February 3, 2021 ITS Money: Jonathan Huff, P.E.

Jonathan Huff, P.E. | Richard Goettle, Inc.

FC Cincinnati Pile Load Test Program

The iconic FC Cincinnati Soccer Stadium was constructed in 2019 and 2020. It is supported on a deep foundation system comprised of groups of 300 kip capacity augered cast-in-place piles. After the piles were designed, a test pile program was initiated to justify the use of much higher unit skin friction and unit end bearing resistances for the pile design. The test pile program was successful and proved to be money (and time) well spent, with the owner reaping the rewards of considerable financial and schedule savings.

Findings

• Although CPT provides valuable geotechnical data, always perform some SPT to correlate the data.
• Pre-production, pre-bid load test programs can often provide valuable data for cost and schedule savings.
• Trust the input of reputable geotechnical contractors and engineers with experience in the area.