Steel Railroad rail as piling
Steel Railroad rail as piling
(OP)
Has anyone ever used steel railroad railing as a structural pile? I have a client who wants to use railing for a building foundation that our geotechnical report recommended steel piling. The cross sectional area is greater than the HP8x36 section specified, but the moment of intertia is much smaller. I worry about slenderness during driving. Any comments or expertise you can add would be much appreciated.
Kevin King, P.E.
Kevin King, P.E.






RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
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RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
- Bearing at the top of the pile. You wouldn't want the tops of the rails to punch through your mat.
- Lateral loads. Make sure that your mat is taking any lateral load into the surrounding soils; those piles are worthless laterally.
- I assume there's no uplift, since you said skin friction is not an issue. If there is uplift, you have problems.
- Make darn sure the contractor knows what he's dealing with. You don't want him to order the material and once it hits the site have him balk at handling it. It will have to be handled very carefully because of its lack of bending strength.
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
If it's old rail, that does get worn and ground some on the top surface, so area properties might be somewhat less than new rail.
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
RE: Steel Railroad rail as piling
Using this type of section for piles does not seem like a really bad idea to me.