Model Selection and Renovation of Vibratory Driving Equipment for Driving of Steel Sheet Piles for Initial Phase of Caofeidian Coal Terminal

Large composite steel sheet piles of H sheet pile and AZ sheet pile,which were originated in China,were used for the quay wall of the terminal.The composite piles were required to first penetrate the 20 m thick dense sand and then be driven down to the design level,embedded in the soil for about 32 m.For this purpose,large vibratory hammers with an excitation force of more than 2 300 kN had to be used to complete the installation of the piles.Under the exigency that no domestic manufacturer could produce such large pile hammers,order from foreign manufacturers could not meet the construction period and the price were high,two APE400 hydraulic vibratory hammers were renovated and the clamps for reinforced concrete large diameter cylinders with walls of 250 mm thick were remade into clamps for steel sheet piles with a thickness of less than 80 mm.Transition beams were redesigned and fabricated.With the renovation,steel sheet piles of 5 468 t were driven down to the design level,thus making it possible to employ the new structure in complicated and inclement geological conditions.The paper describes the methods for selection of models and renovation of vibratory hammers for the reference of similar projects.