In addition to our expertise in constructing vibrationless piles, SOLID BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION uses a variety of traditional driven foundation pile types to carry loads to underlying hard soil or rock layers for building and infrastructure projects. Timber piles, H-piles and Pipe Piles are suitable foundations for many types of land and marine-based structures. Each of these pile types offers unique benefits, and the decision about which type to use should be made after carefully considering the loads to be carried, structural and soil requirements and budget constraints. We often assist engineers during the initial planning stages of a project, ensuring its overall success.
Featured Project
Hollywood Casino
Toledo, Ohio
Delaware State Park Reservoir
Delaware, Ohio
MTU Great Lakes Research Center
Houghton, Michigan
Project Details
The Hollywood Casino was built on the south side of the Maumee River in Toledo, OH west of I-75 on a brownfield site. SOLID BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION installed 635 H-Piles ranging from 190 to 300 tons for the garage and main building foundation. The existing soil conditions were unsuitable for support of the new building. There was 75’ of loose material, with some fill material in the top 20’. Below this there was a layer of cobbles, then hard pan at around 90’. H-Piles were selected as the solution since they had the ability to be driven through the numerous cobbles and boulders that existed on the site and also due to the presence of contaminate spoils that could not be brought to the surface and relocated to another site. PDA testing was performed on-site to validate the hammer selection in conjunction with pile load tests that had been performed prior to the bidding of the project. A total of 635 H-Piles were installed for the building foundation in a span of seven weeks to allow for the footings and grade beams to be poured prior to winter weather. The project was bid in August, started in September completed by the end of October, 2010.
SOLID BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION completed the marina upgrades at Delaware State Park located five miles north of the city of Delaware, Ohio. The marina is located on the Olentangy River, which is a 97 mile-long tributary of the Scioto River in Ohio. The Delaware State Park Reservoir, also known as Delaware Lake, was constructed along the Olentangy River in 1951. The reservoir was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control purposes. The dam was built to control extensive flooding that damaged major cities like Columbus in previous years. The lake normally sits at 905 feet above sea level, and the top of the dam is at elevation 946, 41 foot above normal pool elevation. Due to the extreme fluctuations in river water elevations which can vary up to 41′, the marinas located throughout the river system typically use floating docks. The marina upgrades at Delaware State Park included the removal of the existing docks and installation of new pipe piles and floating docks. All work was performed by barge-mounted equipment. The equipment and barges were mobilized and set up at the site by building a temporary dock for access. The existing docks utilized H-piles as the anchoring for the floating docks. The H-piles were removed from a barge using a crane and vibratory hammer. The new floating docks required the installation of 24″ pipe piles that are 90′ long. The pipe piles had to be driven to an extremely difficult tolerance of only 1/2″ out of plumb over the entire pile length. This requirement had to be met to allow the floating dock to rise to the maximum pool elevation without causing damage to the dock system. The pipe piles were driven using a template system to assure that the tight tolerances could be met. The piles were driven using a vibratory hammer for initial set and then finish driven using a diesel Delmag D30-32 pile hammer. The piles were driven to a capacity that exceeded 300 tons or 600 KIPS. All piles were cut to grade, filled with concrete and capped with a specially fabricated 60-degree pile cap. After the piles were driven, the floating docks were installed, and the final marina upgrades were completed. The owner of the project was the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The Great Lakes Research Center was built on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. The complex is located on the waterfront, adjacent to campus. The GLRC contains aquatic research laboratories, coastal research instrumentation, data center, boathouse facilities, offices and meeting rooms. SOLID BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION installed H-Piles for building foundations and off shore docking facilities as well as steel sheeting for permanent docks/shore protection. The existing soil conditions were not suitable to support the new building. There was 32′ of fill material with stamp sand and numerous cobbles, and below the fill material were layers of sands/silts/clays and boulders. These materials varied between loose to very dense. These extended to the depths of the boring which terminated at 60’. The solution was to install H-Piles because they could be driven through the numerous cobbles and boulders on site and also because the marine work already required driven piles and steel sheeting; therefore, any alternate foundation would increase mobilization costs. An uplift test, a lateral test and two compression tests were required to verify design assumptions prior to installation. A total of 365 H-Piles were installed for the building foundation, and 40 galvanized piles were installed for docking facilities. In addition to the H-Piles there was 350 LF of steel sheeting installed for docks. The project was bid in August, started in September and completed in December, 2010.