Training at

Kirindiwela
Bridge Site

Introduction
During my training time I gathered a great amount of knowledge

which I believe I cannot get it from reading or studying. And as

well as I saw many practical things that cannot be used as
theories directly to a work. Theories are highly important, but
knowing how to use them in a good practical manner is so much
important than only knowing them. I gathered a good experiences
in Boring work of piles, reinforcement, concreting of piles and
construction of Bypass road as well. When I was working as a
training engineer I understood that no one can survive in this
construction field individually because engineering is a teamwork
where every member of the team must have to participate
accordingly in the work to do it properly. Even the labors are so
much important when working as team. If there is a delay from
any person in the team, it affects to the all members in the team.
So working together on time is so much important.

Client/Consultant :- Road
Development Authority Sri Lanka

Contractor :- Ralic Engineering (Pvt)

Ltd

The things I learned at the site

Setting out of the pile locations
Measuring of the borehole depth
Soil specification in borehole
Checking of the reinforcement cage according

to the drawings
Construction of the Bypass Road

Construction of the By-pass

road

Construction Drawing

Procedure of piling
The construction of bored cast in situ concrete

pile consists of 4 primary phases

Pile boring,
Reinforcement cage lowering,
Flushing
Pile concreting.

Pile Boring

manually operable hammer should be mobilized at the required

location
Initial boring of about 1.5 meters is to be done using cutting tool
The temporary guide casing, 1.5 meter length with outside

diameter 900mm then lowered in the bore hole

Position of the guide casing pipe with reference to pile reference

points already fixed around the pile location shall be checked to

shift/adjust the casing pipe to ensure proceeding of drilling at
exact pile location without any deviation.

Boring has to be done up to the founding

Hardrock as per drawings/ pre decided depth

using bentonite slurry as per requirement.
Bentonite circulation channel will be made

from bore hole to bentonite tank and fresh

bentonite slurry will be pumped to bore hole
through hose pipes.

Bentonite slurry is pumped by high pressure

vertical pump into the bore hole and the same

is allowed to overflow the bore hole. The
overflow slurry with bored mud/soil etc that
comes out along with bentonite slurry is
passed through channels and is collected in
sediment tanks where sediments settle and
bentonite can be re used.
Depth of pile shall be checked with depth
measuring tape and exact depth shall be
recorded in the pile report at the end of each
hour.

Flushing
After cage lowering, 200 mm diameter tremie

pipes in suitable lengths are to be lowered in

the hole. The operation is done by lowering
one tremie pipe after another and connecting
them threading to maintain water tightness
throughout its length till the gap between the
pile base and Tremie is between75 100 mm.
the tremie pipe is locked/supported from top
to maintain the level and funnel is attached
on top.

The tremie head to be provided to the tremie

pipe for the flushing activity. The bore is

flushed by fresh bentonite slurry through the
tremie head. The pumping for flushing is done
by use of mud circulation pump. Flushing will
be done to remove all the loose sediments
which might have accumulated on the
founding Bedrock. Further, the flushing
operation shall be continued till the
consistency of inflowing and out flowing slurry
is similar.

Pile machine
Boring Hammer

Reinforcement cage
Reinforcement cage lowering

The things I learned about

reinforcement
Improved my knowledge about bar

notation readings and bar schedules

Lapping and fixing of Reinforcement bars
Use of coverings for the reinforcement
cage

Concreting of a pile

Concrete tests done

Slump Test (Slump was 200mm +- 20mm)
Cube Test (Compressive strength of concrete

cubes)

Tests done at the site before

concreting a pile

Funnel Viscosity test

Mud density test
Sand content test

challenges and problems faced

during my training period
When working in the industry many practical

problems occur to all the people generally. As

a first time Civil Engineering trainee in the
Construction industry, I also faced some
problems.
Site related problems and construction

problems which occurred at the site due to

technical errors were observed by and
solutions for the errors were also recorded.

Problem Found some steel objects in boring

work of a pile which can not be breaked from

boring hammer
Solution Pile locations were shifted

This training experience was really

useful for me as an undergraduate
trainee student to develop my,
social skills
Practical knowledge and skills
Personality and to take responsibilities

when working
safety

Thank You !