First Delivery of Low-Headroom Tubular Pile Press-in Piling Machine SILENT PILER™ CLP200A to North America

Giken America Corporation (Head Office: Orlando, Florida; President: Takefumi Takuma), a group company of GIKEN LTD. (Head Office: Kochi-shi, Kochi; President and CEO: Atsushi Ohira; hereafter “GIKEN”), delivered the low-headroom tubular pile press-in machine SILENT PILER™ CLP200A to the American foundation construction company Blue Iron Foundations & Shoring, LLC. (Blue Iron). Blue Iron is the largest user of GIKEN press-in machines in North America and has been a strong partner that has worked with Giken America Corporation to spread the construction method in various regions, leveraging its wide-area sales network. This is the first time that the SILENT PILER™ CLP200A model has been delivered to a user in North America.

Demand for the machine, which can conduct pile installation work in a low-headroom situation while being silent and practically vibration free, is also high in North America. It has already been adopted for a flood risk reduction project in Louisiana, where water cutoff walls are being constructed using tubular piles 3 m below freeway girders and is expected to be adopted for many other projects for the renovation of aging infrastructures in the future. The local availability of a machine is a major deciding factor in adopting whether or not to accept a construction method technical proposal. The delivery of the machine has expanded the range of press-in piling technology that can be offered to a wider range of piling projects than ever before.

The GIKEN Group is currently conducting a market research and preparing plans for expanding the North American press-in piling market. We will continue to work with the company and other users to take effective actions to significantly expand the North American market.

Site constraints such as overhead clearance limitations
While aging infrastructure is becoming a social issue around the world, especially in developed countries, there are many projects in North America that remain untouched due to constraints such as overhead limitations, obstacles and narrow project sites. In North America, it is common to use large vibratory machinery for pile installations even with overhead restrictions, but vibration can cause significant damage to aging structures and nuisance to nearby residents. In addition, in the case of project sites under bridges, it would be necessary to remove bridge girders, install detour roads, and build temporary platforms to mobilize large machinery and materials if the overhead clearance is limited.

SILENT PILER™ CLP200A will clear away your problems
The SILENT PILER™ CLP200A is a silent and practically vibration-free press-in piling machine that can work under low headroom. It can press in tubular piles even with overhead clearance of 2.65 m. In addition, since the machine is equipped with an integrated lifting device (similar to a crane) that can move on top of installed piles, no temporary construction access is required. Even with limited headroom, the machine can work safely and quickly without disrupting the lives of nearby residents or traffic. It can offer an innovative solution for retrofitting many bridge abutments and pier foundations as well as for repairing riverbanks under bridges in North America.

Construction overview
In the suburbs of New Orleans, located in southeastern Louisiana, the “WSLP Project” is underway to construct flood walls and drainage pumping stations for flood risk reduction over a period of approximately five years from December 2022 to 2027. As part of the project, the SILENT PILER™ CLP200A is being used to construct temporary cut-off walls made of tubular piles for a 3.3 m-high flood wall spanning approximately 200m.
The site is under the interstate highway bridge girders that cross the wide marshland of the lower Mississippi River basin where the overhead clearance is only 3 m. The use of a vibratory piling method in low-headroom sections was prohibited as it would have a negative impact on the existing viaduct foundations. 204 tubular piles with a diameter of 914 mm are being pressed in using the SILENT PILER™ CLP200A, a low-headroom press-in piling machine without generating a discernible level of vibration.

Outlook and Expectations
The prime contractor has praised Blue Iron, who is carrying out the pile installation work, for the very accurate pile installation with this machine, which achieves extremely efficient piling even under low headroom. Based on this machine’s deployment to North America and the successful achievement of piling at the project as a foothold, GIKEN will enhance its technical marketing activities to promote press-in piling solutions for projects with limited headroom, and work with Blue Iron to spread them to other projects.

■Profile of GIKEN Group
GIKEN developed the SILENT PILER^TM, the world’s first reaction-based, non-vibratory hydraulic pile driving machine that operates with minimal noise impacts. The GIKEN Group now actively promotes its press-in technology worldwide and contributes to the construction industry by proposing and implementing innovative solutions. The innovative press-in technology provides a unique solution and the adoption of this technology has spread to over 40 nations and regions.