1994 - Development of a special 'Pile Toe Drive' system

In cooperation with the French contractor Bouygues Offshore, IHC Hydrohammer B.V. developed a patented piling system in which the hammer is located in the tube to be driven on is resting on a special piling shoe at the foot of the pile. The hammer is also equipped with a separate, all-steel piling point fixed to the hammer. This point completely encloses the pile at piling shoe level. The advantages of this method of piling are that the energy is transmitted to that point in the pile where the piling resistance is greatest and that either the pile point alone, the casing alone or both together can be driven. The soil resistance under the point and along the casing provides for automatic distribution of the energy.