Foundations and types of pile foundations

Foundation is that part of the building that transfers the weight of the building to the ground. Every part of the building will have its own foundation and each column will have its own footing.

Before making foundations, the engineers have to study the capability of the soil to withstand the weight of the building or foundation. Two kinds of foundations are there, swallow and deep foundations.

Pile foundation piling agencies comes in the deep foundations. It is a long cylinder column of concrete that is pushed into the soil to build structure on it. Pile foundations are used when there is weak soil at the surface of the ground, where the construction has to take place, or when it is assumed that the surface cannot withstand the load of the building. The pile is then pushed to the ground, so that the weight is on the stronger soil or rock under the weak surface .Also pile foundation is often constructed in high rise buildings.

Type of pile foundations –

There are two kinds of pile foundations, end bearing pile and friction pile. The end bearing pile is inserted up to the strongest part of the soil and weight of the building is transferred to the soil by the end point of the pile, which is on a strong ground below the weak surface .In friction pile, the weight of the building is transferred to the soil through the height of the pile Here, the entire length of the cylindrical pile works to transfer the weight of the building to the soil. The amount of load, which a friction pile can transfer depends on the length of the pile .The weight is directly proportional to the length of the pile.

As pile foundations pile contractors are used to carry the entire weight of the building, they are made carefully by the engineers. An engineer also has to study the soil, to ensure that soil is capable of carrying the weight of the pile. The piles are inserted into the soil at some distance from each other to ensure that load of the buildings  is  distributed evenly in the soil over wide areas and not confined to narrow area .Engineers also group several piles together and cap them together with thick concrete cap .  The columns of the buildings are then built on these caps covering several piles.

Piles are often cast at the ground and then hampered into the ground with pile drivers. The pile driver is a machine that vertically inserts the pile into the ground blow by blow by hampering it with heavy load.