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Open Cell Piling Provides High Load
Capacity and Low Construction Cost
PITTSBURGH, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Foster Piling,
a division of Pittsburgh-based L.B. Foster Company (Nasdaq: FSTR
- News), has been chosen as a 2004 Constructor Award finalist by
California Constructor magazine for their contribution to the $1.04
billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span replacement project.
Foster Piling received the award designation for their participation
in the innovative design and construction of the Open Cell Sheet
Pile Barge Slip at the KFM Precast Concrete Facility in Stockton,
California.
Foster Piling and strategic partner PND Engineering
Consultants worked with contractor KFM, Inc. to produce a unique
open cell piling bulkhead at the Central Valley precast yard from
where bridge segments are transported to the construction site.
The fabricated anchors, flat sheet piles and sheet pile wyes used
to construct the slip on the Stockton Shipping Channel were provided
to KFM by Foster Piling. KFM, Inc. was able to easily construct
the open cell system with typical equipment and existing labor.
The barge slip was constructed with an innovative
open cell piling system that utilized standard flat sheet piles
manufactured by TXI Chaparral Steel and driven in an arc configuration.
Sheet pile tail walls extend from the intersection of the face sheets,
or wye piles, into the soil behind the wall. This design provided
a high capacity bulkhead which is unaffected by differential settlement,
high seismic loads and heavy equipment load capacities that could
occur at the site. Foster quality control of the fabricated wye
piles was critical to ensure that the sheet piles meet the required
geometry and did not warp when welded.
The Foster open cell piling system can be used in
both ideal or extreme conditions for heavy load capacities, erosion
control or dock finishing in the construction of bulkheads, bridge
abutments, and bulk cargo and container docks.
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