June 3, 2020 ITS Money: Charles Winter, P.E., D.GE

Charles Winter, P.E., D.GE. | Jacobs Engineering

Measurement and Use of Pile Set-Up in Design and Construction of the I-480 Valley View Bridge, Cleveland, OH

The I-480 Valley View Bridge project includes the design and construction of a bridge over the Cuyahoga River Valley near Cleveland, Ohio. The foundation design exploited significant pile set-up that is characteristic of the site’s deep fine-grained glacial soils. A pile test program was conducted during the design phase to quantify this pile set-up and enable design optimization (through increased factored resistances resulting in shorter drive lengths and fewer piles). The presentation will describe the test program and summarize how set-up was used in design.

Findings

• The pile test program allowed the foundation to be optimized resulting in a reduction of the length of the footings of more than 20 miles.
• 7000 cubic yards of concrete was saved in pile caps; this is more than twice the volume of an olympic swimming pool.
• Apart from the direct material savings there was a substantial schedule reduction, which generated additional savings.