill panel to provide cutoffs and transfer loads to the main soldier piles structural members.
As a retainer, steel pipe-sheet piles has higher bearing capacity and resistance against bending compared to pure sheet piles wall because of their cross-section. This particularly ideal when standard sheet piles alone does not have the capacity to withstand huge design loads or deep excavation. They can be driven as long segments into harder ground because of solidity of the said soldier pile properties.