Friction Reduction Sleeve

Yellow Jacket^® is a prefabricated friction reduction pile sleeve utilized to reduce downdrag forces on piles embedded behind Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls. The addition of MSE wall construction backfill creates a surcharge on the underlying soils that inevitably settles to some degree, resulting in negative shaft resistance on the piles. The Yellow Jacket^® H-Pile jacket system creates a slip plane between the settling abutment backfill and the previously driven bridge abutment piles, resulting in a significant reduction of pile downdrag. The downdrag force imposed on an uncoated pile is 2.75x that of the downdrag force on a pile sleeved with the Yellow Jacket^®.

View the Yellow Jacket Brochure.

Reduce downdrag and costs

The Yellow Jacket^® pile sleeve is lightweight, flexible and quickly and easily installed, increasing job productivity and requiring only unskilled labor. Rapid assembly combined with low labor and no equipment requirements results in project cost savings. There’s no mess, no personnel exposure and no worry regarding mil thickness requirements as with bitumen coatings.

Advantages of using the Yellow Jacket^® friction reduction pile sleeve:

• Quick, simple and safe solution
• Substantial cost savings vs. traditional methods
• Eliminates need for bitumen coating
• No specialty equipment required – no mobilization
• Environmentally friendly 
• Waterproof
• Highly resistant to corrosion and chemicals common to construction
• Durable
• Lightweight
• Made in the U.S.A.

The Yellow Jacket^® system is designed for common H-Pile Jacket Sections:

• 10 x 42
• 12 x 53
• 14 x 73

And Pipe Pile Sections:

• 12" - 18"

*Also available for steel pipe and pre-stressed concrete pile sections

Interested in pricing? Request a Yellow Jacket^® quote by filling out the form below or giving us a call.