C+S March 2021 Vol. 7 Issue 3 (web)

The first test pile was installed in late December and load tested in January. Two load tests were conducted at 480 kips.

The sediment removed by the drilling rig accumulated on the mat as the drill cuttings were expelled from the hole. UMA deployed a skid steer to plow that waste off the mat and into a pile where Fessler & Bowman allowed it to dry out before removing it from the site. UMA’s team worked from the inside to the outside of these U-shaped parcels. “Once we got about halfway done, Fessler & Bowman came in and blocked off half of it the parcel and started tying all the rebar cages,” DeSpain says. “They had already poured the first half of the concrete at about the same time we finished drilling the last pile.” When all was said and done, UMA had completed 304 micropiles by the February 2019 deadline. It took Team UMA working a double shift, deploying its fleet of specialty foundation equipment, and its past success working with the unique Cooper Marl Formation. The result was a strong foundation that would allow this global manufacturer to increase production and further stimulate the economy. “The key to this job was installing a lot of micropiles at a high produc- tion rate,” DeSpain says. “The owner had a really strict timetable and Team UMA delivered.” UMA secured two of the three phases of the project in November 2019, including an addition to the fabrication building (Building F) and an expansion to accommodate the massive turntables used to coil high-voltage cables (Building J).

UMA installed 304 micropiles during two phases. 290 were done in Building F (pictured), and 14 were completed in Building J.

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