Micropile solution by Hayward Baker Sponsored

Hayward Baker's value-engineered macropile alternative to the originally-specified drilled shafts significantly streamlined the overall foundation schedule and met all technical performance requirements.

Hayward Baker employs grouting and ground improvement, structural support, and earth retention technologies throughout North America. These technologies are all specialist geotechnical construction methods. Our research and development since the 1970s has supported design methods following fundamental geotechnical theory to provide the ability to design solutions specific to each loading condition, subsurface condition, and objective. Accepted safety factors are used, and designs are verified by high quality control standards and verification testing. Many of our technologies include computerized data acquisition and control, which enables us to assure the performance of our work.

Drilled shafts were specified for the tower foundations. However, HBI value-engineered a 24-in.-diameter macropile solution that met all technical performance requirements and streamlined the overall foundation installation timescale. Macropiles are ultra high capacity foundation elements ideally suited to support heavy loads on tight access sites. The permanently cased macropiles were socketed into bedrock as much as 100 ft below working grade in a unique multi-step process combining duplex drilling with a down-the-hole hammer (DTHH) and vibratory methods. A static axial tension load test performed on a strain gauge-instrumented macropile demonstrated successful load transfer to the underlying bedrock.

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Source: Hayward Baker