The event was kicked off by Kari Väliaho, General manager, Tubular Products at SSAB Europe

Over the years, the Steel Pile Day has evolved into an established forum where actors in the industry can hear the latest news about SSAB's pile products. Anchored tension piles and the buckling design of steel piles were topics in one module in a three-module training event compiled by the Piling Committee of the Finnish Geotechnical Society held at the Steel Pile day.

New products from SSAB

Anssi Hyvärinen, Technology Specialist, presented the RDT threaded splice, which was designed among other things to make it easier to tighten the splice. The same sleeve type can be used for all wall thicknesses and steel grades. The RDT threaded splice meets CE marking requirements.

New types of RD pile walls can be used to replace traditional sheet pile walls.

"This is particularly suited to projects where a sheet pile wall cannot easily and reliably be installed and where the retaining wall does not need to be watertight. The product can be delivered at short notice straight from stocks," says Anssi Hyvärinen.

Jari Mara, Business area manager at SSAB, told about completed projects where the new generation RDT threaded splice had been used as well as the experiences gained from the projects.

The RDT threaded splice makes it easier and faster mechanically splicing for drilled piles. The RDT threaded splice is available for all SSAB's RD® piles for diameters RD90 - RD320. The compression resistance and bending strength of the splice are at least the same as piles.

"One advantage of the RDT threaded splice is that it is fast and simple to use in all construction site conditions. There's no need for welding or beveling on site. Threaded splices also shorten total construction time," says Jari Mara.

Completed projects and R&D projects

Experts took it in turns to present a wide range of completed harbor, bridge, column and similar foundations in infrastructure construction projects where SSAB pile products had been used. Projects included not just those in Finland but also in Sweden and Poland.

At the event there were also discussions about the future of the construction industry. Professor Olli Seppänen from Aalto University presented the topic of The Construction industry's vision to 2030, which the university had considered together with a group of companies.

The aim is to make the Finnish construction industry the most reliable in the world. For example, external variation can be eliminated by increasing the degree of prefabrication. Professor Seppänen mentioned drilled pile walls and pile elements as examples of SSAB's solutions.

 

Comments from attendees

Ville Niutanen, CEO of KFS Finland Oy, has attended the Steel Pile Day on a number of occasions and has also sometimes been a speaker.

"This January event is a good start to the year and it's nice to meet people here with whom I deal with otherwise. The program has been good through the years, but I'm particularly interested in applications related to drilled piling," Ville Niutanen says.

Ville Niutanen, CEO, KFS Finland Oy


Kati Tyynelä, Project manager at Ramboll Finland Oy, has also earlier attended the Steel Pile Day a number of times.

“The presentation about the buckling design of steel piles interested me in particular and can benefit me in my own work. Technical topics are important, but the viewpoints in the industry in the Construction industry 2030 presentation were also interesting,” Kati Tyynelä says. 

Kati Tyynelä, Project manager, Ramboll Finland Oy


Ossi Pirinen, CEO of Uudenmaan Pohjatutkimus Oy, a company specializing in ground surveys and foundation design has attended all Steel Pile Days except one. Tuukka Harsunen, a foundation designer who works for the same company, was at the event for the first time.

“The day’s themes have always been interesting from both the ground survey and substructure design aspects,” Ossi Pirinen said.

“I was particularly interested in the Anchored tension pile presentation,” Tuukka Harsunen stated.

Both thought the bridge pile corrosion study and the steel pile buckling design were interesting topics. 

Tuukka Harsunen, Substructure designer (l) and Ossi Pirinen, CEO, (r), Uudenmaan Pohjatutkimus Oy

Antonio Daban, CEO, and Moises Louredo, Project manager, Rover Grupo Sweden, presented the extension project to the Port of Gävle at the Steel Pile Day. SSAB RD® pile wall RD500/16 (S440J2H) was delivered for the project. The total deliver amounted to some 4,000 tonnes.

“The main reason for choosing SSAB products for the Gävle project was the quality of the steel and products and delivery time, which SSAB was able to guarantee,” Antonio Daban said.

“Events like this are excellent because you can meet other suppliers and subcontractors,” noted Antonio Daban and Moises Louredo. 

Antonio Daban, CEO, (l) and Moises Louredo, Project manager, Rover Grupo Sweden

SSAB’s updated design and installation instructions can be downloaded at www.ssab.com/infra

  • A new version of the RR® and RD® pile installation manual was published 01/2020 and can be downloaded from our website. The new RDT sizes have been added to the manual.
  • The preheating and cooling times guide for the welds in connection with RR® and RD® piles is based on standard EN 1090-2
  • A new version of RR® pile wall design and installation manual was published 1/2020
  • RRPileCalc – 3.2.0.0 version 01/2020: New features include a possibility to choose between elastic and plastic capacity. Option to disregard local buckling added.
  • PileWallCalc – 4.2.0.0 version 01/2020: New features include a freely-chosen diameter and wall thickness for combi walls. Choice of elastic or plastic capacity. Option to disregard local buckling added.
  • Updated guide for standard foundations to be published in the spring.

 

SSAB pile products were on show at the Steel Pile day. Also Finmeas, Movax, Robit, Geomek, Tibnor, Bauer, Terraroc, Junttan and GreenCoat had their own stands.