Minipiles were born in Europe, bur they're spending Ureit prime years solving some of America’s trickiest stuctural problems. DONALD A. BRUCE PETER J. NICHOLSON MINIPILES MATURE IN AMERICA fe hear a great deal ‘about the tide of European technol ogies lapping at US. shores. One such technology, minipiling was born in Europe 40 years ago but is reaching maturity in the United States. Minipiles have many names pin piles, micropiles, root piling, palt radice, pieu racine, Wurzelpfahle and Escacia Raiz—but all are es- sentially small diameter drilled and routed piles. Their relatively stall diameter, rarely larger than 12 in., is clearly a distincrive feature. But their fundamental characteristic is their ability to be constructed with equipment used for anchoring and grouting, unlike conventionel piles that need to be driven or bored. Minipiler can be constructed to considevable depths, through all types of soil, rock and ohsrrue- tions, and in vireually any ints tion. They have a high slenderness ratio and transfer loads almost cnr tively by shaft fricuon, eliminating any requitement for underrearsing at the base. All minipiles feature substantial steel reinforcing ele ments, so they can sustain axial loading in hoth rension and compression. The teiufurcenent can also be designed to resist bending stresses safely and with ‘minimal displacement. Bes onesscorecosmono0 + 196 gereage Constructing with minipiles ‘minimizes vibrations, ground dis- turbance and noize, and they con be installed under difficult work- ing conditions. Though chey may bbe more expensive chan conven- tional driven or large diameter piles, uinipiles way be the only guaranteed solution when given a particular set of yrousnd, site a- cess, environmental and perfor- mance conditions. THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN _ Minipiles have a relacwvely high load carrying capacity (or their di amecer) and very small settle- mens. Piles installed wholly in soils cau provide sale working loads approaching 100 rons. When founded in rocky they cam sustain safe working loads of as much as 300 rons. Load holding capacity can be improved cubscantially by pose grouting—the injection of second- ary cement grout at high pressures afver he initial groue has see, S tlements to structures being under- pinned can almost be clinninated by preloading the piles to the working load and by prestessing, 0 that no further pile movement foceurs when che structucal load is finally applied. Minipiles have gained popular in this councry Because chere is a growing trend rewards remedial and rebuilding work iu our older cities and industrial centers. As 2 result, foundations hive « be up graded or replaced to resist new increased loadings, or have to be protected from settlements caused as 0 reoult of nearby constcuction of tunnels or other deep excava tions. Under such cireumetancer, there may be major practical re" strictions on the options available o the engineer. There is probably a preater use of minipiles in Bos- con chat anywhere ithe world. For instance, the properties ar 739-749 Boylston Street in the Back Bay area of Boston were completed in 1906. Uneil recently the buildings were derelice, but in the early 1980s, the Pilgrim Truce Company acquired them for re- developing and refurbishing. The building at 739 Boylston Screee is @ six story strucrure thar will have retail space ow che basewient wud first tloors, office space to the cighth floor and s mechanical penthouse level above. ‘The structure was originally con structed on pile caps bearing on timber piles. Increased loadings from he new construction made additional support necessary under enlarged pile caps. Piling had to be installed inside 1 partially demolished basement, about 10 fe below the existing side- walk, giving a minimum of 8 fe of headroom. The difficule and re- stricted access ruled out che use of convetional piles. Based on a cost and performance analysis, the DECEMBER 1868 57owner accepted an aleernative bid: install about 260 minipiles with working loads of 40 tons in compression and 12 rons in ten sion. In works of this rype, with these restrictions, prives of $55 pee foor can be expected. Admittedly, that amounts to much more pet foor than conventional piling sys- teins, even if they could be used. But the prices are deceptive. Pin piles provide more support per foot, so fewer feet are needed. The fill concieeed of saturated loose gray-brown fine sand and sit, and overlaid soft gray oxganie sil with traces of shells, sand and gravel. The founding layer oc- curred at about —4 fan was 18 to 24 f hick throughout the site. Ik consisted of medium dense/ dense fine-medium sand with a trace of silt, The pile lengths were kepe within this horizon s0 as not to penetrate the weaker underlying Boston blue clay. “The piles were designed on the basis of an ultimate load 2.3 dimes greater than the design working Toad: 92 vous in compression aud 77 rons in tension. The length of the luad wansfer zone was de> signed on the basis of analogous soil anchor experience. Celeula is showed that an ultimate load ‘of 92 tons required a load transfer length of 15.9 f. Further computations showed that the use of 5.5 in, steel casings with a wall thickness of 0.36? in and a minimum specified yield stress of 55 isi as the major load beating clement was safe. In addi- tion, an internal 1 in. dia, 60 ksi rebar adequately transferred loads in the founding horizon. ‘A diesel hydraulic teackrig in stalled the piles. Water flushed the 5.5 in. casings to about 8 fe below the surface before the casings were pushed to lneare che rap of the dense Leuting suata. Roary dill ing then resumed in the sand to full depeh. Neat Type I grout with a water cement ratio of about 0.5 was placed by tremie, followed by the rebar. Pressure grouting of the cand wae carried to a minimum of 60 psi during extracrion of the cas: ding for the 15 fear 16 f hand sone The permanent steel casing was then pushed hack down 3 fc to 5 ft into thi pressure grouted zone and lef in place. Groue takes generally ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 times nominal hole 58 CIVIL ENGINEERING 5 5 i volume, confirming that the en- hanced effective diameter of the bond zone had been achieved. Grout cubes at 14 days gave un: confined crushing screngths of over 6,000 pai. TESTING AND PERFORMANCE _ Dior to the fulkseal piling pro gram, two typical piles were sub- jected to compressive and tencile load testing. A telltale anchored near the tip and an outer steel liner placed around the 5.5 in. c2s- ing above the bond zone prevented any load transfer in the upper so Ground anchors provided the re activ for each pile. The elastic sevtlement at 80° tons was about Iualf the roral deflection, while n0 indication of pile or soil failure was evident from the butt or tip dic placement curves. Furthermore, the net bute cettloments fll well below the level recommended in the local building code. The per- formance in cension was equally Wverall, (out piles had w be te placed due to construction prob- Jems. In addition, two piles hed to be added to the design, bringing the contract total to 262, averaged 1m groups of 4-6 piles pet cap. Afeer a three month period of pin pile installation (ig, 1), fe wook about eight months ra complere the mujor suuctucal vebuilding work. Since the job was completed in May 1987, the piles have per- formed flawlessly. VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE in piles are aleo holding up well while holding up part of the 178 ‘Stagoe af Boston pin pile construction dual highway, which crosses the Delaware River between Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey (fig. 2). The highway rests on seven span, ler bridges. Generally, fou dations on the Pennsylvania side corporated driven H piles, whereas the river piers and the New Jersey piers were co be founded on solid rock. Or so it was thought. Excavation to the planned eleva tion for the footing of Pier E-6 on the eastbound structure revealed thae the rack wae nonevisren. An. other 15-20 ft of digging showed ‘only random rock thicknesses of several feet and a highly pinna- cled, irregular bedrock surface. The excavation was filed wich lean mix concrete, while the founda- tion design wae reconsidered. Enlarged spread footings, H piles in predrilled holes and che com- plete elimination of che pier proved feasible Sa rwa arher alterna- ce wnisideted the install tion of six 36 in. caissons, each with a working load 360 tons; and tie placement of 24 miniiles. each cof nominal working load 100 tons. (COST EFFECTIVE The costs of the large diameter caisson are difficulr ro estimate because Uheit design and construc tion would have varied widely as different soil and rock conditions were encountered. Because the cology of the area was so disparate, construction might have been de- layed dramatically by incrallarion problems. ‘The pin piles cost in excess of $100 per foot. Thought expensive,they did offer a number of advan- tages that mde their use attrac. lave and cost effective Because pin piles transfer thet loads BY skin fiction, not end bearing, there was no possibility that the pile could fail by punching through inrn a soft underbed immediately unde he founding level. Even the di verse soil conditions found in this sive would not dramatically alter construcrinn times. In addition, ‘cst piles could prove their effec tiveness in advance The bediock was a Cambro-Or- dovician dolomite limestone re- ferved co locally as the Allentown Limestone. It proved to be moder. ately to highly fissured, cheuty and very susceptible to karstic weath- ering, Major clay filled beds inter- sected the bedrock, even at depths greater than 100 fe. The rock mass Proved highly variable laterally and vertically. The owner's desigs regulations Permitted 2 maximum average rock/grout bond ar working load (100 tons) of 50 psi and a maxi- ‘mum allowable reinforcement steel tues ac working load equivalent to 45% of yield These (actors led to the selection of a load transfer zone wich a di ameter of 8.5 in. anda 15 ft length in competent rock. The major structural componeut of these pin piles was a 55 ksi low alloy steel Pipe 7 fe in od. and u 0.408 in. ‘wall thickness A separate test pile, 30 (( long with only 5.33 fe of bond, was Inad FIGURE 2 PIN PILE DETAIL, (178. New Jersey tested t© 205 tons, using rock an- chors as reaction. This particular socket length for the test pile was selected herauc its average grout. rock bond would be 304 pst, and the typical grour-steel bond would be 250 psi. Boch anet or exceeded the ultimate values. An oucer sleeve of PVC pipe eatcinling to the {op of the rock socket ensured land transfer only in ehe socket. Au! a 6 in. thick wooden plug attached to the hottom of the steel pipe ee sured dat no load could be trans: fecved in the end bearing. Total settlements of 0.367 in, and 0.373 in. were recorded at each successive cycle 10 205 tons. Creep of 0.011 in, was recorded over one hour at these loads. The permanent set after this operarion was 0.07 in, The next day, testing was con- tinued ra higher levels, but at 224 ons, tle material of the upper cas- ing began ro buckle. Uneil that point, the pile wus performing ex: actly as it had during the previous testing sequence. Tutil displace Tent was 0.3/1 in. at 215 rons, but 0.452 in. at 224 tons. Seven of the piles were recived ta have continuous 15 fe bond zones. But because the rock was likely to he variable, che 15 fe bond zone did ut have to be continu fous for the roe of the pilex They did, nevertheless, have to meet certain other restrictione. The lower pare of the zou had t0 con- fain at least 10 fe of continuous sound rock. Soft intesLeds had to be less than 3 n. thick. A zone of acceprable load bearing rock Ina to be at least 5 ft. thick. Interbeds within the overall bond zone had +0 be regiouted and redrlled. As in the Bosron project, tack rigs drilled all due holes. First the contractor installed a 10 75 in. od casing through gravel aud into the conerete backfill. A 10 in. dia. down-the-hole hammer duilled tluough the concrete and 9.518 in steel casings were inetalled throught the less womperent upper horizons. After these were surveyed for plumbness and then grouted in place, an 8.5 in. hole was drilled to final depth co ensure a minimum 15 fe bond zone. The holes were Alushed clean sad a7 in. ond. pipe was installed, then surveyed ro rake cure ie was vertical wich uo ‘move dan a 2% deviation. Finally, it was grewted a€ 50 pei, PROBLEMS Throughout the construction, the very adverse geologic condi tions posed major deilling prob loms. These were resolved, at length, by repeated pergrouting and redrilling. In addition, during insrallation of the reinforcing pipe in he last and deepest pile, a thread parted and a 130 f length of pipe fell imo the 200 fe deep hole. Borehole TV revealed the casing to be furches ‘tupeuced 30 ft above the bottom of the hole, du ro its impact with the bottom. After vatious attempts at recovery and recoupling it was de- cided co grout the pile, having sus. pended a 20 ft long, 4.5 in. dia 150 ksi steel pin with centalizers Sonu 62 fe to 82 fe below the ron The pin was placed to ensure effe.- tive load transfer across the upper discontinuity. A very rigorous tended load test was then executed to 120 tons. The performance of the pile proved excellent. Overall, the total drilled length F 1,920 linear fe covrespouds with the total foreseen quantity of 1,710 fe. However, the lengths of individual piles ranged from 43 fe less to 30 fe more than projections, A volume of grout eqitvalent to cight times the nominal hole vol. ume drilled was injected. Much of this was consumed in the zone above the rockhead during pre: grouting operations. The bridge is now complere, and the performance of the pin pile pier has proved exceptional. a Ac Boston, the owner was Pil grim Management Trust, the engi neer was Goklberg Zoino & Asso- ciates, Newton Upper Falls, Mace, and the general contractor was Perini Corporation af Fra- mringham, Maze. PennDOT was the owner of the Warren Couns bridge project. Modjeski & Mas. teis was the engineer for the proj- ect and the general contractor was CASTE Wagian, v Donald A. Bruce, Ph.D., M.ASCF, has been technical director of Nicholon Cove seructon Ci, Phusburgh, Pa, since [98 He holds an'undersraduate dewer in ge cology and doctorate in cil engineering from Mbcrdcen Univesity, Scotland. Peter J. Nicholson, N.ASCE. has been resident of Nichokom Contraction Co, since 1980. He is wv engineering grad. vate of the University of Note Dame. DCCEMBER 1988 59