Micropile Applications
When Do You Need Micropiles?
Micropiles are useful in a variety of commercial foundation applications for the purpose of providing ground improvement, soil stability, and foundation underpinning. Micropiles are quite similar in form and function to helical piles, another of Arizona Foundation Solutions' expert foundation support and repair tools. Micropiles are smaller, easy to install in a variety of tight-access environments, and offer a wide variety of design loads to fit the needs of different scenarios.
Micropiles can be applied in any of the instances below:
- Addressing existing building settlement
- Accidental undermining
- Anticipated undermining
- Caisson replacements
- Mitigation of anticipated soft soils
- Mezzanine installations
- Footing replacements and hold downs for metal and lightly-loaded structures
- Support for additions, vertical expansions, and generally increased structural loads
- Ground-mounted solar
- Managing construction mistakes, elevation busts, discovery of unknowns
- Modifications to shear walls
- Structural support in fill locations
How Micropile Solutions Work
Micropiles work by advancing through hard soils and cobbles, via simultaneous percussion, rotary, and grout injection. As the pile advances, the grout is injected at high pressure into the soil surrounding the shaft, creating irregularities in the soil as it advances that increase the bond between the soil and the grout.
Arizona Foundation Solutions has pioneered several unique solutions in micropile applications, including the combined use of brackets to lift structures post-installation of the pile and unique push pile applications. This process entails pre-drilling with a down-in-the-hole hammer, filling the hole with grout, then advancing push piles through the soft grout and driving to refusal. This provides a soil interface combined with a drive to refusal and an end-bearing capacity verification.
Have a challenge in need of a problem-solving solution? Call and speak to an experienced project solution consultant for an engineering-backed solution from Arizona Foundation Solutions.