Peacock Ford

Wednesday, November 27th, 2019 by Abbey George

Challenge

LRE Foundation Repair (LRE) subcontracted under Schmid Construction, to provide the deep foundation solutions for the Peacock Ford project. The project consisted of complete demolition of the existing Eastern portion of the building, with the exception of the roof joist. The project was ever-evolving, as the demolition found an old existing foundation, beneath the known foundation. The working area was also limited, working around scaffolds and other trades.

Solution

Universal Engineering provided preliminary engineering along with soil borings. Due to the weak soil conditions onsite indicated in the borings provided. Florida Geotechnical Engineering (FGE), designed a helical pier system with a 10"-12"-14"-14" helix blade configuration. This would facilitate penetration through the organic layer, without reducing axial capacity. LRE was hired as the qualified helical pier installer. As the piers were installed, they hit existing deep column pads. Schmid Construction had most existing column pads removed, backfilled, and recompacted. Other existing pads required adjusting the layout of the piers, in the field by the EOR. As installation progressed to the Southern portion of the structure, torque capacities fell short. It was discussed with the EOR and determined 42 additional piers would be installed to meet the loading capacity of the new structure. In all 444) helical piers were installed, 15 to 73 ft/bgs, with a target torque of 5,650 ft/lbs.