What is a Vibratory Hammer?

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A vibratory hammer is a tool used to drive piles into the ground when building foundations for things like bridges, buildings, roads, marine docks, walls or railways. Unlike traditional pile drivers which use a large weight to strike piles into the ground, vibratory hammers use vibrations to drive piles much more quickly, as well as to extract old piles out of the ground.

What Are the Benefits of Vibratory Hammers?

While traditional pile drivers are disruptively loud, vibratory hammers are quiet. Additionally, vibratory hammers are lightweight, can be used underwater, and are more nature-friendly (they don’t disrupt wildlife with loud noises). Vibratory hammers can also be used near residential areas without noise complaints, and are smaller and easier to maneuver than traditional pile drivers.

How Does a Vibratory Hammer Work?

Vibratory hammers use spinning counterweights to create a vibration, which causes a pile to “cut” into the soil below. While a traditional pile driver works like a hammer and a nail (a weight or ram strikes the pile and forces it into the ground), a vibratory hammer works more like an electric knife cutting through meat (the high speed vibration causes the soil to give way, allowing the pile to slip easily into the ground). Using a traditional pile driver, it might take up to an hour to drive a 100 foot pile into the ground, but with a vibratory hammer that same pile can be installed in about 10 minutes.

Electric vs. Hydraulic Vibratory Hammers

There are two main styles of vibratory hammers: electric and hydraulic. These two styles share three main similarities:

  1. Both use a power unit to power the hammer
  2. Both have clamps that allow the hammer to attach to the pile
  3. Both use wires to connect the hammer to the power unit

Aside from these similarities, electric and hydraulic vibratory hammers operate differently. Electric vibratory hammers use a large electric motor to spin the counterweights. A power unit with a diesel engine powers the electric motor by turning a generator, creating enough power to turn to motor. Hydraulic vibratory hammers, on the other hand, use hydraulic motors to spin the counterweights. To power the hydraulic motors, a power unit with a diesel engine turns the hydraulic pumps, which causes oil to flow out the motors and back.

Hydraulic vibratory hammers are considered superior to electric vibratory hammers because they’re more powerful yet half the weight. Hydraulic hammers can spin much faster, meaning that they can drive piles more quickly. The increased speed of a hydraulic hammer’s vibrations also means that less vibration will travel through the soil to the surrounding buildings (the vibrations stay more contained), so it’s possible to drive piles near other buildings when using a hydraulic hammer without compromising their foundations.

Vibratory Hammer Components

Vibratory hammers have four main components:

  1. Vibration suppressor
  2. Vibration case
  3. Hydraulic clamp
  4. Power unit

Vibration Suppressor
The vibration suppressor is mounted on top of the vibration case to isolation vibrations and allow for pile extraction.

Vibration Case
The vibration case contains high amplitude eccentric weights, with a gear that rotates on a vertical plane to create vibration. For hydraulic vibratory hammers, the eccentric weights are driven by hydraulic motors mounted on the vibration case. The eccentrics and motor shafts are mounted on a heavy-duty cylindrical bearing. Oil pumps circulate oil between the vibration case and radiator to reduce heat in the vibration case.

Hydraulic Clamp
The hydraulic clamp is the part of the vibrator that grips the pile or tube. A hydraulic clamp uses two gripping jaws, one which is fixed, and one which is moveable.

Power Unit
The power unit powers a vibratory hammer. Depending on whether the hammer is electric or hydraulic will determine what kind of power unit the vibratory hammer includes. The power unit also comes equipped with an emergency stop button.

BUY AND SELL WITH EIFFEL TRADING

In addition to used vibratory hammers, Eiffel Trading’s online marketplace has a wide variety of foundation equipment, including used auger attachments, used casing oscillators, and used crawler drill rigs.

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If you have any questions or would like additional information, please call us at 1-800-541-7998 or email sales@eiffeltrading.com.