| Title |
A Study on the Automation of Pretensioned spun High Strength Concrete Pile Cutting Work |
| Keywords |
concrete pile ; pile cutting work ; construction automation ; feasibility analysis |
| Abstract |
During the last few years, the use of prefabricated concrete pile has been gradually increased in many construction sites such as reclamation and large building construction. Cutting work of the concrete pile is an important task to crush a part of pile head which is compressed with more than 800kg/cm2. It is usually performed by a crusher and three to four skilled workers. Recent analysis results of the pile cutting work reveal that it frequently makes a lot of cracks which significantly reduce the strength of the pile and is very labor intensive work, thus requiring a large amount of additional time, costs, and efforts. The primary objective of this study is to develop an automated pile cutting machine. The first step conducted by this study is to identify the main tasks needed for the automation of the pile cutting work processes. Various conceptual models are then proposed in an effort to select the best alternative for automating the conventional pile cutting work. This study also includes the results of the technical and economical feasibility analysis for the selected conceptual model. Finally, it is anticipated that the development of the automated pile cutting machine would be able to bring improvements in safety, productivity, quality as well as cost saving. |