Centrum Pile’s continuously reinforced precast concrete piles have many benefits for your foundation project

A Centrum Pile is a precast concrete pile manufactured utilising the most advanced technology available. Our concrete piles have a high structural capacity which is achieved from the use of high strength, sulphate resisting concrete and exceptionally rigid welded reinforcing cages.

Why should you choose to use precast concrete piles?

There are many benefits and reasons why precast concrete piles are used.

  • Improved quality control and improved tolerances can be achieved compared to bored, cast in situ piles.
  • The Centrum precast concrete piles are highly resistant to biological and chemical actions of the sub soil.
  • No spoil is generated on-site during their installation. This means that no waste is sent to landfill which saves time and money plus any contaminated waste from the ground doesn’t need to leave site either.
  • The Centrum precast concrete piles are unaffected by groundwater.
  • Precast concrete piles offer a cost-effective form of deep foundation.
  • Precast piles can easily be manufactured in various sections and lengths to be used at the project site dependent upon design. As a result, the duration of the piling element of the project will be faster than an in-situ alternative.
  • Capable of accommodating simple compressive loads or complex combined loadings.
  • Precast concrete piles compact the soil. Therefore, a significant advantage of using this piles type is increasing the bearing capacity of the soil.
  • The driving of an adjacent pile does not produce an adverse effect on the already driven piles.
  • Precast concrete piles can withstand high-pressure vertical loads as well as tension and lateral loads.
  • The concrete design achieves a DC-4 durability standard [Link: Specification – Concrete Structures Eurocode – Eurocode Standards] which not only increases the life of the foundations due to its resistance to carbonation, chloride and sulphate attack but makes it suitable for practically any ground condition.
  • Precast concrete piles can be driven underwater. If the subsoil water has a high level of sulphate, the concrete of cast in situ piles would not cure easily. Thus, precast concrete piles have added advantages in such circumstances.

Using precast piles for your projects

Precast piles can be loaded to their full design capacity after they have been driven. They are robust and durable and are not affected by floods, wind-blown debris, and rain. They do not require curing time like cast in-situ piles.

Some of the benefits for large scale construction projects include:

  • Safe: Piles made with precast concrete offer a safe platform to work on.
  • Quality Assurance: The key factors which regulate the quality of construction such as curing, temperature, mix design, reinforcement cover, formwork, etc. can be easily monitored and achieve consistent, high tolerance results for precast concrete piles. So, an improved quality construction can be achieved.

Conclusion:

Centrum Pile manufacture continuously reinforced precast concrete piles ensuring ‘responsibly sourced’ materials are used. We use a cement replacement in our concrete mix called Pulverised Fuel Ash or PFA. This reduces the cement content of the concrete by 38%, resulting in a lower embodied CO² as well as improved plastic and hardened properties of the concrete.

Using our Centrum Pile System, piles can be installed to work at higher concrete stress levels than would be permissible for piles formed in the ground using traditional cast insitu wet concrete.

Discover more about precast concrete here: Centrum Pile Ltd. – YouTube