Always looking to innovate, Cajun recently added new, leading-edge equipment that brings quieter, low-impact pile driving to construction projects. The Giken Silent Piler™ installs interlocking steel sheets into the ground hydraulically, delivering key construction objectives without excessive noise or vibration.
Sheet piles are traditionally vibrated into the earth with help from a vibratory hammer and crane. These steel sheet piles are the first step in ensuring soil retention and foundation support, especially where existing structures are present. However, the traditional method of driving sheet piles generates significant noise as well as powerful vibrations capable of damaging adjacent structures or disturbing sensitive equipment.
By contrast, the Giken Silent Piler™ pushes piles into the ground using static energy, creating minimal noise or vibratory impact. “The system is useful in a wide variety of construction applications,” says Cajun Project Manager Scott Williams.
“This method creates a much smaller footprint and can be used in many different environments including hospitals, surgery centers, nuclear facilities, petrochemical facilities and others,” Williams says.
Last fall, representatives from the Japanese manufacturer, Giken, spent two weeks training Cajun employees on the equipment at Cajun’s Westport facility in Port Allen, Louisiana. Workers were trained to operate the machine’s wireless technology, which enables them to keep a safe distance from the active work zone. Moreover, the Giken Silent Piler does not require a worker to connect the steel sheet piles manually. Instead, the sheets are threaded by an automated system.
Another benefit of the new equipment is that it eliminates the need for a vibratory hammer and an oversized crane.
“The size crane required to feed the sheets into the Silent Piler™ can be downsized significantly from the size used traditionally,” Williams says, “since the crane will only be used for material handling, instead of having to hoist a vibratory hammer or handle a set of leads.”
One of the biggest advantages of the Giken Silent Piler™ is that it minimizes the need to shut down operations while this phase of construction is underway.
“The Silent Piler™ can install steel sheet piles within a few feet of an existing structure very precisely, without any kind of operations interruption,” says Williams. “That means a lot to our clients.”
For more information about Cajun’s Giken Silent Piler™, please contact Scott Williams, 225-421-3484.