Hammer Time

All those piles have to be driven into the seafloor as well of course. The Thialf has several hydraulic hammers on board. Those hammers are amazing pieces of technology. Imagine that you have to bring up a weight of more than 100 tons hydraulically and let it drop on an anvil resting on a pile and repeat that every two seconds or so. And to put the icing on the cake; you have to hammer away below surface as well. What you see here is a small hammer on top of the stabbed pile. As soon as the pile gets some serious penetration, the hammer will be changed out for a heavy duty one. These skirt piles are 400 ft long and will be driven all the way into the seafloor.