Ductile Iron Piles (DIPs) are a simple, fast low-vibration driven pile system. Modular pile sections (each about 16.5-feet-long) are connected by a proprietary plug & drive system, eliminating the need for welding and splicing while providing a high degree of stiffness. DIPs are installed with an excavator fitted with a high frequency hydraulic hammer which drives the pile sections into the ground in rapid succession with minimal vibrations.
DIPs derive their capacity through either end-bearing in dense soil or bedrock, or by developing frictional capacity along a grouted bond zone within competent soils. End-bearing DIPs are driven through the unsuitable soils to refusal or achieve the driving “set” criteria in the underlying bearing layer.
Friction DIPs are installed with an oversized conical grout point at the pile base. As the pile is driven, sand-cement grout is pumped through a grout shank. The grout fills the hollow pile and exits through grout ports within the conical driving point to fill the annular space between the pile section and the surrounding soil. This process encapsulates the pile in grout and forms the basis for the grouted bond zone within the surrounding competent soil to achieve design capacity.
