Glossary of Piledriving and Foundation Construction Terms
Welcome to the APE Gloassary for piledriving and foundation construction terms. This is a great place to look for terms that you may be unfamiliar with when working with or researching piledriving technologies. This glossary also contains terms unrelated to piledriving, but that are frequently used on and around foundation construction projects. If you have a question or have term that you would like to add and do not know who to call please contact the APE Headquarters in Washington at (800) 248-8498. Business hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time. For less immediate inquiries, or if you would like an APE sales representitive to get in contact with you, please visit the APE Contact Request Form.
| TERMS | DEFINITIONS |
| Valve | A part in the hammer which directs the inlet and exhaust fluid to the proper section of the hammer at the proper point in the stroke. |
| Valve Chest | The part mounted on the face of double-acting fluid-valve hammers in which the spool valve operates. |
| Valve Cover | A part in double-acting mechanical-valve hammers which fits over the valve and holds oil to lubricate the valve. The same as the "oil reservoir" in single-acting hammers. |
| Vane Shear Test | A four-bladed vane is forced into undisturbed soil ahead of a sampling tube and rotated so the soil shears. Peak and remolded shearing resistance is recorded. |
| Vertical Earth Boring Machine | See Continuous Flight, Auger. |
| Vertical Travel Leads | See Leads, Semifixed. |
| Vibrator | Power tool used to agitate and consolidate freshly placed concrete and produce close contact with the form. |
| Vibratory Driver/Extractors | A pile driving and extracting machine which is mechanically connected to a pile and drives or extracts the pile by oscillating it through the soil. Power source may be either electric or hydraulic. |
| Vibroflot | The instrument used, with an internal motor driving eccentric weights. |
| Vibroflotation | Trade name for means of densifying non-cohesive soils by deep vibration coupled with air or waterjetting. |
| Void Ratio | The total colume occupied by a soil mass includes the soil particles plus void spaces (which in nature always exist between the particles because of their irregular shape). The void ratio is the ratio of the void space volume to the volume of soil solids. |
| Vulcan | A pile driving hammer, the term is most often applied to any single-acting hammer, but is actually a manufacturer's name. |
