Seismic Inertial Weight Shake Sequence goes off without a hitch!

The seismic shake test on helical piles is going great!  It was awesome to see so many people on site yesterday to witness history in the making. Thanks to Howie (Magnum) and Gary (Hubbell-Chance) for taking us all out to dinner at the Melting Pot to celebrate!  What fun!

A great big shout out to the National Science Foundation, the Deep Foundation Institute and all of the Helical Pile and Tieback Committee Sponsors who made this test possible.

Project Sponsors

• Hubbell-Chance (http://www.abchance.com/products/helical-piles-anchors/)
• MacLean Power Systems (https://www.macleanpower.com/)
• RamJack Systems Distribution – Cash plus material, fabrication and engineering donation (http://www.ramjack.com/)
• Magnum Piering – Cash plus material, fabrication and engineering donation (http://www.magnumpiering.com/)
• Helical Pile Association (http://www.helicalpileassociation.com/)
• Torcsill Foundations – Cash, plus material, fabrication, engineering and continuous on-site contractor support (http://www.torcsill.com/)
• IDEAL Group (http://idealfoundationsystems.com/)
• Foundation Supportworks (http://www.foundationsupportworks.com/)
• Techno Metal Post (http://www.technometalpost.com/en-CA/)
• Foundation Technologies (https://foundationtechnology.com/)
• CTL/Thompson (http://www.ctlthompson.com/)
• Lally Pipe (http://www.lallypipe.com/)
• DFI (http://www.dfi.org/)
• Helical Pile World (http://www.helicalpileworld.com/)
• Atlas Tube (http://www.atlastube.com/)
• GoliathTech (http://www.goliathtechpiles.com/about-us/)
• Patriot Foundation Systems (http://patriothelicals.com/index.html)
• EXL Tube (https://www.exltube.com/)

Here I am making the final checks on the accelerometers for the inertial mass test.  Each of these concrete weights were between 750-950 lbs and we analyzed the piles to see what the deflections and behavior should have been under the earthquake sequences – and the test went off without a hitch!  I’ve also shown a picture of the sand displacement after the big 1995 Kobe Takatori shake!  The piles held though!

Another big shout out to my dream-team helical pile installation team from Torcsill Foundations, LLC (www.torcsill.com) for their continuous, unwavering on-site support of this project.  They did anything I asked them to do, from installing helical piles overhead in the large shaker box, to splicing three-wire strain gages, to fabricating and welding material onsite, to loading weights on my piles, and in general just being good guys!  Torcsill donated all of this support for a full three weeks and were the major reason this project went forward and stayed on schedule.  I could not have done the project without them!

We have one more shake sequence next week! Stay tuned.