Design of hollow timber round piles

This paper describes the development and application of a new timber piling system. The system incorporates a newengineered wood product; the hollow timber round or MultiPole ©. The MultiPole exhibits a myriad of attributes such asenhanced durability, reduced shrinkage deformations, reduced processing time and cost. Crucially the removal of thecore has led to new possibilities for piling. Water-jetting through the core, in combination with vibration, has been provento enable easy driving in granular materials. Through a similar mechanism the tip of the piles can be encased with groutonce they have reached a founding layer, enhancing end bearing capacity. The removal of the core also allows simplesplice connections between individual lengths of MultiPole (up to 18 m long).The MutliPole piling system have been extensively developed and tested by TTT Products to allow implementation withinthe construction industry. Part of this process has been the development of design guides to determine the bendingcapacity of MultiPoles and MultPole splices. This design guide is the key focus of this paper.KEYWORDS: Hollow timber rounds, MultiPole, piling, water jetting.