Micropiles and tie rods

In addition to geological, geophysical and laboratory surveys, the company, through specialized staff, performs special drilling works during construction works.

In particular it performs drilling works, micropiles and tie rods, to realize foundation, buildings and civil consolidation works as well as the slope stabilization.

The micropile is a foundation pile having a diameter size generally between 90 and 250 mm and a length up to 12 – 15 meters.

Although the single micropile has a bearing strength lower than a medium diameter pile (250 to 800 mm) and of a large diameter one (over 800 mm), using different micropiles is possible to obtain a stable and not much yieldable sub-foundation support on which can be placed a plate foundation.

Realization of piles requires wide work space and a fairly considerable deposit space, but in urban areas these conditions are not always respected, especially in proximity of existing buildings or protrusions such as balconies, eaves, etc.; so, in this case, although with a slight increase of costs, micropiles become the best technologic solution for soil remediation.

A wide use of micropiles, due to the modest size of the necessary equipment for their realization, is for the bulkheads and diaphragms like soldier pile walls.

These bulkheads are constituted by a series of micropiles, of right length, arranged along a straight line (or offset mash called “quincunx”), realized in variable spacing (from 30 up to 70 cm) as a function of the soil characteristics and the excavation heights. They also enable the support of the excavation face allowing to safely operate and safeguarding the someone else’s property and are particularly suited for the stabilization and for the safety measures of hydrogeological slopes.

To restrict excessive deformation of the structure and to ensure a better load bearing capacity, the soldier piles walls are integrated with the implementation of both active (strands) and passive (dywidag bars) tie rods.

The company in addition to construction works is also involved on the subsequent micropiles testing phases, which the definition of the load bearing capacity, the stringing of tie rods by an hydraulic power unit and the tightness testing.