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Projects entailing piling and drilling are steadily increasing and becoming more complex, necessitating advanced technology, which contractors are only too happy to adopt, finds Charu Bahri.The drilling and piling segment of the Indian construction industry is worth a keen watch. Indications suggest that the current yearly market for piling rigs is around 75 to 80 units. At this level, demand is undoubtedly sluggish. But, vendors have mixed feelings 鈥� bordering from positive to optimistic 鈥� for the near future.Market trendsRajesh Kawoor, Vice-President-Sales & Marketing, Sany India, is upbeat about the uptake of the company鈥檚 full range of hydraulic rotary piling rigs. 鈥淭he growth prospect is very positive,鈥� he says. 鈥淒emand for foundation equipment in India has been growing as large infrastructure projects are lined up for implementation. Our rigs combine economy and efficiency, mainly for small to medium diameter piling applications, a powerful diesel engine and pilot control system for precision and safety, plus many other features.鈥滸eetha V Nair, Managing Director, GE Tech Industries, is also positive about the prospects for piling equipment in the coming six to eight months and is planning ahead. 鈥淲e plan to manufacture crawler and truck mounted piling rigs and two or three machine models targeting railway metro projects that are coming up in Hyderabad and other states,鈥� she reveals. 鈥淭he machines will be economical and fast in action.鈥漇ome players are more conservative about future prospects. Uthpala Suvarna, Director鈥揙perations, Suretech Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (Suretech), says, 鈥淭he market is slow, but we expect things to gradually pick up with the announcement of new projects.鈥� And, DV Brahme, Regional Manager, Mait India Foundation Equipment Pvt Ltd, adds, 鈥淲e do not expect much activity in the market for piling, drilling and deep foundation equipment in the next few months owing to the upcoming monsoon season. There are indications that the market will pick up after September 2012 by at least 15-20 per cent.鈥濃�淭he market is still nowhere near the high of 2006-07,鈥� points out Ashok Waghela, Proprietor, Ashok Industries. 鈥淣owadays, a greater number of projects are getting underway in hitherto less progressive states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Projects in cities like Mumbai and Delhi are slower to take off, presumably owing to difficulties in tying up finance. We are getting some inquiries from Gujarat and expect to see more action from the state in the future.鈥滵rilling bonanzaAtlas Copco鈥檚 range of drilling rigs targets a niche segment: contractors engaged in underground construction. These rigs are working on prestigious tunnel projects; they are being used by leading players like Strabag-Afcons for the 8.8 km Rohtang tunnel, Leighton for the 9 km Chenani-Nashri road tunnel, Navayuga Engineering Company for two parallel 8.5 km road tunnels between Quazigund to Banihal, HCC for the first major rail tunnel contract of Pir Panjal for the alignment of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla link and Leroy Infra, ECI, Sushee Hitech and ABC Infra all for rail tunnel projects.According to Anirban Sen, the Business Line Manager-Underground Rock Excavation, Atlas Copco Mining and Rock Excavation Technique, 鈥淕ood times lie ahead. Greater focus on connecting the northern and northeast states makes us upbeat about our prospects. Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur are the current priorities. Next, Sikkim and Shimla will have to develop an underground transport network to decongest the city. We see plenty of scope for our automated drilling rigs.鈥� Recently, IVRCL ordered a 2X Boomer L2D for the T74 rail tunnel contract. The machine boasts multiple devices to enhance its versatility; it doubles up as a rock reinforcement rig.Technology evolutionThe noteworthy change in piling and drilling in India is the widespread adoption of technology. Waghela estimates that the number of hydraulic rotary piling rigs has gone up tenfold in the past decade or so. This shows the extent of technology adoption by the industry, which has manifested as a sharp fall in piling costs. Although companies engaged in only piling will be reaping lower revenues, beneficiaries of the built form are benefiting from stronger and longer lasting foundations.According to Brahme, 鈥淎wareness and the demand for equipment assuring higher efficiency are driving a greater number of users towards adopting advanced piling technology.鈥� He cites the technology to build diaphragm walls as an example. While they used to be made with rope-suspended mechanical grabs, now hydraulic rig-mounted diaphragm wall grabs are facilitating the process and delivering significant advantages. 鈥淭he verticality is maintained more accurately, which is of utmost importance,鈥� Brahme explains. 鈥淧recise control over the equipment and grab converts into higher productivity. The equipment needs less space to be operated compared to the lattice boom-mounted grab. The process offers economies like reduced concrete consumption owing to the over cutting that happens in the rope-suspended grab.鈥漀ew technologiesDemand for better technology is charting an upward graph, albeit that the market is flat at present. Slow times provide an opportunity to educate users about new products.Suretech is in the process of introducing ICE Resonance Free Vibratory Hammers, a new addition to its range of ICE Normal Frequency Vibratory Hammers that are in use at airports like ITD at Kolkata and CCCL at Chennai. 鈥淭hese vibro hammers can work without causing bad vibrations and avoid causing damage to the structures around the jobsite,鈥� says Suvarna. 鈥淭his makes them ideal for working in city centres or congested areas as well as in metro projects.鈥滽owan Still Worker is also a Suretech offering. It was developed in Japan in the early 1970s in response to new noise and vibration legislations, an outcome of the unacceptable levels of vibration and noise generated by the use of conventional equi-pment such as hydraulic vibrators and hydraulic drop hammers in high-density inner city areas. Demand for pile pressing machines grew very quickly after this law was implemented. The Still Worker can press steel sheet piles as close as 500 mm to an existing structure, quietly and safely as it is operated at ground level (requiring no piling gates) by a wireless radio control device. Still Worker is light and compact requiring only a small crane for pile pitching. It works well in height-restricted sites and is a good extraction machine. It also comes with a useful range of accessories. Its in-situ auger crush system enables sheet piles to be pressed into very hard soil strata. An alternative to the auger crush is to use high pressure water jetting 鈥� bespoke jetters that are also available with Suretech.At MAIT, efforts to specially design and introduce a complete range of rigs for low headroom application are about to bear fruit. 鈥淲e are holding discussions with clients in India and will soon begin supplying these units,鈥� in颅forms Brahme.Last year, GE Tech Industries developed a small crawler mounted drilling equipment to drill blast holes. The model has a diesel engine onboard and is being used by the mining industry.On the one hand, a greater number of companies are investing in advanced piling rigs. On the other hand, Indian vendors are playing a major role in the market for compatible tools and accessories. Waghela also deals with a number of companies investing in conventional piling winches as well as hydraulic rotary rigs. 鈥淚t is cost-effective to use rigs for projects where thousands of piles are needed to be driven, but such high investment for a hundred odd piles often detracts buyers,鈥� he says.It is apparent that adopting technology is a top priority of contractors, although they are treading forward with caution. Better safe than sorry, to ensure piles of success!Case Study 1: Japanese technology in IndiaEquipment: Kowan Still Worker, a hydraulically powered, static-load steel pile pressing machineVendor: Suretech Infrastructure Pvt LtdProject: A PZ-1200 Still Worker is being used for the installation of 1,200 mm diameter interlocking steel tubular piles for the construction of a structural breakwater at Machilipatnam Port.User: Navayuga Engineering Company LtdApplication: 鈥淭he breakwater of Machilipatnam Port has been designed by us with structure and not the rock fill with amour blocks, which is the conventional method,鈥� elaborates RL Sreenivas, General Manager (Projects), Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd. 鈥淐ontiguous piles on the wave side are essential in our design. Their construction is made easier and faster by driving the interlocking steel tubular piles up to the residual level and then boring these up to the required founding level. After this, they are concreted. The soil stratum at Machilipatnam mandates interlocking steel tubular piles of around 22 m, which are being installed by the Still Worker鈥檚 hydraulic press. The machine, of capacity 1.5 m stroke and 150 tonne, moves on the already installed tubular piles and takes reaction from the same. Its walk-back device attachment helps move the machine back when a hard strata is encountered during installation. Some boring can then be done in the pile to clear the hard strata using a crane or hydraulic piling rig.鈥滳ase Study 2: Advanced technology for port constructionEquipment: MAIT HR 180 rigsVendor: MAITUser: Geo Foundations & Structures Pvt Ltd, ChennaiProject: Construction of two jetties for L&T shipyard at Katupally, ChennaiApplication: Geo Foundation utilised two MAIT HR180 rigs fitted with a 60 m interlocking kelly bar for drilling bores of 1,200 mm diameter in the seabed from a moving gantry. While moving into the sea, the water draft increased gradually. The ground was mainly marine clay with a very stiff layer, 5-6 m deep, at 37 m depth. The advantage of the process is that the gantry progresses further out to sea, taking the support of the bored piles (made by the rig). KN Madhusudanan, Director, Geo Foundations & Structures Pvt Ltd, explains the application and choice of equipment saying, 鈥淟&T鈥檚 Kattuppally container port had to be completed in one year whereas all the estimates showed that a minimum of two years was required. Piles of 1,200 mm diameter, 56 m to 60 m and 594 in number were to be installed in the sea at a water depth of about 20 m. The conventional rig was taking almost six to eight days for the completion of our pile, whereas MAIT HR 180 could complete the bore in five hours. This helped us complete the project within the stipulated time. MAIT 180 is a user-friendly rig, and the after-sales service was excellent. We use rotary rigs for all time-bound projects because of their speed and dependability compared to conventional rigs.鈥滳ase Study 3: Computerised drilling rigsEquipment: Atlas Copco computerised rigs 4 X Boomer XE3C and 3 X Boomer E2CVendor: Atlas Copco (India) LtdUser: Leighton Welspun Contractors Pvt Ltd (Engineering & Construction Division)Project: Chenani-Nashri Road Tunnel on NH1A, J&K, a project for which NHAI and IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd are the concessionaire and developer, respectively.Application: The tunnel is part of the road improvement scheme under National Highway Development Project (NHDP) being implemented by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for an arterial route NH1A. The project reduces the distance by 30 km (approx) and travel time by two hours (approx) between Jammu and Srinagar. It also involves the construction of approximately 9 km of a 2-lane (12 m wide) main tunnel and a parallel escape tunnel (5 m wide) in the lower Himalayan mountain range. The tunnel is located at an elevation of 1,200 m, with an overburden of up to 1 km and is being constructedusing NATM technique of sequential excavation and support. 鈥淎tlas Copco India鈥檚 aftermarket capabilities, simulator training facilities for operators and appreciable technical features of the machines swung the deal in their favour,鈥� says Konstantinos Bastis, Senior Tunnel Engineer, Leighton Contractors (India) Pvt Ltd.Case Study 4: Indian rigs, overseas locationsEquipment: DTH PilingVendor: GE Tech Equipments International Pvt LtdProject: Placing heavy poles for hi-tension lines, Oman, MuscatUser: Power Tech Engineering LLC Muscat executing the project for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO)Application: 鈥淧ower Tech Engineering LLC used the equipment to drill holes of 42 inch diameter up to a depth of 10 m,鈥� says RS Nair, CEO, GE Tech Equipments International Pvt Ltd. 鈥淭his piling was done to place heavy poles for hi-tension lines. Several such machines were used as they are designed to ass颅ure high productivity in hard and medium hard rock formations. They are best suited in terrains where rotary piling rigs cannot work.鈥滳ase Study 5: Imported rigs, Indian accessoriesEquipment: Indian accessories rock augur, soil augur, soil buckets, core barrel, cleaning bucket from Ashok Industries with imported piling rig from MAITVendor: Accessories from Ashok Industries with imported piling rig from MAITProject: A multi-storey building of Wadhwa Builders in Bandra-Kurla Complex, MumbaiUser: Valecha Engineering LtdApplication: 鈥淚ndian accessories are as effective as imported ones while being much cheaper, compatible with imported rigs and backed by faster after-sales service as dealing with local companies is easier,鈥� says Dilip R Mudrekar, Maintenance In-Charge, Valecha Engineering Ltd. 鈥淲e have invested in advanced piling rigs, but we prefer to use tools from Ashok Industries, Kamar, etc. Buying Indian tools is one way to cut costs without compromising on working efficiency and the quality of the outcome.鈥滳hoose Your rig right The kind and size of rig depends on many factors such as 鈥� Soil strata 鈥� Pile diameter 鈥� Pile depth 鈥� Number of piles to be made 鈥� Time available to perform the job 鈥� Methodology to be adopted