MARINE FOUNDATION RETROFIT FOR THE RICHMOND – SAN RAFAEL BRIDGE

Patrick E. Durnal, Senior Engineer, Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. San Francisco, CA, USA
Henrik Dahl, Vice President, Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. San Francisco, CA, USA

A joint venture of Ben C. Gerwick Inc., Sverdrup (now Jacobs) and DMJM (now
DMJM Harris) designed the $779 mill seismic upgrade of the Richmond - San
Rafael Bridge over the San Pablo Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area and
provided construction support to Caltrans. Construction of the marine foundation
retrofit was completed by a joint venture of Tudor Saliba/Tidewater/Koch-
Skanska and their subcontractors: Pomeroy Precast Construction, AGRA
Foundations, Dutra Construction and Vortex Divers. Construction management
and inspection was performed by Caltrans with support of various consultants.

MARINE FOUNDATION RETROFIT SCOPE piers with grouted annulus. The precast pile
caps were founded with 14 inch diameter steel
The retrofit design of the submerged foundations pipe piles, which were either support piles or
included: seismic tension and compression piles. The
• A total of 476 tension and compression seismic piles were connected in grouted
micropiles (290-1140 kips) installed corrugated steel pipe sleeves cast into the new
through cored holes through the concrete pile caps.
underwater bells at 31 pier locations
• Fourteen 126/150/164 inch diameter
CISS concrete shear piles (1160-2660
kips) installed through new precast
concrete pile cap extensions. (See
Figure 1.)
• Twelve CIDH shear piles (1060-2130
kips) with 150 inch diameter steel shells
to top of bedrock and 30 ft long and 11 ft
diameter rock socket installed through
new precast concrete pile cap
extensions.

The specified post bid test boring revealed

deeper bedrock at one pier location allowing
deletion of the rock socket. Thus 15 CISS and
11 CIDH shear piles were installed at 11 pier
locations - 9 piers with 2 piles and 2 piers with 4
piles. Cut off elevations for the shear piles
ranged from 46 ft to 60 ft below mean sea level
and cut off for the micropiles was 8 ft to 46 ft
below mean sea level. Almost all foundation
retrofits required work under limited headroom
conditions. Underwater construction connections
required innovative design details and
construction techniques for each pile type. The
11 piers had 22 precast concrete pile cap
extensions were installed in pairs and connected
by either tremie concrete closure pours or by
large pipe struts. The precast pile cap
extensions were strapped underwater using
large steel bands wrapping around the belled
Figure 1: Bell Pier Retrofit with CISS Shear
Piles
The West Trestle required complete
replacement with bridge closure restricted from
midnight to 5 am. This was accomplished by
removing portions of the existing deck on each
side of the viaducts and then installing new 66
inch diameter CIDH piles on each side of the
roadways.
GOVERNING SUBSURFACE CONDITIONS
The depth of the San Francisco Bay to mudline
varies from 30 ft to 60 ft below MSL along the
bridge alignment. The total depth of soil profile
from mudline to top of the Franciscan Formation
bedrock ranges from 15 ft to 200 ft. Micropiles
were needed where the depth to bedrock was
less than 80 ft, because the marine sediments
do not provide enough capacity to the existing
BP14x89 pile under the piers. The depth of the
soils below the micropile footings varied from 9 ft
to 114 ft. The depth of soils at the replacement
viaduct for the 66 inch CIDH installation varied
from 20 ft to 80 ft.
The upper 40 ft to 80 ft of soil consisted of very
soft to medium stiff Young Bay Mud (YBM). In a
few locations the YBM extended the full depth to
bedrock. Often the bedrock was overlaid by thick
alluvial deposits of medium dense to very dense
sandy silt, sands and/or medium stiff to stiff
clays.
might have had shallower bedrock than
anticipated. Borings were also installed at each
micropile pier location to give the contractor the
opportunity to design the bond lengths of the
micropile 12 inch diameter rock sockets.
MICROPILE CONSTRUCTION
AGRA Foundations installed the micropiles with
drill rigs that could core the bell piers with 13
inch diameter core barrels that were long
enough to core straight through the 12-14 ft
deep foundations. Strict horizontal tolerance
control was maintained by rigid circular
templates and conductor casing extensions to
the top of the belled piers.

The Franciscan Formation bedrock at this site

consists of greywacke, sandstone and shale.
The weathered top horizon was thin and grades
into fresh medium soft to hard rock west of the
main channel.

A steep carved ridge of very soft to soft intensely

weathered greywacke was located east of the
main channel. The high point was capped with
over 65 ft highly fractured moderately hard to
hard chert.

All the bedrock drilling of 12 inch micropile

sockets, 5 ft and 11 ft CIDH sockets was
stabilized using synthetic slurry, because the
material in the rock seams and fractures was
predominantly cohesive. But drilling micropiles in
the highly fractured chert and at one of the
shalely 11 ft socket CIDH locations at the east
end of the bridge was problematic. Drilling
through the chert was similar to drilling gravel
with a few clay seams and the stand-up time of
the fractured cohesive shale at one pier was
only 2-3 days, not the 5-7 days it took to drill, set
and pour most of those 11 ft rock sockets.
Figure 2: Micropile Drilling Operation
The bedrock surface was fairly well defined by
the existing pile driving records and the Each drilling template was designed to fit over
infrequent new and older test borings. Jet recurring micropile layout conditions of similar
probing had been used to reasonably define the diameters and configuration. (See Figures 2, 3
original bridge BP14x89 pile procurement and 4.)
lengths.

The construction contract included an extensive

test boring program, to assure that the proper
shear pile CIDH steel shell lengths were
purchased and to check the CISS locations that
Figure 3: Micropile Template Plan

The battered and vertical existing BP14x89 piles

were within inches of the cored hole locations. In
some cases the templates were rotated to miss
some of the existing piles, but inevitably some of
the existing piles were partially cored. Out of the
476 piles shown on the plans, only 8 could not
be installed due to obstructions. As the outcome
of the hole coring was revealed, a criteria was
developed for allowable cutting of existing piles.
Some of the obstructed micropiles were re-
analyzed and relocated, if possible.

Figure 4: Micropile Section

The micropile testing used adjacent piles for

reaction and two piles were tested at each of the
31 piers. Most of the piles met the elastic
elongation criteria to the middle of a 38psi or
group effect socket length, but a few did not.
The bond stress range was increased due to an
extension of the PP12.75”x0.5” casing to well
below the top of bedrock. The increased the
unbonded lengths caused more elastic
deflection than our design criteria anticipated.
The deeper casing length also a decrease in the
bonded zone length and increased the bond
stresses. The typical drill depth usually ended up
at the specified minimum elevation due to group
pull out. AGRA's resulting demand bond
stresses ranged from 45 psi to 75 psi. To
mitigate their design changes we directed the
addition of a Williams #20 thread bar down the
middle of the PP8.625x1.00 steel pipe
reinforcement to reduce the increased
deflections. This mitigation worked very well in
conjunction with re-analysis.
The upper horizon decomposed greywacke and
shale did not cave in because it was cohesive.
Pressure grouting this zone was considered but
not implemented due to recommendations by
outside consultants. We now have micropile
experience in the same decomposed horizon
indicting primary grouting under pressure is
most beneficial in this weaker Franciscan rock
zone.
At the micropile pier locations a reliable linear
load transfer was developed in the 25-40 psi
bond stress range. (See Figure 5.)
Figure 5: Bond Stress vs. Deflection
SHEAR PILE CISS/CIDH CONSTRUCTION
Shear piles were installed where the lateral
shear forces exceeded the capacity of the
existing BP14x89 foundation piles. Shear piles
attached to the footings reduced the pier drift
and seismic demand on the existing piles.
Pomeroy Construction prefabricated the precast
pile caps and transported them to the site by
barge. (See Figure 6.)
Figure 6: Main Span Precast Pile Cap
The retrofit included adding precast concrete
pile caps and attaching them to the bell shaped
bottom of the piers. Old fenders were removed
to allow access and clearance for the heavy lift
and setting procedures.
The precast pile cap extensions are supported
by 14 inch pipe piles. The contractor used a
Delmag D19-32 and swinging leads to drive the
piles. (See Figure 7.)

Figure 7: Installation of 14 inch pipe piles
Divers cut the 14 inch piles and inserted
spudded bearing plate landing pads and shims
to level the pile cap and transfer load to the
piles. The precast caps were fitted with guide
beams in order to be jacked together from each
side. (See Figures 8 and 9) Heavy lift crane
barges and lowering frames were used to set
the shells.
The precast shells were bolted to the belled
footing steel casing shells by divers. Tremie
concrete was pumped into the closure pour
pockets. The seismic 14 inch pipe piles had
shear rings for connection in the pile cap and
were driven through metal sleeves in the pile
caps. This sleeved connection was sealed with
plywood at the soffit by divers for the final
placement of underwater neat cement grout.
Figure 8: Pile Cap on Barge with guide beam
Figure 9: Lowering Frame
The CIDH/CISS steel piles were pitched from
horizontal to vertical and slowly lowered through
the sleeves in the pile caps until they stopped in
the marine sediments. (See Figure 10.)
An IHC S-500 hydro-hammer was placed on top
of the large steel shells. (See Figure 11.) When
the top of the shell was low enough, a follower
or conductor casing was added to the top of the
shells to prevent the hammer sleeve from hitting
the pile caps and to allow cleanout of the piles
and over pour of the tremie concrete.
 large CIDH sockets were drilled with a Seacore
T40 pile top drill. Structural steel frames
connected to the existing pier prevented
conductor casing rotation and provided lateral
support for the drilling oscillations. The roller
cone drilling shield was equipped with a long
shroud casing on top to protect the tooling from
cave-ins and to increase the velocity of slurry
flow along the sides of the 11 ft diameter
sockets. The airlifted reverse circulation flow
rates were high, so the roller cones were
constantly cleaned free of cuttings. The drilling
went well on all the sockets.

The CIDH piles had 60 ft rebar cages that

Figure 10: Steel Pile Lowering doweled the steel shell to the rock sockets.

The tremie concrete pours took up to 8 hours

and was placed using the gravity feed
technique. Four mix designs were approved for
the tremie concrete placement with retarder
doses for 4, 6, 8 and 10 hour pours. The stand-
up time for the rock socket placements was on
the order of 5-7 days from start of drilling.

The holes remained stable for all but one pile.

The unstable pile was backfilled. The hole was
re-drilled, over-reamed and then filled with fiber
reinforced tremie concrete. The over-reamed
concrete plug was then drilled out and
completed successfully.

Caltrans required cross-hole sonic testing of the

sockets. A few anomalies were found in the 11 ft
diameter CIDH shear pile sockets, however
none of any consequence.

NEW 66 INCH CIDH CONSTRUCTION

Each of the 132 CIDH had 66 inch steel shells

that were seated into bedrock to allow drilling of
the 25 ft x 5 ft diameter rock sockets. The steel
shell length to bedrock ranged from 30 ft to 135
ft below cut off elevation. The CIDH piles in
between two viaducts were drilled out from a
temporary trestle supported on 36 inch steel
pipe piles. The work on the two outside rows of
Figure 11: IHC S-500 on a Pile
CIDH was performed completely from barges.
(See Figures 12, 13 and 14.)
Hammer grabs were used to cleanout the steel
shells. A wire rope supported circular disk was
There were several pile locations with limited
fitted with wire rope brushes and rotated to clean
overhead conditions in the transition zone from
the steel shell ID.
two single viaducts to the double decked main
spans. The 66 inch permanent steel shell
Slurry for drilling the CIDH sockets was
installation was performed in sections using a
premixed and stored in tanks on barges. The
Figure 12: Drilling from Barge at Outer CIDH Figure 14: 60 Inch Socket Casing and
Oscillator

through an hour glass into the socket and then

AGRA chose to use the oscillator to case the
socket, after telescoping casing attempts did not
work.

Tutor Saliba installed the majority of the steel

shells using Delmag D80-12 and D100-13 diesel
hammers. When driving resistance picked up on
bedrock below bay mud the PP66x0.75 steel
shells could be seated with a few hard blows
and were undamaged. Where bedrock was
overlain by dense sands at several locations
driving the shells for seating into rock proved
problematic, because it was difficult to determine
when the rock was penetrated, since the
blowcounts were already higher than normal,
and there was no significant increase in
penetration resistance. This situation resulted in
overdriving the relatively thin walled steel shells
and caused the bottom of the shells to bend
inwards. When this happened AGRA was
allowed to install smaller diameter sockets
and/or they cored through the bent shell tips.
The majority of the piles were installed without
these problems.
Figure 13: Provision for Drilling Access
Concrete was placed in two lifts. The socket and
casing oscillator and CJP butt welding of the
lower shell were filled with tremie concrete by
sections. The sockets were excavated with a
the gravity feed method. The upper construction
hammer grab and chisel and the reinforcing
joint was green cut and then depending on
cages were lowered in short sections and
scheduling, the hollow bent cap beams were
spliced with mechanical couplers.
barged under the existing bridge girders and set
on the tops of the steel shells from both sides of
In zones of the alluvial sands over the
the viaduct. Placement of dowel and bent cap
greywacke bedrock, shell driving penetration
rebar followed and then the final in-the-dry
resistance was masked and a few 66 inch shells
closure pour could take place. This construction
were not adequately seated. Sand flowed like
facilitating design feature worked very well.