Foundation Drilling Magazine
November 2009
by David G. Keller, P.E.,
Richard Goettle, Inc., with
S. Scot Litke
It has become somewhat of a clich é to
describe projects undertaken by ADSC
Members as “Innovative.”When searching
for another term to adequately describe
much of the case histories that have appeared in Foundation Drilling magazine
over the past 28 years, we keep coming
back to that simple, descriptive word. We
could also use the terms, “Creative,” or“Unique.”
Just choose one that strikes a
chord. Perhaps the common thread could
be best being described as “Inventive.”
While there are routine drilled foundations
and anchored earth retention projects
being performed everyday by ADSC members,
every job has the potential to become
something more than routine. When you
are working with the underground, the
most comprehensive pre-construction information
cannot guarantee that one will
not encounter unforeseen conditions. This
is a given in the deep foundation industry.
The inventiveness of deep foundation specialty
contractors is boldly demonstrated
every time they are able to adjust to what
they actually find and still get the job done,
or when they consider a project to be built
and arrive at a special methodology that
suits the situation.
Open a specialty subcontractor’s
bag of tricks and you will find
more solutions than you could imagine. So
it was with a project undertaken by
Richard Goettle, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio,
subcontractor to Baker Concrete Construction,
for the East Kentucky Power Cooperative.
The official title for the job was the “JK
Smith Combustion Turbines 9 and 10.”
The project owner, the East Kentucky
Power Cooperative, and their design engineer,
Black and Veatch, required that the
deep foundation system be comprised of“composite piles” to be installed using an unusual procedure.
The installation method
called for multiple drilled foundation
techniques including the use of continuous
flight augers, vibratory and down the
hole hammers, traditional drilled shaft machines,
impact hammers, and required
backfill grouting and infill concreting.
The
work occurred during the winter of 2009.
All of the foundation work had to be coordinated
with new underground utility installation,
as well as the installation of pile
caps.
The working space was extremely
constrained. The multi-step pile installation
sequence had to be carefully integrated
with the schedule of the general
contractor, Baker Concrete Construction of
Monroe, Ohio, who was responsible for
other work going on at the site.
This is a
common challenge for almost any deep
foundation project.
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