Manually operated pile driver for use in the south Iraqi Marshlands

Abstract

Anthropizations are necessary to implement the maintenance, recovery and utilization of wetlands. These interventions should be sustainable in every sense, in particular they should be marked by a low environmental impact. In general this aim can be achieved by using natural materials and carrying out procedures minimally invasive. In Developing Countries the latter point is often supported by the lack of equipment and energy availability, normally obtainable in Industrialized Countries. In practice, to build micro-infrastructures with the above said characteristics, it is normally necessary to drive poles, in our case in wood, in marshland’s soil. In order to accomplish this task a manually operated pile driver was designed and built. To operate in the water, a floating pier consisting of removable modular elements was also designed.