Confident Group

Piling for Confident Antlia III, Project, Kochi

Introduction

It’s the most fundamental and most imperative requirement for any structural development, be it an apartment complex, independent villa or house to have a strong foundation, the developer must assure his creation with its character and immense strength.

“Piling” is a technique applied, where by the civil engineer of the given project is authorized to dig deeper than the usual depths - to make the foundation stronger. How?

Normally, in these projects ‘Piles’ made up of pre-cast concrete or steel are driven and embedded deep into the foundation, assuring extra strength from the base of the construction. Important factors like volume, capacity & scope of the project; the condition of the underground soil in the immediate foundation and the space required for rigging are all keen considerations that are adhered too. To further these procedures “test-piling” is carried out and the soil is analyzed, determining its nature, for example whether the soil is rocky, sandy, loamy etc.

A deeper foundation is essentially dug to enhance the structures load-bearing capability. The deeper layers of soil is normally stronger and known to have a higher load bearing tendency that helps to anchor the structure with room for higher capacity.

Stages of “Piling” Activity


1.	Soil testing and investigation is carried out to determine the depth & stratum of the lower soil of the foundation. Based on these studies the depth at which the pre-cast cement concrete piles will be driven is determined. The high-rise rests on 200 to 300 pre-cast cement concrete piles that are driven to depths of 30 meters.

2.	Boring is the first step in “Piling”. Heavy duty chisels weighing 1.6 tons and a motor driven winch are used to bore. The soil is loosened by using the chisel, the loose soil is then continuously flushed out by using a liquid chemical slurry called Bentonite. Bentonite slurry’s unique property is to flush out the loose soil, while leaving the sides of the bored cavity with its strong binding property. Boring stops on reaching depths of 27.2 meters; this is after studying the strength & hardness of the bottom layer

3.	Strong steel reinforcements at roughly 750 meters are inserted into the bored cavity. This will provide each Pile with the necessary tensile strength.

4.	To prevent the walls of the bored area from caving in, the cavity is continuously flushed with Betnovate slurry for almost one hour.

5.	After the Betnovate slurry is pumped into the cavity. About 21 cubic meters of concrete is used, factory fresh cement mixed with top quality first-grade aggregates are used to prepare the concrete, in a state-of-the-art automated batching plant. Samples of the concrete are collected to verify its strength and to make sure that it conforms the desired specifications.

6.	After curing the RCC pile for 28 days the top soil around the pile is excavated and the pile tip is exposed. The excessive length of the pile is accurately marked and manually chipped off. The manual process is preferred to mechanical chipping that could damage the concrete pile below the surface. “Piling” is a slow process and crucial the same, while constructing a high-rise building. Extra care and extreme precaution must be taken to ensure the highest quality. Therefore this process normally takes 4-5 months for completion.

Conclusion

In Antlia III, Kaloor, Cochin, Test Piling was conducted on 8th September 2008. Other important steps to prepare the site for construction are planned simultaneously.