Temeltek provides secant pile systems solutions for your foundation needs. Secant pile walls are formed by constructing intersecting reinforced concrete piles, so they are also defined as intersecting piles. The secant piles are reinforced with either steel rebar or with steel beams and are constructed by either drilling under mud or augering. After the installation of the primary piles, the secondary piles are constructed in between the primary piles once the latter gain enough strength.
Pile overlap occurs typically in the order of 8 cm. In a tangent pile wall, there is no pile overlap as the piles are constructed flush to each other.
The main advantages of secant pile walls include increased construction alignment flexibility, increased wall stiffness compared to sheet piles, allowing installation in difficult grounds (cobbles/boulders) and creating less noisy construction, minimizing the vibration.
Verticality tolerances may be hard to achieve for deep piles. Secant pile walls may not provide may not provide waterproofing at the joints and it is not cost effective what it is compared with the sheet pile walls. When steel beams are utilized in the design of the secant piles, it is required to use weaker concrete than as usual. The pile that is lagging the wall between two main beams has to be examined for shear and compression arching.
Tangent Pile Wall
Tangent pile walls are a variation of secant pile walls and soldier pile walls. However, tangent pile walls are constructed with no overlap and ideally one pile touches the other. Compared to secant pile walls, tangent pile walls offer the advantages including increased construction alignment flexibility, easier and quicker construction but tangent pile walls doesn’t provide mobility in high groundwater tables without dewatering.