PROJECT OVERVIEW
Phoenix Project #2118
This project called for the furnishing and installation of 101 helical piles (“HPs”) to support new boat sheds at the Harvard University Newell Boat House project in Cambridge, MA.
The existing boathouse was supported on wood piles and brick masonry piles. The interior of the building was under renovation, and Phoenix was responsible for the piles for the exterior renovation.
While all of Phoenix’s work was technically outside, a number of helical piles were impeded by the existing boathouse’s overhanging canopy, limiting the amount of working headroom.
The properties below the ground surface consisted of miscellaneous fill, organics, sand and marine, deposits, glacial till, and bedrock. The piles themselves had an allowable capacity of 10 kips vertical capacity and a final installation torque of 2,220 ft-lbs. The top of the bearing stratum was encountered approximately 30 feet below ground surface, resulting in maximum installed depths of 35 feet below existing grade at all pile locations. Once the piles were cut off, a pile cap connection plate was installed on each pile.
In the end, helical piles proved to be a cost and time effective solution, despite the restricted headroom present for part of this project.
