Articles

January Technical Geotechnical Seminar

Tom Szynakiewicz, P.E. is the Area Manager for Hayward Baker’s Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston Offices.  His current responsibilities include supervision of design, estimating, and project management for a variety of Geotechnical Construction projects using micropiles, vibro-systems, compaction, chemical, slurry and jet grouting, and soil mixing as well as tieback and shoring systems.  Mr. Szynakiewicz has authored numerous technical papers as well as been a co-instructor for the DFI/ADSC Micropile Courses including in Colorado Springs (2007) and Las Vegas (2008) and has been a guest lecturer at Montana Tech University, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.  He has also been a speaker at the Colorado School of Mines Tunneling Conference for several years.  Mr. Szynakiewicz holds BS and MS degrees in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering respectively from the Colorado School of Mines and is a licensed professional engineer in 12 Midwest and Rocky Mountain States.  He is a member of ASCE, DFI, ADSC, AREMA, and ASDSO.
 

Overview of Micropiles and Micropile Technology

Mr. Szynakiewicz will present an overview of micropiling technology including case studies of recently completed underpinning, structural rehabilitation and retrofitting work in the TX market.  The presentation will include an overview of typical micropile sizes, drill rig options for low headroom and limited access conditions, as well as case studies of foundation rehabilitation, capacity upgrade projects and other micropile applications.
 
In general, micropiles are small diameter piles that can be installed in almost any type of ground where piles are required, with design loads as small as three tons and as high as 500 tons. Also known as minipiles, pin piles, needle piles or root piles, micropiles can offer a viable alternative to conventional piling techniques, particularly in restricted access, low headroom or difficult geotechnical situations.
 
Initially, a steel pipe or casing is generally drilled or driven to the required bearing stratum or depth.  The bearing element of the pile is then constructed.  This may consist of simply socketing the pile tip into a rock formation or it may include various other drilling and grouting techniques within the bearing stratum.  A center steel bar is typically inserted into the hole.  The steel pipe/casing is then filled with grout and may be partially of fully extracted.  The grout can be pressurized to increase pile/soil bond.  The connection to the foundation is then constructed by tying into the micropile.