For over 90 years, steel sheet piling has been a tried and tested method in specialist foundation and hydraulic engineering. As a result of continuous improvements in the methods of installation, this technique is characterized by high cost-effectiveness and an ever increasing range of applications.

The main area of application is the retention of excavation pits in areas where there is no space for a slope or where sealing against positive water pressure is required. Here, sheet piles are used to create a rigid barrier, which is removed after completion of the construction works and backfilling of the excavation pit.

The individual sheet piles are connected to each other by a vertical interlocking system (tongue and groove) to form a continuous wall of sheet piling. During installation, each sheet pile is guided laterally by the interlock of the previously driven sheet pile and connected to it positively and watertight.

Steel sheet piling can be made to be practically watertight. It is also possible to work below the water table inside an excavation pit enclosed by sheet piling (sheet piling cofferdam). Sheet piling retaining walls can be sealed at the bottom of the excavation by the following methods: underwater concrete slab, jet-grouted base slab, soft gel horizontal cut-off or temporary dewatering with pumps (dewatering system).

Sheet pile driving: For the construction of retaining walls, sheet piles or steel beams are driven with high frequency vibrohammers. A casing is vibrated into the ground and backfilled with gravel or concrete when extracting the casing. Vibropiles (displacement piles) are used as load bearing elements or as a ground improvement system. VIB-walls are used as cut-off walls. A heavy steel beam is driven to a predefined depth by a hydraulic vibrator. The slim gap which is created by the beam is filled with slurry when extracting the beam. A continuous wall is formed by an overlapping construction of elements. A hydraulically driven vibrator cell with rotating eccentric weights is mounted at the bottom of the deep vibrator TR, producing vibrations in horizontal direction and creating a hole which is filled with pumped concrete when extracting the vibroflot.

Sheet piles can be installed by pressing with the leader-mounted RTG press system. It works with a minimum of noise and vibration emission. A flexible modular clamp system enables the installation of various Z-profiles, light profiles and U-profiles.

RTG offers a wide range of different hammers for its base carriers. Both hydraulic and diesel hammers of distinct sizes can be used. The optimally adjusted height of the hydraulic hammers allows long driving material to be inserted at low mast length. The required hydraulic energy and the control technique for the hammers are provided by the base carrier. Independent from the material, which has to be driven, all necessary adaptation facilities can be delivered and applied. By means of the data recording system it is possible to record the data, relevant for the production. The system is recording the installation depth, the current driving power, the frequency of the hammer blows and the applied energy for the installation of the pile. Based on the recorded data an installation record can be generated for each pile.

Sheet piles can be installed by pressing with the leader-mounted RTG press system. It works with a minimum of noise and vibration emission. A flexible modular clamp system enables the installation of various Z-profiles, light profiles and U-profiles.