Installed with impact or vibratory hammers, driven timber and precast piles are used to transfer load from structures through weak material to more competent strata.
Timber piles are generally supplied as treated hardwood with diameters ranging from 150-350mm and maximum lengths of around 12m. They can also be adopted as economical ground improvement when installed on civil projects (eg: controlling settlements in transitions from embankments to bridge abutments).
Precast piles are cast with very high strength concrete in moulds of standard lengths. Mechanical joints can be cast into segments to make them easily spliced on site. Due to standard hammer sizes, precast pile dimensions are generally within the range of 270x270mm to 400x400mm.