Interesting pier footing approach

[traveller]

Stumbled on this video, not sure if others have seen it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dXqDaVj3mQ
I don't know if they can be adapted for telescope piers to save the digging and concrete. My concern would be the relative small size of the concrete pad.
Engineering peeps would be better placed to comment on that aspect.
Bo

[clive milne]

Hi Bo,
Yes, they are actually a highly effective way to make a telescope pier foundation. I have just recently employed a similar principle for the foundations of a 40' shipping container on highly reactive clay soil. The digging of foundations in this area would have quite simply be impossible without a back hoe. (You need an axe to actually penetrate the soil here)

I am actually in the process of making a pier and foundation kit available for people who might be interested. It is very suitable for those with clay soils, if you don't wan't to dig a couple of tonnes of dirt by hand, or you can't leave a cubic m of concrete in the ground.

best
c.

[traveller]

Thanks Clive,
Would you be able to share your concept drawings of your pier and foundation kit? It might be a hit with some members.
Bo

[jenchris]

Neat idea. sadly I don't have a pile driver to drive the pins into the granite bed of my garden.
I just dug off the cracking clay and chocolate rock and poured my 'crete over the granite

[ZeroID]

Mine is 'glued' to the side of a volcano. About 4 tonnes of concrete literally stuck onto the solidified lava flow.
It don't move much ... :P
And if it does ... I'll be the one that is moving ... FAST !!

[clive milne]

Hi Bo,
I'd prefer to get the prototype done first (which shouldn't take long) as a proof of concept. fwiw) The pier will be a tapered square hollow section fabricated from laser cut parts. The design will be acoustically dead (which I hope to demonstarte using accelerometers)
Also, there is no reason why it could not be made to enable meridian flip-free imaging within the mechanical limitations defined by any given OTA & eq head combination.
For anyone living in WA, I could install it if my costs were covered assuming there is 240v on hand for the jackhammer to put down the foundation pins.

fwiw) When I did the foundations for the shipping container, there was a pretty heavy shower went through before I got the chance to properly backfill around the posts. (I think it was 37mm of rain in 20 minutes flat) This left approximately 200mm of standing water on top of the area of clay where the pins were located with a couple of tonnes of weight on each post.
After releasing the jacks holding the weight of the container, I re-checked the laser level across the four corners. After taking the complete load of the container plus its contents, whatever amount the foundations settled was below the resolution of the laser level. They are super strong and rigid.

[el_draco]

This is similar to a couple of Aussie systems, "mega anchor" and "Sure foot", both of which use metal bases. You can whack a house on them EASY! Plenty of stuff on the net about them!

[bugeater]

I'm thinking this might be the only way to put down a pier in my backyard. No possible way I can get enough concrete up my very steep backyard and the clay soil sets hard as rock when it's dry.