GTR provided geotechnical design, technical support, instrumentation and on-site quality control for this Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Design-Build project. The successful Design-Build Contractor, 6/10 Constructors, consisting of Barletta Heavy Division, O&G Industries, D.W. White and Aetna Bridge, engaged GTR to develop a Value Engineering Deep Foundation re-design as an alternative to drilled micropile foundations selected as their base bid design. In lieu of drilling 200+ foot DMP’s, GTR proposed the use of driven TaperTube pile foundation system. At that time, GTR’s innovative approach was the first use of TaperTube piles to support a RIDOT bridge structure.
To demonstrate that GTR’s TaperTube pile design was both feasible and cost-effective, GTR designed, instrumented and executed an on-site, comprehensive static and dynamic TaperTube pile load test program. Driven TaperTube test piles were installed and instrumented with in-situ Vibrating Wire Strain Gages (VWSG) and Inclinometers (INCL) to measure load transfer and deformation with depth. In addition, GTR performed a site-specific radial vibration study to demonstrate that ground vibrations during driving were within specified limits. GTR’s services include Wave Equation Analyses (WEAP) and dynamic pile testing (PDA) to address drivability concerns and static and dynamic load testing to determine site specific load deformation characteristics at the 2 test sites. GTR performed PDA testing, instrumented and executed a comprehensive pile load test program including static, tension and lateral load in accordance with ASTM standards and provided full-time on-site quality control throughout pile installation. GTR’s innovative TaperTube pile foundation design was an enormous success, providing considerable schedule and cost savings to the Project.
