New Rowing Club a Model for Advanced Pile Foundation Technology

We recently spoke with Matthew Conte, of Conte Company, about a foundation project they completed for a 2-story rowing club in Norwalk Harbor. Rowing clubs often prove especially difficult to build due to their proximity to the water, and the ground on which they are built. Building near or above water brings its own set of challenges for pile foundation technology, along with strict guidelines to which builders have to adhere.

In the case of this building, the ground floor of the rowing club is to be used for storage of the boats and equipment, while the upper floors are used for meetings, offices and social areas. Crew has always been a mainstay in the Connecticut area and rowing clubs are an important piece in the community, serving as both an athletic and social gathering place. Matt and his team were eager to finished this project quickly and efficiently, in order to get the general construction started on the 6,000 sqft, pre-fab, metal butler building, so it will be ready for the upcoming season.

In order to build this rowing club, Conte Company installed 56 27′ Drivecast piles. They tied those piles to a grade beam grid, on which a heavy slab of concrete was poured. The soil conditions, which were waterlogged every time the tide came in and composed of organics, fill and silty material, were not suitable for traditional building. The engineering team ultimately determined that there were only a few cost-effective pile foundation technology options for a site plan like this. The only other alternatives to Drivecast were helical piles, or H-Piles.

According to calculations and field tests, utilizing helicals would have maxed out at around 40-50 kips (1 kip = 1,000 pounds of force), whereas each Drivecast pile supported a staggering 120 kips! Matt explained to me that the other alternative, using H-Piles, would require pile lengths of up to 75ft in length, and would’ve taken significantly longer to install. For starters, H-Piles typically come in 50 foot lengths, so each pile would need to be spiced together to produce the full 75′. What’s more, when you’re talking about driving piles of this enormous length, you need some enormous equipment to do the job. In this case? A massive crane would be needed to drive each of the H-Piles deep, deep into the earth. By contrast, Conte Company’s Drivecast piles only required a 14 ton excavator to get the job done. Matt explains it best:

“A 14-ton Ex looks like a toy, sitting next to a crane like that. We pulled up our machine on a trailer and were in-and-out of the job site quickly.”

Matt and his team installed all of their Drivecast piles within 5 days; start to finish, and had no issues installing them. The grouted columns were allowed to dry for 5 days before testing, and again had no issues, even in the salty, waterlogged silt. As an added bonus, the site was located on property owned by a chemical plant, regulations for which are far more stringent than other environmentally regulated industries. Again, no worries, Conte Company sailed through all requirements with ease. The entire project went off without a hitch.

The building Matt and his team recently built is located on Norwalk Harbor, and will be a great addition to the community. Matt and his team, along with the revolutionary pile foundation technology called Drivecast from Hubbell-Chance, allowed this project to be done faster and cheaper with less work, and smaller equipment than H-piles or helical piles.

What more do you need? Download the official Drivecast brochure below:

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The Drivecast™ Displacement Pile is Revolutionizing Deep Foundation Systems

Conte Company helped create the Hubbell-Chance displacement pile product known as Drivecast™.

If you haven’t considered grout displacement piles for your project, you really should. There are many benefits to using such a system and more testing and performance data is produced each-and-every day. Here’s a little background on the product and how it performs, which explains why we’re so excited to tell you about it.

This patented grouted displacement pile was designed to be used in high side friction and end bearing applications. This combination of load carrying capacity allows the pile to be used in most soil conditions and load requirements. The added rigidity and larger grout shaft resist buckling and high lateral loads, where segmental piles systems wouldn’t normally be considered. Since each coupling joint is completely encased in grout, the finish pile acts as one solid piece in the soil.

During early Spring of 2018, Conte Company performed a load testing program that compared Drivecast piles to traditional driven and helical piles. (8) different piles were installed within the same site, to a similar depth. These piles were all tested in compression and lateral resistance. We even used a tell-tale testing method on one of the Drivecast piles—which is a method for isolating the side friction from the end bearing resistance of a pile. The results were extremely interesting and educational.

  • The (3) different Drivecast size piles outperformed the (3) driven piles and (2) helical piles in compression
  • Two of the Drivecast piles were laterally tested during a week of torrential rainstorms and they still held respectable numbers
  • The RS4500DC pile achieved the largest of the group at over 20 kips

With the help of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., the results of all the testing were cataloged and evaluated. You can download the full report here. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to King Industries, Inc. for offering the use of their property for the testing location. We would also like to give a special thanks to Gary and Charlie Wetmore at G&C Marine for bringing out their new blow hammer to help with the driven pile installation!

If you’d like to learn more about Drivecast

Send us a message give us a call at (203) 853-2400. We’re happy to tell you all about it.

You can also watch our promo video here:

Why is Structural Load Testing Important for Foundations?

Load testing services by Conte Company

Load testing, when performed professionally, can help a contractor meet complex code requirements. By confirming certain calculations and providing additional information about the deep foundation plan, a well-performed load test is essential to ensure that the foundation is strong enough to pass all structural requirements and inspections.

Load Testing 101

A load test is performed by applying pressure to a specific pile in predetermined directions; either by compression (push), tension (pull), or laterally. The load is generally applied via a hydraulic jack to make sure the pressure is equal to the final load requirement. A reaction frame is then applied against the hydraulic jack. Once activated, any movement of the pile or the test apparatus is monitored and logged, and the results are used to determine the capacity of the pile being tested.

Load testing in a confined space

Load Testing Accessibility

One of the main challenges to safe load testing is having enough space for the reaction beam and other equipment. Whether it’s inside a building, twenty feet below grade or someplace with limited access to utilities, Conte Company can perform challenging load tests accurately and safely. With our custom-designed reaction beam, we’ll get everything in place with no surprises and test to over 200 kips.

As you can see in the job below, load testing was pretty tight at this natural gas substation, where caution, safety and accurate load test results were an absolute MUST, which is why they hired Conte Company.

Load Testing Services from Conte Company

Conte Company has the engineering experience and the required tools to perform geotechnical load tests on a variety of deep foundation systems. We’ve done hundreds of load tests on everything from micropiles and helical piles, to augercast, vibro stone columns and aggregate pier systems. While we do provide deep foundation installation services as well, many of our load testing clients come to us for accurate, unbiased, 3rd party data.

Our tests are performed following ASTM, D1143, D36889 and D3966.

need Reliable load testing?

Call Conte Company for a quick evaluation.

 

Load testing at a natural gas substation