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City of Sunny Isles Building Department Relocation Geotechnical Exploration Report <br />Sunny Isles Beach, FL March 29, 2024 <br />UES Project No.: 0630.2400024.0000 Page 7 of 9 <br />4.0 FOUNDATION RECOMMENDATIONS <br />4.1 Helical Piles <br />It is likely that a single helical pier can develop an allowable capacity of 12 kips (24 kips <br />ultimate) at depths of approximately 24 feet below grade depending on shaft and helix <br />configuration. Note that buckling effect was not determined. The designer should determine the <br />buckling effect based on the shaft and helix configuration determined for design and <br />construction. Appropriate reduction factors should be considered when center-to- <br />center spacing of helical piles is less than three times the diameter of the largest helix plate at <br />bearing depth. <br />Helical piers consist of galvanized steel shafts with helical flight augers on the bottom shaft. The <br />shafts are bolted together as the shafts are drilled into the subsurface. The torque applied to <br />the piers during drilling is correlated to the compression capacity of the helical pier. The shafts <br />are cut to the appropriate cut-off elevation, and typically pile caps, grade beams, or footings are <br />cast on the top of the helical piers. Any footings that tie into existing footings should be doweled <br />together. Where there are existing foundations, brackets can be attached to both the anchor <br />and the foundation for support. <br />To obtain the anticipated axial capacity, the piers would likely have to be installed and seated <br />into gravelly and sandy soils encountered at approximately 24 feet below ground surface. Each <br />pier must be installed with a minimum ultimate capacity of twice their design capacity. The <br />capacity of each pier must be verified by shear pins or other calibration techniques as required <br />by the Florida Building Code, latest ed., as noted below. <br />In accordance with Section 1810.3.3.1.9 of the Florida Building Code, latest ed., the allowable <br />axial design load, Pa, of helical piles shall be determined as follows: <br />Pa = 0.5 Pu (Equation 18-4) <br />where Pu is the least value of: <br />1.Sum of the areas of the helical bearing plates times the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil <br />or rock comprising the bearing stratum. (In UES’s case, the designers can assume a soil’s <br />unit weight (ϒ) of 110 pcf and an angle of shearing resistance (φ’) of 32o.) <br />2.Ultimate capacity determined from well-documented correlations with installation <br />torque. <br />3.Ultimate capacity determined from load tests. <br />4.Ultimate axial capacity of pile shaft. <br />5.Ultimate axial capacity of pile shaft couplings. <br />6.Sum of the ultimate axial capacity of helical bearing plates affixed to pile. <br />Helical pier design and installation are proprietary in nature. The locations and required capacity <br />of the piers must be designed by the structural engineer or other qualified professional. UES <br />recommends that a representative of UES’s company monitor the helical pier installation in <br />accordance with the Florida Building Code.