In March of 2019, Coastal Foundation Solutions was contracted to install helical piles and extensions to aid in the stabilization of the bulkhead adjacent to the clubhouse at the Villages At Country Creek Master Association in Estero Florida.
Situated in luscious oak trees and an up-scale golf course community is the Villages of Country Creek, in Estero Florida. A challenging par 3/4 with lots of water. The proximity to Southwest Florida Airport makes this a convenient and beautiful safe development. The club house and restaurants are located at the headwaters of the Estero River. The amenities center has a lovely outside seating area overlooking the meandering creek.
The aluminum bulkhead adjacent to the club house was displaying signs of rotation due to tieback failure. The telltale symptoms of catastrophe were obvious due to separation of the concrete seawall cap and the existing pavers. Access to the area was restricted to forty-eight (48) inches. In addition, the area was located next to the staging area for golfers to access the course with their carts. The home owners-association hired Forge Engineering of Naples to compile an engineer’s report to resolve the bulkhead situation.
There was no area for conventional concrete deadman/tie-back anchors, which would require removing pavers, costly handling and disposal of spoils. Plus, there were concrete staircases within the construction area that would require additional consideration.
Forge Engineering designed the foundations as helical pile anchors, offering no impact, no vibration, or displacement installations. Specific geotechnical information recommended the most economical helical configuration for the structure. This greatly reduced the access of installation equipment to install the designed anchor pile and whalers.
Twelve (12) helical anchors ranging from (14-21) foot long, 1 ½” square shaft Seawall Savers with triple 6” helices were utilized to secure the structure. Piles were designed with marine grade whalers and galvanized bolster plates to maximize the pile holding capacity. The individual helical anchors were load tested with 30-ton hollow hole ram to secure specified 12 Kip capacity. This in turn insures that the helical anchor is set and no slippage occurs.
Coastal Foundation Solutions designed and fabricated a high capacity pivot attachment, which allowed bi-axial movement of the helical termination head. This facilitated the installation of the horizontal wood whaler. A Bobcat MT85 with a customized hydraulic mast was effectively able to install all piles regardless of obstacles, from one upland location.
In addition, fifty (50) cubic yards of clean lime-rock rip-rap was placed at the toe of wall to provide supplementary scour protection. The helical piles were installed by Coastal Foundation Solutions (CFS), a Certified Installer of Seawall Savers Helical Foundations Systems.
Twelve (12) Seawall Saver SS150 (1.5-inch square bar) helical piles with a 6”- 6”- 6” triple-helix lead section was installed with a 6K Eskridge hydraulic drive head. The MT85 Bobcat compact skid loader rotated the square extensions to lengths on the order of 15 to 21 feet to achieve final installation torques. The ultimate capacities of at least twice the design working tension load of 12 kips
Fifteen (15) “Seawall Saver” square shaft helical extensions were installed to corresponding capacities
The helical tension pilings were affixed with a 1” galvanized rod, that is adjoined with a galvanized 7” by 18” structural steel “C” channel.