Geothermal Foundation System: Omega Piles and Geothermal Loops
The new Google Bay View Campus, located adjacent to NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, will house 4,000 new employees at its first ground-up developed campus. In partnership with Brierley Associates, Malcolm designed the largest geothermal foundation system in North America that incorporates a natural geothermal cooling and heating system. To construct the foundation system, 3,989 drilled displacement (Omega) piles with a diameter of 18 inches were installed at depths of 86 feet. Geothermal loops were incorporated into 2,500 Omega piles, commonly called Energy Piles. The geothermal loop system has underground looping pipes filled with a liquid that aids the transfer of ground temperatures to geothermal heat pumps. This means that during the colder winter months, the geothermal system pulls heat directly from the ground to warm the building and water. This significantly helps reduce Google’s carbon footprint during the winter months
Pile Load Test Program
Malcolm utilized an extensive pile load test program to validate and optimize the design of the Omega piles. The test program included the use of thermal integrity profiling (TIP) and several static load tests. All piles were installed using automatic monitoring equipment (AME).
Water Management at Google Bayview
Malcolm also provided a 20-foot-deep soil mix cut-off wall around the perimeter of the project so that site dewatering activities did not affect the offsite groundwater table levels. Thirty-three deep dewatering wells were installed with a discharge treatment system to treat the groundwater during construction.
