Full Issue (17 MB) - Pile Driving Contractors Association

Project Spotlight
Miles and Miles of
H-piles Support
New Upgrades at
Sammis Power Plant
Project Background
Brayman Construction Corporation, headquartered in
Saxonburg, Pa., was one of six qualified and approved contractors
invited to bid on the W.H. Sammis Power Plant project
managed by Bechtel Power. Located in Stratton, Ohio, the
Sammis Power Plant site includes 187 acres and sits along the
Ohio River between Steubenville and East Liverpool. The
Sammis Power Plant is FirstEnergy’s largest coal-fired plant
in Ohio and produces enough electricity to serve 1.3 million
homes.
Project Overview
In the fall of 2006, the Foundation Division’s Marine and
Piling Group was awarded a $24.16 million piling contract from
Bechtel Power to provide foundation support for the installation
of new pollution controls. The project was undertaken to comply
with the federally-mandated Clean Air Act (CAA) New
Source Review Program (NSR), which was enacted to reduce
emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in coal-fired
plants. The design of the upgrades had not been finalized during
the bidding process thereby requiring the bid and terms of the
contract as “Hard Bid/ Design-Build/Piling Project Contract.”
The project included foundations for various new structures in
and around the existing operating facility including a new stack
foundation. Ultimately, the project would require the installation
of over 4,500 each, driven H-pile and over 250 each,
micropiles.
Project Description
Due to the steady rise of steel prices and lack of readilyavailable
material in quantities to meet the schedule, Brayman,
Bechtel and FirstEnergy decided to purchase the majority of the
H-pile material in 2006 to eliminate the potential cost increases
from the surging price of steel. The pile lengths (75 to 85 feet)
were determined from the preliminary pile designs and available
soil borings and prior to performing any pre-production pile
load test program. Brayman provided Bechtel design engineers
with four separate H-pile design capacities for their use in devel-
• Q4 • 2009
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