Volume 8, Issue 3

September 2023

Event Report
IPA Seminar on Press-in Technology in Taiwan
IPA Secretariat
The IPA Seminar on Press-in Technology in Taiwan was held on June 14, 2023, at the Importers and Exporters Associationof Taipei (IEAT) in the central Taipei, Taiwan. It was cosponsored by the Taiwan Geotechnical Society (TGS), the Taiwan
Foundation Engineering Institute, the Taipei Foundation Engineering Institute and the Sino-Geotechnics Research andDevelopment Foundation. The one-day seminar was attended by about 100 people, including engineers, contractors,
academic researchers, machine manufacturers, pile suppliers and other interested industry colleagues. The seminarcovered the full spectrum of the press-in piling method, which was requested by the press-in piling industry in Taiwan inorder to expand their capability for future projects.
The seminar began with an opening address by Prof. Tai-Tien Wang, the president of the Taiwan Geotechnical Society(TGS), followed by nine presentations covering the following topics.

1.

Prof. Chun Fai Leung, the president of the IPA, delivered a presentation titled “The prospect of International Pressin Association (IPA)”. He outlined the advantages of the press-in piing method and activities of the IPA, including itsfuture prospects.

2.

Mr. Tomotaka Hirose, assistant manager of GIKEN Seisakusho Asia Pte., Ltd., provided his presentation on “Press-inRetaining Structures: A Handbook (Construction)”, which was revised in 2021.

3.

Mr. David, Kuo-Wei LIN, the president of Chuen Chang Enterprise Co., Ltd., introduced the current status of the pressin piling industry in Taiwan in his presentation, “To see the new possibilities for future application of steel sheet piles
from the past summary of the silent piling work in Taiwan”.

4.

Prof. Tatsunori Matsumoto, the vice president of the IPA, an emeritus professor at Kanazawa University, explained“Press-in Retaining Structures: A Handbook (Design)”, in line with the previous presentation which featured the“Construction” portion of the handbook.

5.

Mr. Kai-Yu Wu, the assistant general manager of Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corporation, described the challenge todevelop steel sheet piles in Taiwan, with structural improvement over the current sheet pile models available in theTaiwan market.

6.

IPA director and assoc. prof at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Jiro Takemura, lectured on one of the IPA’s research
activities “Application of cantilever type steel tubular pile wall embedded to stiff ground (TC1)”.

7.

Mr. Chou, Yung-Chuan, the business manager of CECI Engineering Consultants, Inc., presented his experience withthe press-in method on his previous project as “Case Study of Press-in Method for Archeology at Historic Site ofTaipei MRT Station”.

8.

Mr. Yasuhiko Nishi, the Senior Advisor of the GEOTETS Method Research Society, detailed their innovative grounddisplacement prevention method in his presentation “Simultaneous removal and filling method for earth retaining
members contributing to SDGS”.

9.

Mr. Tsunenobu Nozaki, the General Manager of the IPA, featured “Case Histories of the Press-in Piling Technologies
and Applications for Permanent Structures”, which covered a wide variety of applications of the press-in piling
method.

This was the first full in-person conference, with invited speakers, held by the IPA post Covid-19 pandemic. The main
advantage of a full in-person conference over an online or hybrid conference is the person-to-person proximity to otherattendees. The day before the conference day we had a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, to warm up the relationshipbetween the co-organizers in Taiwan and the IPA (Photo 1). It was also a good opportunity to update guests on information,
regarding both the Taiwan construction industry and the press-in piling industry.

22Volume 8, Issue 3

September 2023

Photo 1. The welcome dinner
On the day of the conference (Photo 2), there were enthusiastic questions after each session to obtain in-depth
knowledge of the latest press-in piling method. Apart from the technical discussions, break times and lunch times werealso used by the attendees as an in-person networking opportunity. Possible future plans in Taiwan, further activities ofthe IPA and mutual business developments were keenly discussed among the parties.

Photo 2. Conference dayThe conference was sponsored by the 6 organizations, whose advertisements were inserted into the conference
guidebook and circulated to all attendees.
Gold:
Chuen Chang Enterprise Co., Ltd.
GEOTETS Method Research Society
GIKEN LTD.
Silver:Taiwan Foundation Engineering Institute and Taipei Foundation Engineering InstituteTaiwan Professional Geotechnical
Tung Feng Construction Engineering Co., Ltd.
Bronze:Engineers Association
Up to now, U-shaped steel sheet piles type 3 and type 4 have been predominantly used in Taiwan. Due to the limited
availability of other pile types, the press-in piling method has been almost exclusively used for temporary earth retaining
structures and cofferdams. In regards to the market area, the press-in piling method has been mostly utilized in the southof the country due to geographical reasons and ground conditions. Therefore, the IPA feels that there is substantial future
potential for the expansion of the press-in piling method in Taiwan. The key factors of the expansion will be theintroduction of a wider range of applicable pile types, applicable substructure types and methods for the construction ofdeeper foundations.
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