Sinacola, LLC contracted The JDI Group to design and install foundations for columns for a new art sculpture on Summit Street in downtown Toledo, Ohio. The above-ground structural engineer was from Silman Structural Solutions of New York City.
The soils in the chosen area were very poor and not suited for shallow footings with high concentrated loads. Sinacola specializes in the installation of helical anchor micropiles, which are suited for poor soils.
There were several existing electrical conduits located 10” below the base of the columns supporting the sculpture.
There was a column loading of 20,000 lbs. (vertical load) from the weight of the art piece, and 24,000 lbs. horizontal from wind, resulting in a 360,000 ft-lb moment from weight and wind combined.
Our team designed a steel-concrete hybrid foundation. Steel was used to support the column and bridge across the electrical conduits to connect the two concrete foundations (pile caps). Each pile cap contained three helical anchor micropiles extending approximately 35’ deep to keep support columns from overturning.
