All That You Need To Know About CFA Piling

CFA stands for continuous flight auger. It is also known as auger cast piling. It is a piling method that was firstly used in the 1960s in the United Kingdom. But, these have been used globally for more than 3 decades. CFA piles are useful and suitable for different construction projects like commercial, institutional, industrial, and many others.

The use of CFA pile techniques is increasing, according to reports it is found that CFA piles and bored piles make up approximately 50% of the piling market. It is used to construct a wall that can be used during excavation, in this way the workers are protected at the time of excavation.

The foundation plays an essential role in its excellent support and structure. While construction projects need deep foundations CFA piling is laid under the ground. The fitted CFA rigs provide instant data on different parameters like auger depth, extraction speed, auger rotation, penetration speed, extraction force, rotary torque, concrete flow, productivity, total concrete volume pumped, concrete pressure, and crowd winch force.

CFA piling provides support to the structure, provides earth retention, prevents landslides, provides flood protection, and much more.

What Is The Installation Process Of CFA Piling?

The installation process of CFA piling consists of drilling, reaching the design depth, auger withdrawal, concrete injection, and reinforcement. Let’s know this process of installation in brief.

• Drilling: At first the rock or the soil is drilled as per the depth required. For the construction of a continuous pile, it is important to control the volume and concrete pressure.
• Reaching the depth: Then the auger is drilled into the rock or soil to the depth.
• Augur withdrawal: After achieving the designed depth, drilled material contained by the auger is removed and concrete is pumped.
• Reinforcement: Then the steel is reinforced in the wet column of concrete.

Advantages Of CFA Piling:

CFA piling has several advantages and some of them are as follows.

• Low sound: During CFA piling low sound is produced which causes less disturbance and noise pollution in the nearby areas. Unlike the other older ways of construction, CFA piling can be installed with low vibration and noise.
• Long lengths: One of the best advantages of piling CFA is that it can be installed in long lengths. This makes it a better and safer option to choose.
• Partial soil removal: Unlike the other methods, only some part of the soil is removed from the area where the piling takes place. This increases the bearing capacity as well as the lateral compression.
• Quick and economical: The process of CFA piling is comparatively quick and very economical as compared to conventional bored piles.
• Capacity: These pilings have higher load bearing, moment, and shear capacities. So, they work efficiently on larger projects.
• Easy way of construction: It is an easy way of construction in cohesive soils. This quality makes it more popular and common in the usage of construction.
• Suitable: CFA piling is suitable for all kinds of challenging grounds. You can install it on the grounds which are not in too good condition also. The quality of being suitable for all kinds of soil makes it preferable and environmentally friendly.
• Damage: The damage caused by this piling method is very minimal as compared to other piling methods.

How CFA Pilings Are Better Than Bored Piles?

CFA pilings are found to be way better than the bored piles in the following ways.

• The productivity is faster in this piling method as compared to the bored piles.
• The time taken to install CFA piles is much lesser than the installation of the bored piles.
• CFA piles are a better option than bored piling for environmentally sensitive areas.
• In CFA pilings there is no need for casing because of the seepage or sloughing.
• CFA technology is more economical.
• The range of the CFA pile is approximately 30 meters in depth and 400 to 1,400 mm in diameter which is better than bored piling.

Conclusion:

Amongst various piling methods used in different project categories, CFA piling is one of the best piling methods. It has a simple process beginning with drilling, auger extraction, and cage insertion. CFA piles produce no or low vibration and sound, they are economical, easy, more suitable, and they are good for sensitive environmental areas. With the change in time and with the availability of better technology, people are getting more inclined toward the piling techniques out of which CFA piles are preferable.