Bearing piles are required when a structure cannot be founded on a shallow foundation. Tall structures, for example, often require deep foundations based on engineering principles. In other cases, the soils near the surface may not possess the mechanical properties to support the structure. Thus, a deep foundation system must be designed to transfer the foundation loads down through the piles to obtain the load resistance.

Although they can be designed for skin friction, the H-pile shape is most effective at transferring load through the pile to the tip. These piles are more efficient in dense soils that offer pile resistance at the tip for point bearing capacity. When founding a pile system on rock there is no piling system better than H-piles. Individual piles have been tested to more than 1,000 tons. Steel H-piles have been used for deep foundation and marine structures for more than 100 years.

They are domestically produced and readily available from stock or mill rolling.