ACIP Piles Matt Myer, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, has worked with Baquerizo on many projects, and participates on DFI’s ACIP Pile Committee with him. He says his colleague “brings a high-level and practical approach to solving difficult deep foundation and excavation support-related challenges.” Meyer notes, too, that Baquerizo’s firm, HJ Foundation, a Keller company, continues to "set records and advance the state of practice" for ACIP piles, by upgrading and enhancing their equipment and installation techniques. HJ has made significant advancements that allow consideration of ACIP piles for proposed high-rise towers in Miami approaching 80 stories, while maintaining a corporate culture focused on providing high-quality deep foundation elements. Baquerizo refers to the technology as a “place in the ground where structure and soil touch, an area where knowledge between structural and geotechnical engineering merges, creating a market niche. Today ACIP piles are becoming larger and larger in diameter, and deeper in the ground. The largest today are 48 in (1.22 m) diameter ACIP piles, in a St. Louis project. The record for depth in a single stroke is 155 ft (47.2 m). In another record, a 36 in (0.91 m) diameter ACIP pile was tested to 5,200 tons (46,262 KN). In Galveston, Texas, HJ is installing 18 in (0.46 m) diameter ACIP piles 145 ft (44.2 m) deep with full length reinforcing cages. “People thought all this was impossible,” says Baquerizo, “but after installation, the load tests are successful.” Asked about the takeover of HJ Foundation in 2007 by the Keller Family Group, Baquerizo says the change “improved our company and state of the technology on a practical basis.” Keller was well-known, and we had help expanding all over the country; “doors were open” for us, he says. Another advantage was that Keller has warehouses “everywhere” and we could store equipment at the Keller facilities. The cost of transporting ACIP pile equipment from job to job diminished, and today HJ installs ACIP piles from New Mexico diagonally northeast to New York, with some installations as far north as Wyoming. (Other Keller companies in the U.S. are Case Foun- dation, Hayward Baker, McKinney Drilling and Anderson Drilling.) Currently, HJ is also working with new applications of ACIP piles, for example, permeable barriers that deal with contaminated water. This technology stems from a design by CH2M Hill, and involves a combination of sand and iron pellets. Another advance is full-length reinforcing, using multiple bar cages to deal with lateral forces and with tension. Yet another newer application is for installing noise barriers. DFI Involvement Asked why he was attracted to DFI, Baquerizo says that upon his arrival he noticed that DFI held seminars and annual meetings. He felt “compelled” to join; he wanted to learn from the best and to share knowledge to help improve the industry and the technology. Companies are in competition, yet share knowledge and methods. DFI is the perfect venue to tell the world what you have achieved. Baquerizo says he has energy and passion for what he does, and they animate him and his work. He strives constantly, he says, to improve methods and equipment to challenge the status quo. 38 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JAN/FEB 2013
