Piling Problems - Introduction

Dennis Millgard introduced the Session by hoping that participants to the Conference would also share their piling problems. He then invited the first speaker to present his paper. Paper 5.1. Pat Kelleher commenced by saying that he belonged to a one hundred year old firm that had experience in the New York Harbour area. They were often asked to assess the integrity of many waterside structures such as piers, walls, and docks which were deteriorating whilst still in use. The earliest structures, built in the 1800's, were on timber piles. These have now changed to Steel H and tube piles and concrete piles. Usually they were called in when the structure was showing signs of distress, or had reached the end of its life but could not be closed. In particular, they had found that marine borers had returned to New York Harbour because of the improved quality of the water. There is now a far greater incidence of attack on the timber piles than when the water was polluted. Repair is usually carried out by encapsulating the pile within the tidal range of about -2ft to +8ft (-0.6 to +2.4m). Reinforced concrete forms, reinforced fibre jackets, or nylon bags are used. Reinforced fibre jackets are used with a protective coat on the pile, while nylon bags prove the cheapest method.