Published Paper Details:

The normal way of chipping off contaminated concrete from bored cast-in-situ piles is by using either manual or pneumatic hammers, making it a very laborious and time-consuming process. This traditional approach poses very real occupational hazards such as high levels of noise pollution, air pollution, hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) due to long tool use and ergonomic discomfort to workers. Furthermore, the large amount of debris produced results in reduced productivity of the site and increased cleaning time. To this end, a new approach has been proposed that incorporates two major changes: (1) The use of synthetic foam-based sleeves to prevent reinforcement from bonding with concrete above the cutoff point and (2) The use of hydraulic splitters for precise pile head cutting. The foam sleeves allow the reinforcement to move relatively easily with respect to the concrete, thus easing the process of removing them after curing. On the other hand, hydraulic splitters which are placed in the pre-drilled holes, induce controlled fractures that enable easy separation of the pile head into one piece with minimal need for manual force. This detached section is then safely lifted using a crane, thereby leaving a clean pile head that can be easily incorporated into the pile cap. A field trial was conducted to validate the effectiveness of this method on a 1.2 m diameter pile with a 1.5 m removable section. It was observed that there was a significant decrease in fatigue, noise, and dust exposure among the workers, and at the same time, there was a great enhancement in the efficiency of the process. This innovative approach increases safety and sustainability in the workplace. It improves project management and execution, which makes it a suitable technique to be adopted as a sustainable method of removing pile heads.