Why Bridges Don't Sink

[@PracticalEngineeringChannel]

⚡I have more than 20 videos about soil! kzbin.info/aero/PLTZM4MrZKfW-A419dqGZVtw6CAANqKR1f 🌌Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/Practical-Engineering

[@WilliamPozo]

Years ago, i worked on a project using steel micro pile. which used reject oil pipe. Each 8' L x 8" D piece screwed into the next... was quite beautiful to see installed. Went to 140' and each pier had 16 of them!

[@gg-gn3re]

I'm interested in nebula but hesitant for over a year now. They now have a "buy it for life" thing which makes it even more tempting. Do they have a guarantee of 5 years of life? What if they cease to exist next year? I wish the 40% off annual sub gave you a 1 week trial option or something too. But I'd be interested in that lifetime purchase more than the subs

[@catdaddy3728]

Great info! Thanks! Hey, not on topic but remember the section of I95 in Phila, Pa that collapsed a year ago when a gas tanker crashed under it and burned and all the talk was how to fireproof these structures? Well, a year later it is completely rebuilt and guess what... no fire protection was installed as part of the design. Could have been a prototype for all to see... smh.

[@nekomata4830]

My favorite pile is the grounding rod

[@death_parade]

0:42 That is Mumbai. Noice.

[@ElectroBOOM]

I didn't know I wanted to know about piles until now!

[@SgtTibs]

No Preparation H required!

[@DudeRandom]

Me neither however I did enjoy learning the different types of piles

[@Neptunianwave]

Ooh electrical engineer looking at a video meant for civil engineers?

[@xileets]

"Piles of fun." I died. They had my funeral already. I just sank right into the ground.

[@jondavies261]

I have had an ongoing pile problem for years #bumholeproblems

[@danielgreene89]

H Beams look exactly like I Beams, but H Beams have the same thickness in the flange and web, and are commonly used in vertical orientations where the loads are applied parallel to the beam length. The thicker web of an H Beam makes them more resistant to twisting. Whereas I-beams are typically horizontal, have thinner webs, because they are designed to only handle loads perpendicular to the length (top in compression, bottom in tension)

[@Gravvvyyy]

And....Another thing I've learned today!

[@ThatBum42]

Funny, I figured it was because someone didn't like the sound of I-piles. Like, a pile of eyeballs.

[@PeterEdin]

Then there's the O beam....hang on, that's a pipe 😅

[@meadow-maker]

I think you'll find iBeams have internet access.

[@LTDunltd]

Also I beams have a tapered flange to web.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

This channel often gets me to appreciate details that I might have missed. It's comforting to know that something as rational as civil engineering is still chugging along as normal. Thanks for that.

[@dandandan18]

I'm still a student in civil engineering, and your channel has helped me a lot through the years. It's the only channel I've found almost exclusively for civil engineering making feature videos and content that are high quality and made with the non-engineering audience in mind. Honestly, I turn to your videos to understand a lot of concepts and principles on civil structures. I can't blame our professors for not delving deep on these aspects because of the limited lecture units/ hours, and it gets so busy that you have to prioritize learning the hard maths over the art of designing structures. It's a shame that my university has one of the biggest and oldest libraries in my country but I can't check all the books I want to consult. So your content are really incredibly helpful and very much a delight to watch. I hope I'll find somewhere to buy or borrow your book soon. Keep being awesome!

[@krox477]

How you're planning to enter the industry

[@hellowill]

Good idea trying to read extra. I learnt a lot from books when I was a student. Learnt the most from internships tho.

[@peteywheatstraws4909]

"Thriftbooks" has all kinds of used apprenticeship books, structural manuals, iron work history books, etc, new and used at good prices.

[@wingsman13]

I’m a Construction Inspector Supervisor in PA and my current project is a 1100’ long, 4 span steel girder structure that spans a deep ravine and creek. We have a little bit of everything on this project, including Micropile, Drilled Caissons and Steel Piling. Each installation method has extensive testing involved such as Tension and Compression testing for the micropiles, CSL or Cross Sonic Logging testing for the Caissons and Dynamic Load Monitoring for the Driven Steel Pile. Pretty cool stuff!

[@Lone_Wolf_91]

Wow😮

[@sjf1981]

Why is the ben franklin bridge so bumpy on the way in?

[@Webs.x]

​@sjf1981 @ me if he answers pls I'm not in PA I just wanna know what his analysis might be. Cool stuff.

[@jackcalder7148]

Ngl almost everything you said sounds like gibberish to me…

[@zodaguado6655]

I’m telling you man, people always talk about cops firemen and nurses, you guys do gods work and people don’t realize how important your work is. Thanks man

[@westlarper]

grady the only guy who can get me to watch a 17 minute video about bridge foundations

[@aftersexhighfives]

And I'll never engineer or use a pile driver 😂😂😂

[@JediSentinal]

Seconding this!

[@cloudtail567]

@@JediSentinal my attention span has felt like a childs but i sat and watched this whole thing and feel great about it

[@Trans-vaccinated]

I only wish I was as interested in high school as I am now in my 40s 🤦‍♂️

[@davidaguilar8725]

On god

[@CarlosValeraLeon]

"imagine pouring a smoothie at the bottom of a pool. Let me show you what I mean" I cannot understate my disappointment that there wasn't a smash cut to Grady pouring a smoothie at the bottom of a pool XD

[@WackoMcGoose]

"This is me, pondering the life decisions that led up to me holding a giant syringe full of bentonite slurry in my garage." this episode had a _lot_ of brand new sentences

[@kaboom4679]

I cannot say how well it would work if poured onto the bottom . I CAN however tell you that one poured on the TOP , especially in close proximity to a group of distracted bathers just talking away and completely oblivious to all else ( for a moment anyway ) , is spectacular beyond your wildest imagination . I recommend chocolate , the darker the better , and , leave it in the full sun for 2 hours or so , prior to the experiment .

[@mastershooter64]

Me too D:

[@dragon_nammi]

​@@kaboom4679 This is diabolical.

[@chapablo]

His wife would Throw him into a cement mixer.

[@DyslexicMitochondria]

Broken bridges annoy me. I just can't get over them

[@JustinLebo-d3t]

Broken bridges really put a gap in your plans.

[@balaam_7087]

If only there were some means of connecting these two comments

[@jessicatymczak5852]

You didn’t 🤦‍♀️

[@jpfidalgo7]

Underrated comment on overrated bridges!

[@GamingBren]

No one really cares about the river. It’s just water under the bridge

[@p_noc]

0:40 nice bass

[@AndreM37]

Very nice bass

[@latoyamoore555]

Why are you like this?😂

[@zachrichardson5581]

I'm a CAD drafter (6 years rebar detailing and now about a year and a half doing pre cast/stressed) and I've done a lot of shafts & piles during bridgework. Loved them because they're almost always easy, repetitive and made my end of year weight report look good to the bosses. It's really cool to see different perspectives on stuff like this that I have a decent understanding of but can learn more about the "why" behind the engineering of certain aspects. Plus the info graphics style animations combined with the at home demo stuff really helps explain things. Great video.

[@paulandersbullecer3152]

Do you just pretty much draw the sticks underdround and send numerical data to the higher ups?

[@zachrichardson5581]

@@paulandersbullecer3152it's partially like that. When I was detailing rebar I was making shop drawings to aid our placing team on the job site. Essentially a recreation of the strucural/architectural contract drawings that are provided by the general contractor from the EOR (engineer on record) that specifically highlight our scope. What I'm doing now is very similar except my drawings go directly to the fab shop to produce the pre cast products as well as to the contractor for their field needs.

[@mercoid]

Your overall production quality is excellent in nearly every aspect. Animations, voice level and quality, music.. not too loud, well chosen stock footage, editing….. etc. etc… Very impressive.

[@pooroldpedro]

everything apart from not buttoning the button-down colar. I'm surprised all the engineers reading this aren't driven mad by it :-)

[@davidfalterman8713]

“skin friction” and “shaft resistance” did give me a giggle, I have to admit….

[@General12th]

peepee

[@mphRagnarok]

can somebody explain this to me

[@Colorado_Native]

​@@mphRagnarokAsk your wife, or girlfriend. Or both and see which gives a better answer.

[@roderickcampbell2105]

@@Colorado_Native This very true. I would suggest asking your wife and girlfriend at the same time is unwise.

[@digitalchaos1980]

Don't forget "vibratory head" around the 4:16 mark 😆 😆

[@fiskurtjorn]

3:34 I once saw a construction site where piles were driven into the ground. There was a peat layer between two layers of sand. It took the machine a good amount of effort to drive the first four meters or so. Then it sank by itself until about four meters left. Those last few meters took a lot of effort again. Watching this for a morning gave a lot of insight into how the peat was undulating on the bottom more than on the top.

[@kindlin]

Yeah, peat is literally the worst type of soil to build on, you are NOT ALLOWED to make a bearing-type _shallow foundation_ on peat soil, unless it's nothing more than a backyard shed or something else equally small and unimportant.

[@laura-ann.0726]

Great video! I was a draftsman and engineering tech in the CalTrans Office of Structure Design in Sacramento for 15 years, 1991-2006, and spent thousands of hours working on bridge and retaining wall foundation plans and Logs of soil test borings. The only foundations I can think of that have to bear heavier loads than highway and rail bridges are dams, especially the "big guys": Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon, Grand Coulee, etc. And maybe skyscaper office towers built on soils where bedrock is too deep to be reached directly by the building foundation. When the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was being built a few years ago, I was out at the jobsite one day on a field trip with some of our design section Engineers, just sightseeing (our section didn't have any direct involvement with the project), and we got to watch piles being driven for one of the bents on the Skyway portion of the bridge. The "Skyway" was that part of the bridge that didn't have to be raised high enough for ships to pass under, so it was a cantilevered pre-fab box girder, running from the east abutment on the Oakland shore, to the east end of the new Cable-stayed span. The mud under this part of the new bridge was very deep: the depth from the water surface to bedrock was 350 feet at the center of the channel between the Oakland shore and Yerba Buena Island, so several of the Skyway bents had to be built on pile caps supported by 36" diameter cast-in-steel-shell pipe piles that were 300+ feet long. These consisted of sections of 36" pipe, Schedule 40 I think, that were somewhere between 20 feet to 40 feet long (I don't remember the exact number). The first section to be lowered from the transport barge by a crane had cap plates welded on the ends to keep water and mud out, and was long enough to reach from the mud line to several feet above high-tide water level. This was lowered to the mud and allowed to sink in several feet under it's own weight, then the crane operator would tilt the pile to a pre-determined angle. The "footprint" of the piles as they entered the mud was substantially wider than the pattern of the tops of the piles at the pile cap. I seem to remember there were 12 piles under each pile cap, and 2 pile caps per bent. As the pile reached equilibrium and stopped sinking deeper under it's own weight, it would be driven a bit deeper, then a new section of pipe field-welded on and the driving would continue, with additional sections of pipe added, until the calculated bearing capacity of that pile was obtained, or "refusal" was reached. A rebar cage would be lowered in, and the pile back-filled with concrete. One of the engineers mentioned to me that the cost of the foundations alone - the piles and pile caps - for the Skyway was nearly half the total cost, and maybe a bit more than half. The whole project - the cable-stayed span, the skyway, and the approaches and abutments - eventually totalled out to over $7 billion, I heard, so we're not talking penny-ante level civil engineering here. The Burj Khalifa didn't cost nearly as much as this bridge, I think. The entire original SFOBB, both the east and west spans, only cost $75 million in 1936, so I guess there's no escaping the boogeyman of Inflation even if you are The Federal Government paying the bills.

[@szurketaltos2693]

US infra costs are insane in general, and have been for decades.

[@isnatashahere]

Wow 300’! The bay mud is such a complex and mysterious part of SF design and engineering

[@TheTech9]

Your vocal intonation and texture is comfortingly expressive. I hope you enjoy making these!

[@noeraldinkabam]

Amsterdam is build on wooden poles. A lot of older houses in the Netherlands are build like that. Due to groundwater depletion the foundations of those houses are now having problems because the poles that stayed wet and therefor didn’t rot now do (rot)

[@DyslexicMitochondria]

Speaking of the dutch, Do you know how copper wire was invented? Two Dutchmen saw a penny on the floor at the same time.

[@kenbrown2808]

there is a housing development in my area where the better built houses have had friction piles driven into the ground, and then the concrete foundation poured on top of them.

[@Jessica-w1o]

@@DyslexicMitochondria haha gold

[@ZackRToler]

I remember watching a show, I think impossible engineering or something similar, on the Science channel some months back about the complications of making subways in Amsterdam. And part of the complications was not just how soft and wet the soil is, but how so many buildings have the large wooden stakes that you mentioned. They not only needed to dig even deeper to go under the poles, but also make sure they're not weakening the soil that those poles rely on. So, from what I remember, they had to slowly dig their way while putting in walls and ceiling to enforce the soil in a way. Though this led to complications with water flooding the tunnels a few times. At least this is what I remember atop my head. So sorry if I got some details mixed up or wrong.

[@bartbjorri9502]

Wooden piles are still used a lot in the Netherlands, mostly with a two meter concrete pile on top. Wood is a lot cheaper and lighter to transport and handle. As long as the wooden part stays under groundwater level (most of the time) they won't rot.

[@RiVer-Parish]

My 11 year old son loves your channel. A kid can learn a lot from watching your videos.

[@HildeTheOkayish]

So can adults like me :p

[@patrickw9520]

Hell adults can learn a lot lol 😂 Legit, this channel has helped me with some tasks on my farm, even just with driveway and culvert maintenance😂 Legit, this is a channel any homesteader would benefit watching.

[@RiVer-Parish]

@patrickw9520 That's true

[@andybaldman]

He can learn even more by going to college someday. Watching videos is entertainment, not actual learning.

[@pizzagroom6221]

@@patrickw9520 the stuff I learnt about how culverts/dams/shorelines work from this channel is truly A-tier

[@pizzagroom6221]

I love the thought that Grady set up the hammer and nail demonstration, failed, and just ran with it

[@timhansen3514]

Knows his audience.... 😉

[@pvic6959]

failed? I think he succeeded in a different way :p

[@CH-bd6jg]

he's an engineer, he's not expected to actually make things.

[@cocopuffitup]

Perfect 🙃

[@tbix1963]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ideas and videos. My favorite memory of a pile installation was of a mall being built when I was in college. They started driving a pile. Every day for about a few weeks they would add another pile in the exact same place. Eventually they took the pile driver away and just left the pile sticking out of the ground. As I drove by every day I eventually noticed it was still going in on its own. After a few weeks it was totally gone. When the mall eventually opened up they stated the reason for the massive parking garage under the mall was for buoyancy since the ground was so unstable that they were unable to put in piles for the foundation. I often pondered after that if the mall ever goes out of business it will be interesting to see if the garage fills with water and sinks the mall.

[@jacklarue7049]

This is an unbelievably excellent documentary. I have only a very base knowledge of civil engineering, the complexity of bridges & their technology, plus the steps needed to complete one from scratch. Not only did you break down difficult to understand concepts to a level where someone with limited knowledge on the subject can easily learn a lot, you had some great visual examples of just about everything. I’m hoping to see a lot more quality uploads on your channel and will be heading over to your main page to check out your past work. Thanks for this, _THIS_ is what KZbin is all about!

[@cycle_path]

Having piles of fun. Love the pun!!

[@jimvee4528]

I didn’t go too deep into piles in that video

[@flixri726]

The pile driver with the vibrating head got me

[@VisioGuy]

Somewhere in the Port of Tacoma's archives are books and books of my beats-per-foot logs that give an idea of the relative skin friction for each of thousands of piles supporting the then-new pier. That was my big engineering internship - counting and recording pile-driver hammer blows all day long. Things I learned that Summer: there's such a thing as "waterproof paper" - the pencil would still write on it, even when the clipboard was out in the rain! And pre-stressed concrete is pretty cool!

[@mmseng2]

"The purpose of a foundation is to _not_ move" Grady spittin' the hard truths we all need to hear.

[@kevinsaluague009]

The most important thing is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing, and that is the "foundation"

[@aaqilian5.085]

dumb. Real dumb

[@bldallas]

Wow, just found your channel today, and I’ve got to say, you do a really fantastic job of explaining somewhat complicated engineering principles in a way that’s very understandable. I’m a civil engineer - P.E. since 1990 - and have spent my 39+ year career in the heavy civil construction business. As the senior engineering manager for a railroad construction company, I do our heavy lift and pile driving plans for our bridge projects. Along the way, I regularly look for YT videos to help explain technical details related to what we do, which brought be to this video. After watching this video, and passing it along to our ops and estimating managers, I’ve started watching several of your other videos. Really impressive stuff; I’m now subscribed and look forward to more of your content. Thanks for doing what you do! I’m passionate about our industry and love to both expand my knowledge base and pass it along to the younger generation who have chosen to help build our much needed infrastructure. Thank you for doing what you do, and again, great job!

[@barlou15]

Thanks!

[@dj_laundry_list]

Your second channel, Impractical Engineering, should have a video on why bridges sink

[@Lorcan.oshanahan]

This should be a thing, completely ai generated garbage based on what is on the main channel

[@mostlyvoid.partiallystars]

Best comment. 🎉

[@fcrick]

Or on this channel. Some bridges DO sink.

[@Dracomancer273]

​@@fcrick And some bridges float!

[@76844]

That's a simple short, cause gravity duh

[@RyanGribble]

Grady, i was a concrete pump operator for several years and worked on many bridges. On company used a basketball to plug their tremme pipe to get concrete under the water in the casings. As the casings filled, one guy would climb down to recover the ball. I did have one critique about the concrete underwater as we use admixtures of bentonite and silica fume to make concrete "water proof" so that it doesn't dissipate underwater.

[@mastershooter64]

Lmao what? that's so funny a basketball

[@ginajanee12]

Do they use a basketball as a weight?

[@RyanGribble]

@@ginajanee12 no not as a weight, as a means of keeping water from ingressing the tremme pipe. It just so happened that a basketball was the perfect diameter.

[@charleshanfman]

Some of the differences are H piles are made of different steel typically A572 Gr. 50 instead of the A992 for a wide flange beams. H piles typically have equal thickness flanges and webs also equal depth and flange width dimensions.

[@jasonhink226]

Those grades are technically different but practically identical. Most stuff coming from domestic mills is certified to meet the specifications for both grades

[@jothain]

Plus to my knowledge H profiles are square in dimensions. I profiles aren't.

[@kindlin]

The dimensions are the critical part to that, the steel is mostly incidental nowadays, as Jason points out. There are reasons to spec one grade over the other, but really, if they're all dual or quad certified anyways, it's all good steel. Just don't go to china.

[@scottzehrung4829]

When I was down in Biloxi, MS back in the early 80’s I saw my first pile driver used in construction of an elevated roadway. Was amazed at what looked like a single piston diesel slug riding up and down tracks aside the pile. Was mesmerized for awhile watching the progress, you could feel the rejection throughout your body from far away.

[@mjt1229]

I've driven miles of piles over the past 25 years, timber piles, H-piles, prestressed concrete piles, pipe piles (steel and concrete)... Toss in drilled shafts and micropiles, and I've inspected most of the bridge foundations used today. We still use spread footings near my home in SW VA wherever we find competent rock. I know a lot of folks in the business hate pile driving, but other than deck construction, it's my favorite part of bridge inspection.

[@A1BASE]

My favorite story about the Coronado bridge you show in the thumbnail is how it got its iconic shape, because it wasn't designed that way originally... The story goes that at the time it was being built there were substantial federal subsidies for bridges over a certain length, but the original plan for a straight bridge from downtown San Diego to Coronado wasn't quite long enough to qualify, so the city just tacked a bit of a curve and hump onto the design to JUST meet the funding requirements, and by accident ended up with an iconic piece of infrastructure. X)

[@bobstopthat]

I don't think you should bet too much on this story. the more logical explanation I've heard is that to get the height over the bay required by the navy, while maintaing the maximum roadway slope and minimum vertical curve required for sight distance, the curved horizontal geometry was chosen to provide the total lenght required while minimizing the height of the roadbed at each side of the bay.

[@Appl_Jax]

@@bobstopthat That was my thought too. I've crossed that bridge more times than I remember, it seemed fairly obvious to get the bridge high enough to clear the ships that would need to pass, they would need to build it that way.

[@jimdennis2451]

When I saw the Coronado and "Why Bridges Don't Sink" I just remember being told that the two darker blue spans in the center floated, so if the bridge was blown up, the fleet could still get underway.

[@julieinthenorthwest4594]

@@bobstopthat @A1BASE is wrong. and you're correct. I can remember taking the ferries over to Coronado and when the bridge was planned. The Navy was actually against the bridge worried it could collapsed. The naval base was (and is) south of the bridge and would need to pass under the bridge to get to the Pacific. They gave in and agreed to the bridge only if the bridge was 200 feet or taller letting their ships pass. It had nothing to do about federal subsidies. On another note, it was sold to the public that the toll would be only temporary until the bridge construction costs were covered. Of course, the toll kept going way pass after the construction costs were paid and finally ended early 2000s. IIRC it 60 cents each way.

[@dragon_nammi]

That bridge has zero pedestrian access which is a shame. Although I suspect the residents of the peninsula wouldn't really support the idea...

[@Leadlobotamist]

Before I moved out of Florida I got to see a lot of the work being done to rebuild the Howard Franklin bridge. The pile driving was pretty extensive but everytime I'd cross the bridge every, say, three weeks, they'd make about a foot of progress for the better part of 100 piles. It's slow work but pretty cool seeing these massive chunks of material sticking out of water. Like some modern art project.

[@robertheinkel6225]

Do you remember when the support piling for the elevated crosstown expressway, between Tampa and Brandon, sunk one night? It was placed over a sinkhole that gave way.

[@gijskramer1702]

Should have played the audio of the driving to give people an idea how terribly loud it is. Love the video as always!!

[@kaboom4679]

Especially the one that is essentially a big single cylinder diesel engine . The driver hitting the post compresses a piston in a bore , where fuel is injected , and , the explosion instead of driving a connecting rod to turn a crankshaft , is directed downward into the pile . That's why the one driver was belching clouds of black smoke on every strike . They are very effective , and , AMAZINGLY loud .

[@DoRullings]

If you go to 2:39 and watch closely near the waterline at the pole in the middle with the numbers 6 and 2 written, you can spot a tiny little crab moving. Just wanted to let you know.

[@akashx]

Bridges don't sink because they know how to swim

[@jasonbernal9348]

Exactly!

[@alysonbusatto1838]

Touché!

[@gamev.284]

dude. 💀

[@josechemartinez5036]

Facts

[@GooogleGoglee]

Thank you for the TL;DR version! Appreciated

[@missamo80]

5:22 The glasses and hard hat on the driving tool are amazing. 😂

[@timhansen3514]

You brought back memories of the construction of CA118 through the San Fernando Valley. When I was a youngster CalTrans needed to span a concrete storm drain channel and the 2 streets diagonally. We lived two blocks away. Once the pile driving started, it seemed to last forever. One the plus side, when the city moved houses off their foundations to make room for the freeway in the 60's we took the banana seats off our stingrays and put 10 speed saddles on, cut down the bars and BMX was invented. All manner of ramps and bumps available in the newly emptied lots. 👍 Thanks for the videos!

[@maw9723]

I'm not even an engineer and I find this channel super interesting. Muchas gracias!

[@Taylor92229]

8:14 I liked it 😂. I could hear a bridge being built miles away. I found it fascinating.

[@dirkus3722]

The little hardhat and glasses on the post driver were top tier.

[@steamfitter5269]

These are, by far, the best videos on KZbin! Thank you for all of your content

[@Mrcheesebumble]

Bridges don't sink because engineers secretly put thousands of pool noodles in the support columns.

[@OndrieDrake]

You are not supposed to tell anyone....

[@Mrcheesebumble]

@@OndrieDrake it's time the people know what keeps their "precious" bridges alive

[@RealJustinWillock]

I can’t believe you would just spoil the ending like that:(

[@foobar9220]

Actually, the concept is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Where I used to live, there is a bridge that uses a kind of styrofoam in its foundation

[@Mrcheesebumble]

​@foobar9220 huh. Can you expand on the use case? Maybe share the name of the concept so I can look into it? That's interesting.

[@vladimirpain3942]

This is so perfect. I just saw guys drilling holes into the soil from window of my office. It was few days ago. They drilled hole while putting large steel tube into ground. Then filled it with concrete, remove pipe and went to do another. And now I have nice description of what exactly these guys did. Nice!

[@joshuapatrick682]

1:10 okay we’re not gonna fire you for that pun, this time, but it’s being noted on your permanent record.

[@salt-emoji]

You must be new here

[@kenbrown2808]

I accidentally came into possession of a geological survey book for my area, and one of the noteworthy things was a ground density graph formed by driving piles, and recording the distance per strike. most noteworthy was zones underground where the hammer pushed the pile down through soft ground; underneath zones where it was hammered down.

[@peterfireflylund]

Should have been a villa in France. Better luck next time!

[@kenbrown2808]

@@peterfireflylund why would I want a geological survey book for a villa in france?

[@lightningdemolition1964]

​@@kenbrown2808I think he means it would be better if you accidentally came into possession of a villa in France.

[@rmhbernoff]

I'm here for all the people who are just learning that "pile driver" is not just a wrestling move.

[@timseguine2]

It's almost like they named it after something

[@mdrzn]

as a non-english native, I'm 32 and I just learned what it means! lol

[@Dude-Smellmyhelmet]

All named after the car audio speaker brand.

[@aval1998]

My girlfriend got upset with me when she saw the rental equipment get dropped off after asking me to "pile drive her." I dunno why, though?

[@lucifer4844]

I'm here for all the civil engineers who are just learning that pile driver is a wrestling move.

[@asgdfgify]

4:09 "Nailed it!"

[@HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Beat me to it!

[@Pentti666]

I spit my noodles all around when Grady hit the nail :D Even though I knew from the beginning that he ain't gonna hit it like that

[@brenan6]

One of the best youtube channels ever. Smart, classy, not annoying or cheeseball.

[@smalltreefern]

so interesting! always wondered about this and i love how you explain stuff here

[@laynedouglas5105]

Correction to one of your statements - I beans are different from H piles. I beams are also different from H beams. I beams and H beams have different cross sections. Love the channel.

[@DanielRucci]

Don’t be such a stick in the mud.

[@plwadodveeefdv]

But what he said is he doesn't know why one is called "H" and the other "I"

[@DanielRucci]

@@plwadodveeefdv I was making a joke, LOL. Get it? “Stick in the mud?”

[@csabamagyar3244]

It was great to see my home home city's bridge at 7:10 -- Budapest, Margaret Bridge (Margit-híd), first opened in 1876, then destroyed in WW2 and re-built, re-opened in 1948. The tram line (No 4-6 tram) that runs over it carries possibly the most passengers/day in the world.

[@_MikeJon_]

A video on ancient engineering would be awesome

[@aviationclub2637]

0:38 What you lookin Bro? 😅

[@crewrangergaming9582]

That fish got me rethinking my life choices 💀

[@SCUUZEM3]

Bro that fish was ABOUT it😂 he didnt back down at ALL

[@revenge12212012]

😂 thank you for the laugh (:

[@ssmith7074]

A whole video about piles and not one joke about Gomer. Such a missed opportunity.

[@kaboom4679]

Or medical references

[@bobcoats2708]

Before Grady’s time I guess

[@cashflow68]

Much love from San Francisco. Enjoying my view of the Golden Gate Bridge

[@BertNielson]

Had a friend that told me about the piles that support the SeaTac to Seattle elevated tram. They rely on the friction of the soil because they coulddn't drill deep enough to hit bedrock. He cautioned that in the event of a large enough earthquake, the piles would sink as the soil essentially would liquify.

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

Did they at least make the part where people would be buoyant?

[@BertNielson]

@@naamadossantossilva4736 nope. It's all concrete and steel. It's elevated track, so buoyancy wouldn't do anything about the fall.

[@robertheinkel6225]

When Flagler built his railroad in Florida, across the swampland, the pilings just kept going down. He determined if he stacked three pilings on top of each other, it would support the railroad. The friction on the pilings worked well supporting the line.

[@BertNielson]

@@robertheinkel6225 Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands.

[@Hearstbane]

​@@BertNielson Ah hell what is this from again??

[@michaellebert8907]

I love using your videos to show new guys (CMT lab/field tech) the Big Picture, and to help them get into the Engineering/Technical mindset. So when is the video on Concrete Additives? Water reducer, Plasticizer, and Accelerants! Fun stuff

[@michaellebert8907]

Also, Im in Houston!

[@Dorpers89]

missed chance to say nailed it 4:20

[@extragoogleaccount6061]

Have you seen the announcement of Saudi Arabia trying to build a 2-kilometer tall sky scraper? I’d like to see a video about the engineering issues caused by super tall buildings. I think you covered some related issues over time, of course, so I’ll see if one exists that I missed. But the piles discussion made me think of this proposed skyscraper.

[@dukeofgibbon4043]

4:15 One of the cool things about the pile driver you showed is it's basically a diesel engine. A lot of pile drivers are an open cylinder; an engine that doesn't need valves, that inject some fuel to use the compression of the falling weight to both drive the pile and create a power stroke that propels the next strike.

[@WartimeFriction]

Fascinating

[@VictorQuesada-bl1xk]

That's so cool, thanks!

[@cfdtv1]

My favorite pile is Gomer Pyle!

[@2smoker64]

And then there was private Pyle. He couldn't have jelly donuts on account of his weight problem.

[@amandapenner3680]

You are the first person who has described Nebula in a way I can now understand what it is. Thank you! Might even consider it in the future.

[@robertocontreras9851]

Thanks for putting all of this great engineering/physics concepts into more comprehensive words and reminding us that this stuff is not new.

[@CaptTerrific]

A wonderful video... but now I have even more questions about Millennium Tower than I did before watching :D

[@Trixtah]

He's got a whole episode on it

[@banditdelta7172]

4:09 what happens when engineers use hand tools lol

[@Scifi_cowboy]

5:11 if my pile starts feeling some friction it's time to change position or add lubricant

[@YooZeus]

love these videos

[@EndersProxy]

This video came just as I, a former electrical engineering student, joined a pile and hume construction company. Perfect timing and super helpful.

[@natetallman]

4:56 and on is gold!

[@DeepKumar.]

"Skin friction", "Shaft Resistance", "Drilled Shafts", "Drilled Holes", "Small Holes" Okay I'll see myself out...🤣

[@misseselise3864]

we have the humor of a fourth grade boy and that’s ok!

[@TubeTimeUS]

There were Neolithic pile dwellings built on Lake Zurich in Switzerland around 4000-7000 years ago (now part of a UNESCO world heritage site). my grandfather had a (presumably 19th century) painting showing the remains of the piles sticking out above the water. Since then, the water level has risen and the piles are all underwater.

[@gavynmarrey2420]

I love that I’ve found this channel- always wondered about the type of engineering & construction needed to run our world

[@JoeHTX]

Years ago they were adding shoulders on some over passes on I-10 in Orange Texas. They hired me to weld the metal shell pilings on the job. The first thing I did was weld a 1 inch thick cap on the pilings. After the pilings were driven into the ground to the required, or higher, bearing load, I cut them off at the required height. A few had to have extensions welded on to be able to be driven deep enough to attain the required bearing. We'd put 4 piles in square 'footing', each pile required 100 tons of bearing, most if not all of them attained between 200 to 400 tons of bearing before they stopped driving them in. Then each pile was filled with rebar, then the concrete was pumped in and vibrated. Then each 'footing' of 4 piles were capped with a large square concrete cap about 2 feet thick. That was the one and only time I've worked around a pile driving operation. It was fascinating to say the least. They would drill a pilot hole 15 to 20 feet deep, put in the pile, start driving it until the required bearing was reached or exceeded. The engineer would watch the piston after each stoke to see how high it rebounded, measured on a scale along side of the pile driver mast. The distance the piston was driven up after firing was noted and he had a chart telling how much bearing the pile had from the distance the piston was driven up after firing. They pounded on some to the point that the pipe they were driving started to crumple like an accordion around the tapered end of the hammer that the piston was driving against and I had to cut it all out to get the hammer loose from the pile! I would say the bridge shoulders they installed were plenty strong. Each shoulder had 4 footings comprised of 4 piles each plus the cap, and each pile had from 200 to over 400 tons of bearing. So each footing would hold up at least 1,200 tons. So each one of those shoulders would hold a couple of battle ships up! LOL

[@dwayne7356]

A perfect example of how pilings work can be demonstrated by something I learned in a WWII era heavy rescue class in the late 1980s. We made a gin pole and used three 1.5 inch steel pins by three feet long as an anchor in very loose sand. We drove the stakes about 2 feet into the sand about one foot apart and lashed them together and then use that picket as an anchor point for the gin pole to lift a 450-lb drum. When we were finished, you untied the lashing and the stakes very easily pulled out of the sand. One stake would not hold but the friction of the sand on the three made the anchor very strong.

[@Datsyukiandeke]

5:32 this is what the wife tells me when I've gone too far, and I then say "i have reached refusal"

[@pedecadonstudios714]

4:49 lmao i heard that and wiggled my eyebrows at my wife.

[@BijaySigdel]

8:11 Thats what she said😂😂😂😂

[@jamesmaida47]

Being a piledriver myself, it's awesome to watch one of your videos and see my trade highlighted in such an awesome way. Thank you!

[@stargazer2504]

Hey Grady, I'm really glad you posted this. Also really liking other Engineers commenting their expertise here so thank you for that!! I'm wondering how it works on coastal structures- such as the 20+ story buildings in Ocean City, Maryland? Do they just rely on the "skin friction" as mentioned at 4:40??

[@BrettW]

2 minutes in and the puns are already being piled on.

[@ColinRichardson]

I love the pile driver has its own hat and glasses

[@Brain_quench]

@7:38 The battered pile is designed like tree roots. More of engineering catching up to nature & God's design.

[@jaypolas4136]

Yes!

[@glennac]

Grady, I just love that jaunty intro/outro music. It perfectly captures the positive enthusiasm of the channel and its host. Thanks❣️

[@marscaleb]

Every day I've been driving past a new construction project where I've been watching them drive a series of piles into the ground. It's interesting how you keep coming out with videos that just so happen to be about the very constructions projects that keep garnering my attention.

[@gold_twisted]

So basically people were sinking in mud thought "What if we sink harder?"

[@eddrm4685]

Gomer Pyle!

[@Blezerker]

4:14 I should call her…

[@karmaisanillusion7307]

You’re sick for that😂

[@viscinium]

Not building a bridge, but I am remodeling the deck in my parents' back yard, and I'm currently finding ways to compress the loose soil under the load bearing stuff so it stays up. Good timing!

[@ericmagee9054]

It gives me great pleasure to see this channel has grown so much since I first subscribed to it several years ago! Go science and engineering

[@jandraelune1]

Roman concrete was used directly in the water, was even designed to not fully cure leaving pockets of uncured concrete when cracks form, those pockets cure allowing the structure to repair it's self.

[@wlrIII]

And amazingly with mineral intrusion over time, it gets stronger.

[@fredinit]

Not much different that modern high-quality hydraulic (Portland) cements. It's not that the Roman stuff is 'better'. It's just been around a long time - a.k.a. survivor bias.

[@michaelmcmullen354]

@@fredinit Not exactly. Modern concrete is tested for strength, and usually not paid for until that strength is achieved. Also the strength is often needed for subsequent stages of construction. Therefore it is ground finer to set faster and usually has a chemistry to reach strength faster too speeding both the flow of money and the work. It also gets hotter when it sets and can shrink and crack more. So it is better from a financial viewpoint, but not all structural viewpoints.

[@adityarathorehere]

Bridges dont sink , bihar laughing in corner.

[@yashwanthkanamala]

Sinking is different The bihari bridge failed and collasped

[@Harshit-n5w]

I think Bihar is not laughing but crying tbh

[@bishnukumaradhikari3564]

Except Bihar

[@JG-PyroTX]

Down here on the gulf coast I'd say 95% of our deep foundations use drilled shafts. In my experience casing is usually placed prior to drilling the shaft. Drillers will drill a shallow pilot hole if it's above water and for underwater construction they will use the vibratory method of casing installation. Usually for drilled shafts in water or below the water table will use the slurry method. The shaft is flooded with bentonite slurry usually around a specific gravity of 1.03-1.10 g/cm3 which usually creates enough hydrostatic pressure to prevent caving. Your explanation of the tremmie method of placement was spot on. Even the characteristics of the bentonite slurry after final depth is achieved has several testing requirements before you can proceed to placing concrete, % sand content, specific gravity, PH, and viscosity. I do quality assurance testing and inspections for heavy civil and commercial construction, so I find your videos entertaining.

[@spaceinvader384]

This is so inspiring, clear, massive and professional. Answered most engineering queries that stayed in my mind over the last 60+ years. "Little insight'? 1M over 8 days? No kidding, BIG exposure indeed. Thanks for the excellent work, much appreciated.

[@justlisten82]

My wife knows all about "shaft resistance" 😂

[@EsveePaulFedSlayer]

Must be from her being bone dry lol

[@theandrogynousmisogynist]

And withstanding great loads

[@DoggosAndJiuJitsu]

Bridges don’t sink because they’re above the water 🤷🏻

[@prestidigitationer9888]

My favorite flavor of pile is a pile of donuts

[@whatthecrux2212]

Wow, I’ve been on KZbin for well over a decade and just found this channel. Great channel. Subscribed.

[@Aby7799]

Piles: Humans ❌ 🥶😵 Bridges ✅ ❤😊