Numerical investigations on vibrating motion with inertial load of vibratory pile hammer stiffly coupled with excavator

A vibratory pile hammer (VPH) is a mechanical device used to drive steel piles as well as tube piles into soil to provide foundation support for buildings or other structures. In order to increase the stability and the efficiency of the VPH work in the over-resonance frequency, a new VPH construction was developed in the Military University of Technology. The new VPH contains a system of counter-rotating eccentric weights, powered by hydraulic motors, and designed in such a way that horizontal vibrations cancel out, while vertical vibrations are transmitted into the pile. This system is suspended in the static parts by the adaptive variable stiffness pillows based on a smart material, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), which rheological and mechanical properties can be reversibly and rapidly controlled by an external magnetic field. The work presented in the paper is a part of the modified VPH construction design process. It concerns the development of the numerical model of the VPH and soil interaction that will describe resonance conditions, resonance frequencies with consideration of soil susceptibility, coupling phenomenon and elastomer changeable stiffness. On the base of developed theoretical equations, the frequency of VPH piling will be regulated to assure the over-resonance work.