BUILDING A FIRM FOUNDATION

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SPECIAL
LOCAL
REPORT

By Andrew Gomes

10 feet on all sides, weigh 64,000

pounds and shoulder a load of 3 million to 4 million pounds.
lang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
All the pile caps are usually 2 to
That used to be the familiar
5 feet below a buildings base floor, so
and incessant sound blaring
they cant be seen. But they are confrom construction sites for tall
nected to, and support, columns that
buildings where towering pile
run up into a tower.
drivers rammed concrete pilings deep
into the ground. Such hammering was
WHATS CHANGED with the piles in
a clear and disturbing indication that
recent decades is how they are formed
crews were laying foundation for anand installed in the ground. For towers
other condominium, hotel or office
that have come out of the ground in retower that would soon rise.
cent years around Honolulu, piles are
Nowadays, though, its a quieter and generally used in fewer quantities,
largely unnoticed process that is being have larger diameters, run to shallower
used to anchor the latest generation of depths, take less time to install and can
towers in Honolulu mainly condos
support greater loads.
in Kakaako.
Theres been a lot of change in the
So, what keeps them from sinking or last 20 years, said Robin Lim, presifalling over?
dent of Honolulu-based geotechnical
Its still a network of steel-reinforced engineering firm Geolabs Inc.
concrete piles that act like tree roots to
Lim said the old method of hammersupport towers as high as 400 feet
ing piles into the ground typically inwhere people reside or work.
volved driving them down until they
There can be 200 to 250 piles in a
hit hard earth. That could be 30 to
towers foundation, or substructure,
100 feet deep, though some piles might
which also includes beds of concrete
extend 200 to 300 feet deep. The depth
inlaid with crisscrossed reinforcing
required was determined by a pilings
steel rods that lock together clusters of load need and the resistance of each
piles. A typical concrete bed, or pile
hammer blow.
cap, covering four piles can be a cube
The clanging from pile driving rang

agomes@staradvertiser.com

STRUCTURE
The size and
weight of the
structure and the
soil conditions
below the site
determine how
deep the
foundation is
extended into the
ground.

INFRASTRUCTURE
During the
foundation building
stage, infrastructure
connections for
sewers, water and
the power grid are
set in place.

SOIL
The design engineers
determine the placement,
quantity and depth of piles
by using the information
gathered by the soil investigation
crew, better known as geotechnical
engineers. The piles transmit the load of
the structure to the ground.

An example
of one column
and the four
supporting
piles built into
the ground.

DRILLED SHAFT

A track-mounted rig with an auger drill is used to cut through the

soil or rock to create the hole. The drill is lowered to excavate, and
raised to remove the soil and rock. The process is repeated until the
hole is completed to the full designated depth. The hole depth can
be adjusted depending on ground conditions at each drilled shaft location. The decision is made by a special inspector from the Geotechnical Engineer-of-Records Office who is usually present during
the construction of the foundation to confirm soil conditions and to
make adjustments based on the actual soil conditions encountered.

AUGER DRILL
Hawaii contractors use an
assortment of drills ranging
in diameter from 18 inches
to 11 feet (usually in increments
of 6 inches). The depth drilled can
range from 10 to 150 feet depending
on the soil conditions and structure
being built. The longest drilled
shaft installed in Hawaii is about
190 feet for a bridge on Oahus
North Shore.

PLASTIC
VAPOR
BARRIER

5-INCH SLAB

out around Hawaii into the 1990s as the

method for building tower foundations,
but that changed due to an experience
building a freeway in the 1980s and 1990s.
Lim, who has been a geotechnical engineer in Hawaii for more than 20 years, said
that the local construction industry embraced the alternate method of building
foundations drilling shafts into the
ground and filling the holes with steel rebar and concrete after running into numerous difficulties driving piles for the H-3
freeway in Halawa Valley, where cobblestones and boulders inhibited pile driving.

front and foundations division of Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., compared

drilled-shaft foundations to anchoring
something to a piece of wood with a
screw, and pile driving to anchoring
something to a piece of wood using a nail.
Lim said the last high-rise in Honolulu he
remembers using driven piles was the Lanikea at Waikiki condo, completed in 2005.

inserted and removed to dig the hole.

Ota said ACIP equipment, which includes a much more powerful motor at
the top of a crane, is more expensive, but
the drilling time is quicker. After the industry began using augers 24 inches in
diameter, up from 18 inches, ACIP piles
became more efficient because they
could support more tower weight and resulted in fewer pilings in the ground.
A FEW HONOLULU tower projects in
The typical depth for
the 1990s used drilled-shaft foundations, 24-inch ACIP piles anchoring a
including the One Archer Lane condo.
tower ranges from about 80 to
Then a wave followed with the Kalia
130 feet.
Tower hotel and time-share at Hilton HaThe maximum depth for
THE DRILLED-SHAFT technology had
waiian Village in Waikiki that opened in
ACIP piles is about
been in use on the mainland, but Hawaiis 2001 and a slew of Kakaako condos in130 feet based on available
construction industry was deterred from cluding Moana Pacific, Koolani, 909 Kapi- equipment in Hawaii, accordusing it because equipment for a new sys- olani and Pacifica Honolulu.
ing to Lim. So in some intem would cost a lot and the new system
Builders also began using an alternate
stances where soft ground
would have to be proven superior in
method of foundation construction about runs deep, drilled shafts that
terms of expense and performance. Work 15 years ago that is now used for virtually reach down farther are neceson H-3, which finished in 1997, essentially all new towers in Honolulu. This method sary. In more solid ground,
took on and removed those hurdles.
is known as augered cast-in-place piles,
such as former coral, ACIP
After that, other projects embraced the or ACIP piles.
piles that go down just 40
drilled-shaft method.
ACIP differs from drilled shafts in that
feet can anchor a 400-foot
By drilling shafts, the sides of a hole are the hole is created using one long corktower.
left with rough edges that form a stronger screwlike drill, or auger, that has a cutting
The advantages of ACIP
connection with the cured concrete after
tip and a continuous spiraled channel on pilings have led to their
it is poured into the hole. As a result, the
which earth is moved to the surface. The use in almost all new
number and depth of drilled shafts are re- length of the auger equals the depth of
towers built in Honoduced compared with driven piles.
the hole. By comparison, the drilled-shaft lulu since 2013, Lim
Cedric Ota, vice president of the water- method uses a short drill bit repeatedly
said.

COLUMN
Reinforced with
steel reinforcing bars

This method uses a continuous-flight hollow-stem auger

that allows the pile to be cast in place as the auger is
withdrawn. When the designated depth is reached, the
soil and rock are removed by withdawing the auger
while concrete is pumped through the hollow stem at
the same time to fill the void left when the auger is withdrawn.

CONTINUOUS
AUGER DRILL
Hawaii contractors use
18- or 24-inch-diameter drills
to install the specified ACIP
piles. The depth drilled can
range from 25 feet to a
maximum of 130 feet based
on equipment availability.

ADVANTAGES:

BEST SUITED FOR PROJECTS WITH:

>> Limited work area or foundation

footprint, such as bridge supports in the median or limited
right-of-way.
>> Large vertical and/or lateral load
requirements, such as rail guideways.

Before Hawaii developers adopted

the use of deep shafts for high-rise
foundations, the method of driving
precast piles into the ground was
extensively used. Pile driving used
heavy equipment and was noisy.
Surrounding buildings may have
been disturbed by the vibrations
caused by the operation. By
the mid- to late 1990s, most of
Hawaiis new construction
switched to drilled-shaft foundations, and then to augered castin-place piles starting in the
2000s.
Pile-driving
equipment

One of the last high-rise

buildings using driven
piles for its foundation
was the Lanikea at
Waikiki Condo, at left,
which was completed in
2005.

DRILLED SHAFTS

>> In areas with large voids, drilled shafts

can consume significantly more concrete than anticipated.
>> Slower installation times compared
with precast concrete piles and ACIP
piles
>> Reinforcing cage can get rather large,
making transport to site difficult.
>> Concrete is perishable and has time
limits compared with precast concrete
piles.
>> May require alternative means such as
polymer slurry (instead of temporary
steel casing) to hold open the shaft
hole before concrete placement

DRILLING
FOUNDATIONS

AUGER CAST-IN-PLACE

PILE CAP
Concrete elements
reinforced with
steel used to
transmit the large
column loads to a
group of piles
working in unison
to support the
building columns.

>> Larger diameter and higher capacities

than ACIP piles, resulting in fewer
drilled shafts
>> No waiting for production or precast,
pre-stressed concrete piles
>> Flexible to changes in design length
and shaft diameter
>> Extend to greater depths than ACIP
piles

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GOOGLE STREET VIEW PHOTO

GRADE BEAMS
These connect all the pile caps
together near the ground surface
to provide lateral stability.

4 INCHES
OF GRAVEL

DISADVANTAGES:

A hole is drilled
using an appropriately sized
auger drill to
match the
specified
drilled shaft
size.

M O N D AY 5 / 3 0 / 1 6 > > H O N O L U L U S TA R - A D V E R T I S E R > >

AUGER CAST PILES

ADVANTAGES:

>> Larger capacities than precast, pre-stressed

concrete piles, resulting in fewer ACIP piles
>> Installation rate can equal that of driving
pre-stressed concrete piles.
>> Shorter reinforcing cages trucked to job site
compared with long concrete piles
>> Shorter wait to proceed with production piles
(reinforcing steel cage fabrication versus precast
concrete pile castings)
>> Trouble piles can be re-drilled immediately versus
waiting for another precast concrete pile to be
cast and cured; minimum seven-day wait.
>> Flexible to changes in design strength and pile
diameter
>> Continuous-flight auger and grout keep the hole
open so it does not require additional temporary
steel casing or polymer slurry.
DISADVANTAGES:

>> In areas with large voids, pile can consume

significantly more grout than anticipated
>> Smaller diameters and shorter depths due
to full-depth augers and machine power
>> Concrete is perishable and has time limits
compared with precast concrete piles.
>> Cannot drill through hard materials or rock
>> Requires larger and more powerful equipment
BEST SUITED FOR PROJECTS WITH:

>> Tight foundation installation schedules.

To maintain the
integrity of the
hole and to keep
soil from caving
in, a temporary
steel casing
(shown in blue
above) is often
inserted.

Source: Hawaiian Dredging Construction Inc.

A reinforced steel cage is lowered, and concrete

is placed in the hole. The temporary steel casing
is gradually removed while concrete is in a fluid
state before it starts to set or harden.

PILES
Long and slender members
that transfer or distribute the
load to deeper soil or rock strata
of higher bearing capacity by
avoiding shallow soil of low
bearing capacity. They are
reinforced with steel reinforcing
bars and hoops.

HOW DEEP
The soil determines how deep the pile
is extended to install the specified
ACIP piles. The depth drilled can range
from as shallow as 25 feet to a
maximum of 130 feet based on
available equipment on the island.

Auger is drilled
into the soil to
the desired
depth.

The auger is
slowly withdrawn
as the soil is removed and the
concrete is
pumped through
the hollow stem.

A reinforced
steel cage is
inserted into
the wet
concrete.

GRAPHICS BY DAVID SWANN / DSWANN@STARADVERTISER.COM AND MARTHA HERNANDEZ / MHERNANDEZ@STARADVERTISER.COM