Sustainable Mast Foundations for the Construction of Overhead Lines
Our powerful foundation equipment is used not only for sustainable mast foundations along railway lines but also for power corridors in overhead line construction. For these applications, extremely high tensile loads, sometimes exceeding 500 metric tons per mast corner post, must be transferred safely into the ground. For this purpose, special foundation methods have been developed, known as “SPITZKE driven pipe foundations.” To create a stable foundation, long piles, up to 30 meters in length, are driven into load-bearing soil layers. The top consists of so-called pile heads, into which the transmission mast is anchored. With the former conventional foundation methods, larger excavation pits had to be constructed, along with additional measures, to implement both the foundation itself and the integration of the mast corner posts into the structure.
SPITZKE’S Patent
Using our latest method, the “SPITZKE double-pipe pile”, we save significant resources on every single mast foundation because the pile heads need to be embedded only up to a maximum of 1 meter into the ground. This reduces environmental impact while also lowering construction effort. For instance, we calculated the following using a corner post load of 500 metric tons:
CONCRETE
➡️ Traditional spread footing foundation: approx. 545 m³
➡️ SPITZKE double-pipe pile: 75 m³
EXCAVATION and TRANSPORT
➡️ Traditional spread footing foundation: 98 trucks
➡️ SPITZKE double-pipe pile: 16 trucks
❌ No large-scale excavation, significantly reduced concrete work
❌ Less truck milage
❌ No trench of pit supports required for excavation pits; dewatering is rarely necessary
✅ Significantly higher load-bearing capacity
✅ Same equipment required
✅ Lower impact on soil
Double-pipe pile is the name of our innovative and patented method. It is currently undergoing field trials and is expected to receive approval later this year. The double-pipe pile has a larger shaft surface area and base area compared to a single-pipe pile. This results in substantially higher load-bearing capacity while using the same equipment. Ultimately, the mast is supported by the corner posts, which are manufactured by our subsidiary MuR-STAHLBAU GmbH.
You can learn more about environmental protection at SPITZKE here.
