Not all pilings serve the same purpose. Shown below is sheet piling. They are driven into the shore vertically to create bulkheads.
Marine Construction-Sheet Pilings On the Essex Causeway, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
The neat thing about sheet pilings to me is the way they interlock at the top during the pile driving process. In this photo you can see how they interconnect-
The men operating the cranes lift one section of sheet piling way up in the air so they can line up the two pieces that will be lined up next to each other and guide the one piece that is supported by the crane so the slot lines up with the one that is already driven into place. This is a pretty dangerous job as they can weigh several tons each. Keeping fingers clear is obviously very important (well said Captain obvious).
Once the crane operator has the two pieces of sheet pilings lined up they drive them down into the sediment along the shore until they hit resistance. They have hydraulic hammers which vibrate the sheetpilings down so that the fill which is placed behind the newly created bulkhead will not seep out from underneath.
Once all the pilings are driven to resistence they will be cut off evenly at the top and the newly created bulkhead will be back filled.
To view previous posts about marine construction you can click the Marine Construction category I’ve built over the years from oither local projects.
Finally here is a video of sheet pile driving in action-
Good Morning Gloucester 