Methods for the subterranean support of underground conduits

Abstract

In one exemplary embodiment, curved sheet pile is driven underneath an existing conduit using a pile driver guided hydraulically by an excavator or other heavy machinery. By vibrating the curved sheet piles, the soil is placed in suspension, which allows the piles to be directed through the soil along an arcuate path that has a curvature that substantially matches the radius of curvature of the piles. Once the pile is positioned as desired, each individual pile sheet can be welded to one another to form a unitary structure. In one exemplary embodiment, the curved sheet pile is inserted beneath a conduit using a vibratory pile driver that rotates about a fixed pivot element on an excavator or other heavy machine for positioning the pile driver to advance the curved sheet pile along a fixed arc.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.