“We drove 26 piles in one single day, all
instrumented, and each pile tested for every
blow. If we had used external sensors, this
would have taken about 13 hours extra
time to detach and attach, but by using the
SmartPile® system, all that time was saved.”
– Kumar Allady
Resiliency and sustainability
“Resiliency and sustainability are words that are often used loosely
in today’s world,” said Kumar Allady, CEO of Smart Structures. “But
as engineers, we believe they can be measured and implemented
in building and maintaining infrastructure for its lifetime. Why not
start with the foundation – the critical element for any structure?
We worked to find a way to implant our sensors and technology for
the lifecycle of the infrastructure.
“As long as we are building infrastructure, we’re going to have
adversities like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, etc. At Smart
Structures, we define resiliency in terms of how quickly we can
evaluate our foundations and structures and how fast can we come
back to normalcy in operation.”
When it comes to sustainability, Allady outlines his approach as
three supporting legs: environment, economics and social.
“Environment and economics are closely tied together. Today,
the global construction industry is a $12 trillion economy projected
to grow to $16 trillion by 2025 economy, and foundations play a
big part with the use of cement, steel and aggregates. This makes
for a huge carbon footprint – according to our research, 80 to 120
times larger than the oil and gas industry. With the SmartPile® system,
it is possible to improve quality control during construction
and reduce the required raw materials and time required for pile
installation.
“As for the social aspects of our technology, we need to be
assured that structures are safe. SmartPile® technology provides
unprecedented real-time data on the health of a structure, which
is especially important during and after storms, earthquakes,
floods and bridge impacts where the structural integrity may
be impacted.”
Joining forces to achieve a common goal
Smart Structures is one of three independent companies (with
some common ownership) that are working together to lead the
way in the development and use of EDCs in the foundation construction
industry.
In 2015, Smart Structures was acquired by Allady, who also
owns RADISE International, LC, a full-service geotechnical engineering
firm. Under the leadership of Allady, RADISE has been
transforming the way the world builds, operates and maintains its
civil infrastructure by providing a wide range of innovative and disruptive
engineering consulting services for infrastructure owners,
82 | ISSUE 3 2021 www.piledrivers.org
builders, contractors, operators and vendors. The company is
uniquely positioned to help design-build project teams understand
and apply this new state-of-the-art SmartPile® technology to their
foundation design projects in order to leverage higher design resistance
factors allowed by the FDOT resulting in fewer piles, shorter
pile lengths and the ability to drive those piles more efficiently, thus
accelerating the overall construction schedule, reducing disruption
to mobility and enhancing public safety.
More recently, RADISE International and Smart Structures
added Applied Foundation Testing (AFT) to the team – a deep
foundation testing company providing complete solutions and
services within the testing industry. AFT has contributed to many
significant advances in equipment development, data acquisition
and more accurate analysis methods for statnamic load testing.
The AFT engineers have been involved in dynamic testing (EDC/
PDA) for over two decades and have performed thousands of
dynamic tests.
The proof is in the product
“We have worked on many driven pile projects using the SmartPile®
technology,” said Allady. “For example, a project in Miami to construct
a new roadway along northwest 87th Avenue required
the construction of a new bridge over the Miami River Canal.
As a consultant to Halley Engineering Contractors Inc., RADISE
International provided geotechnical engineering support and
dynamic load testing.
Monitoring during construction
Photo courtesy of Smart Structures
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