Pile Connection Assembly With Plug-Nut Alignment and Shear Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pile connection systems require complex and time-consuming alignment of multiple apertures, use excessive material, and introduce structural weakness due to threads in the shear plane, making them costly and prone to failure.
Innovation Solution
A pile connection device featuring a plug with pins and a nut with projections that aligns with reduced aperture requirements, using less material and eliminating threads in the shear plane, allowing for quicker and stronger connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a relatively large threaded bolt is used to connect piles through multiple apertures, then the connection strength is improved, but the installation complexity and time increase significantly due to alignment requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The connection device is segmented into distinct components: a plug inserted into the first pile, a nut engaged with the second pile, and a bolt connecting them. The plug and nut each have apertures that align with corresponding apertures in the piles, while the bolt provides the final securing connection. This segmentation allows each component to be installed independently with simpler alignment requirements rather than requiring all four pile apertures to be aligned simultaneously with a single large bolt.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug and nut act as intermediary components between the two piles. Instead of directly connecting the piles through multiple aligned apertures with a single bolt, the plug is inserted into the first pile and the nut into the second pile, serving as mediators that simplify the alignment process. The bolt then connects these intermediary components, which have already been positioned with simpler alignment requirements.
2Strength
If a large bolt extending across the entire diameter of connected piles is used, then the connection strength is improved, but the material usage and cost increase substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system is divided into separate components (plug, nut, bolt) with smaller individual dimensions. The bolt only needs to span the distance between the plug and nut rather than extending across the entire diameter of both piles, significantly reducing the bolt's length and material consumption while maintaining adequate connection strength through the distributed component architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs smaller, more economical bolt and component dimensions that use less material overall. While individual components are smaller, the reduced material consumption translates to lower costs without compromising the overall connection strength, as the load is distributed across multiple components rather than requiring a single large bolt.
3Ease of manufacture
If threads are present in the shear plane of connected piles, then the bolt can be secured, but the structural integrity is compromised and failure risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The threaded portion of the bolt is extracted from the shear plane area. The plug and nut are designed so that the bolt's threads engage only with the plug and nut components, not with the pile material in the shear plane. This extraction eliminates the harmful interaction between threads and shear plane, preventing stress concentration and structural weakness while maintaining secure bolt fixation through the plug-nut-bolt assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug and nut serve as intermediary components that provide the threaded engagement for the bolt without placing threads in the critical shear plane of the piles. The bolt threads engage with the plug and nut mediators, which transfer the loads to the piles through clean, non-threaded interfaces, thereby protecting the structural integrity of the pile connection.
Data Source
AI summary
Pile connection methods and devices are disclosed. In some examples, a pile connection device includes a plug including a head, a body extending from a distal end of the head, a first bolt aperture extending through the head and the body and configured to receive a bolt, and pins extending from a distal end of the body. The pile connection device further includes a nut including pin apertures each configured to receive one of the pins, projections extending from a circumference of a proximal end of the nut, and a second bolt aperture that is threaded and configured to align with the first bolt aperture when the pins are received by the pin apertures. The second bolt aperture is configured to receive a threaded distal portion of the bolt to thereby draw the nut toward the plug and retain the pile connection device within apertures in the connected piles.