Deep Foundation Challenges in Central Florida

Here is a fascinating presentation on the challenges of deep foundation installations in Central Florida, including individual case histories. Below you will find a snippet of the full PDF.

Central Florida is among the fastest growing urban areas in the United States. The Central Florida region addressed by this paper is roughly defined in Figure 1. The region includes Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Brevard, Volusia, Marion, Sumter and Flagler counties. This portion of Florida contains the metropolitan Orlando area, the Kennedy Space Center, Daytona Beach, Walt Disney World and the other themed entertainment attractions known throughout the world. Central Florida’s rapid development to accommodate its expanding economy, exponential population growth and tourism has required the steady construction of various types of civil engineering works. This paper addresses the challenging geologic/geotechnical conditions of this region of Florida and presents an overview of the local deep foundations practice.

Geologic Perspective

The geology of Central Florida is quite variable in terms of the thickness and elevations of the primary geologic units. In general, the northwest area has thinner overburden soils and rock at higher elevations. Conversely, in the south and east areas, the rock tends to be deeper and the overburden thicker.

Deep Foundations Practice

Deep foundations work involved in bridge construction is generally governed by the Florida Department of Transportation’s three main documents:

• Soils and Foundations Handbook
• Structures Design Guidelines for Load and Resistance Factor Design
• Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction

In addition, project-specific plan notes and special provisions are developed to address items such as minimum pile tip elevation, predrilling depth, jetting, capacity testing, and soil setup.

Visit Pile.com to Read More.