Anew 12-hammer pile-driving device, called the DodecaKong, has begun driving 30-meter-dia steel-pipe piles for an artificial island that will host a new airport in Sanya, China. Built by American Piledriving Equipment (APE), the hammer assembly tops the previous world record of driving 22-m-dia piles, performed by the eight-hammer OctaKong configuration for the $10-billion Hong Kong-Macau link.
The 14,400-horsepower DodecaKong began driving the first of more than 300 piles in January for the two-year, $15-billion airport project, which includes five runways and will handle 20 million passengers a year. The current airport was designed for 1.5 million annual passengers but is burdened with 13 million, due to the area’s increasing role as a tourist attraction, notes David White, APE China managing director.