Tag: Daily Work Updates

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.

Our project made the news!  Check it out:  http://www.news9.com/story/31155196/ou-professor-participating-in-seismic-testing

On Thursday, two members (Bill and Anthony) of my dream-team installing team from Torcsill, showed up on site and started shaking equipment out.

On Friday, I started the tedious process of stripping the ends of all 166 cables and then labeling each end with the strain gage and accelerometer designations.  I was slow but steady –  finishing 5 piles (74 wires).

We finished the day by laying out the pile locations in the box and running a Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP) Test in the center of the box.  This test gives a profile of how strong the soil is and we can compare it to the installation torque.

Today (Saturday) we finished up stripping and labeling the 100 foot cables that will connect our instrumentation to the data acquisition system. Bill and Anthony volunteered to help and were really fast at it!  It took three of us 3.5 hours to finish the remaining 92 cables. I’m thankful for everyone pitching in to help me keep this project on schedule!

And finally, I figured out how to use a selfie-stick!  Now there is no excuse to not have pictures of me working.  Watch out world.

The instrumented piles and caps were safely palleted and left OU on a TorcSill Foundations LLC flatbed this afternoon (Friday, January 29th, 2016). The piles are headed to Weatherford, OK to share the flat bed with some more equipment and then on to San Diego.

I fly to San Diego on Sunday the 31st!  We are getting closer to a start-date for sure!

The instrumentation protection (two coats of epoxy and two coats of resin and fiberglass) looks strong!  Let’s hope it holds.