Question

Give reason that why are most marine piles circular in cross section?

Answer

As marine piles, there are a number of options existing for selection, name as H-piles, circular pipes and box piles.

Though, only circular piles and box piles are suitable for marine application as following two reasons -

(i) Circular piles and box piles hold high column buckling strength. For marine structures like jetties, piles are well above seabed level and as a result column buckling effect is significant when compared with other structures. Thus, it is very important to use pile sections that have relatively high buckling strength in piers.

(ii) Circular piles and box piles display high power absorbing ability. For marine structures like dolphins and fenders, that need substantial amount of berthing power to be absorbed, these piles sections are inevitably well choices.

In marine structures, it appears that circular sections prevail over the box sections. Main reason is that range of section available for selection of circular piles is added than that of box piles.