Plug&Drive System

Resistance to bending

The system of prefabricated ductile cast iron piles consists of 5.0 metre standard length tubes whose tapered male and female ends connect together and constitute the unique Plug&Drive© spigot and socket joint. This design offers high degree of stiffness and resistance to bending. It allows you to overcome having single sections of great length and traditional pile splicing or butt welding on site, whilst guaranteeing perfect alignment of the tubes.

The Plug&Drive© spigot and socket joint is self-locking and irreversible. After their quick concentric connection, the male and female tapered ends embed rigidly by absorbing part of the driving energy. Assembly is by cold welding: the expansion and contraction of the two tapered ends occur under high contact pressure by elastic deformation of the ductile cast iron.

Modular system

The Plug&Drive© spigot and socket joint allows infinitely variable pile lengths. Ductile cast iron piles may be extended or cut off at any time and therefore easily adapt to real subsurface conditions. Installation pile lengths naturally adapt to variable depth-to-bedrock or to potential irregularities of soil layers’ characteristics and thickness, ensuring the necessary and adequate bearing capacity for each individual pile.

Designed as a very flexible system, the Plug&Drive© spigot and socket joint eliminates waste on pile lengths: excess lengths are fully reused as a starter piece for the next pile. Direct pile cutting-off to project level reduces time and cost of deep foundations, thus eliminating the traditional pile breaking off and allowing the immediate scheduling of concrete work.