Malcolm was awarded a design build contract for the foundation system of the Sludge Dewatering and Odor Control Project at Plant 1 for Orange County Sanitation District in Fountain Valley, California. The site conditions included various layers of clay, silty sand, and sand with shallow groundwater. The contract included the design and testing of 24 and 18-inch diameter OMEGA piles with a max design load of 272 kips and 228 kips in compression, and 30 kips and 20 kips in shear, respectively. Malcolm’s design was a value engineering proposal to replace the original 30-inch diameter drilled piles, which significantly reduced the overall length and diameter of the piles and saved the client several million dollars.

In total Malcolm installed 437, 24-inch OMEGA piles with lengths between 45- 65 feet and 112, 18-inch OMEGA piles with an average length of 63 feet. All piles received a full length reinforcement cage. We utilized one Bauer BG-40 drill rig equipped with the on-board automated monitoring system (G&H), which provided all the necessary installation parameters and quality control data for each pile.