METHOD STATEMENT FOR INSTALLATION OF BORED CAST IN-SITU PILES USING CRANE MOUNTED DRILLING UNITS

PROPOSED METHOD STATEMENT FOR INSTALLATION OF BORED CAST IN-SITU PILES AT CREEK MARINA USING CRANE MOUNTED DRILLING UNITS

1. GENERAL: 1200mm and 550mm diameter bored cast in situ piles require to be constructed at the Creek Marina project. Following is our proposed method statement.

2.

CONSTRUCTION OF PILES: 2.1 Equipment: The piles will be drilled utilizing crane mounted pile diggers. Suitable service cranes will be deployed to handle the tremie concreting and the cage lowering operations. Setting Out: The pile centre will be established from baselines / benchmarks provided by the main contractor / engineer. Reference pins will be placed at 90o to offset the position of the pile centre. These reference pins will then be used to periodically confirm the centre of the pile during the construction operations. Drilling: The rig will set up over the pile centre pin and the verticality of the Kelly bar will be checked with a spirit level to ensure verticality of the borehole. The drilling unit will bore a pilot hole approximately 20mm larger in diameter than the diameter of the pile being installed. A temporary casing approximately 2-3 meters long, which will be kept true to the centre of the pile by checking from the reference pins, will be installed in this pilot hole. Bentonite will be then be entered into the pilot hole (if required), for the stability of the borehole, and the drilling of the bore will be continued with

2.2

2.3

appropriate digging tools until all soil down to the tip of the pile has been removed. After this operation the bottom of the bore will be cleaned out using a purpose made cleaning bucket (if required) which will remove all loose material for the bottom of the bore. 2.4 Recycling of Bentonite: Prior to the cage lowering and concreting operations the bentonite sand content in the borehole will be checked. Depending on the sand contamination the bentonite will be recycled. This recycling operation will continue until the sand content in the bentonite is within required limits.

Contd..P/2

2.5

Steel Reinforcement Cages: The pre-fabricated reinforcement cage, complete with roller spacers, will be placed within the bore by the service crane, and checked for level from the adjacent benchmarks. Before placement of the steel cage the bottom of the borehole will be checked for the correct depth. The reinforcement for each pile shall be assembled on ground and securely tied by means of binding wire / welding in such a manner as to form a rigid cage. Concrete spacer blocks shall be securely attached to the reinforcement at a suitable spacing in such a manner as to ensure that the concrete cover stipulated on the drawings is maintained throughout and that the reinforcement cage is not displaced in the borehole in the course of subsequent concreting operation. Particular care shall be taken to ensure that in general, there are no obstructions of any kind inside the reinforcement cage due to spacer blocks or lapped reinforcement or any other reason, which might interfere with smooth travel of the concreting tremie. Concreting: Before the start of the concreting operations all instrumentation / pipes etc. required for the subsequent testing / grouting of the piles as required, will be placed and secured within the borehole, to the required depth / elevations. Concrete will be produced using batching plant and will be brought to the pile head in transits. Concrete shall be placed by means of a tremie lowered and raised by the service crane. The outer dimensions of the tremie pipe shall be such that it can be freely lowered and raised inside the 3

2.6.

reinforcement cage. The manner of lowering and raising the tremie shall be carefully controlled so as to ensure that the reinforcement cage is not distorted or displaced during the course of concreting. Prior to the start of the concreting the tremie shall be lowered to the bottom of the borehole. Concrete of the specified proportions will then be placed through a full-length tremie. During the concreting operations sufficient embedment (2-3) meters of the tremie shall be maintained in the concrete. The concrete being poured will have a slump of 180mm and its initial set will be retarded by 1 (one) hour, by use of suitable admixture. The concrete operation will end when the green concrete has reached the pile cut off level. If the pile cut of level is below platform level then the concrete will be brought up to the required level above the cut off level. The 2-3 meter long temporary casing will be extracted at the end of the concreting operation.