“Helical piers might be fine for axial loads, but they’re a bad choice for lateral loads.”
Yes, it’s a popular myth. I’ve discussed the subject in a prior article that you can read here. I didn’t have the time in that article to elaborate on the battered helical piers in relation to how you can help make your foundation repair Utah stronger.
Therefore, I decided to give helical piers that are battered the recognition they merit.
On paper battered helical piers one of the techniques we can employ to improve the capacity to lateralize for your foundation.
In reality, they do much more than they do.
“Helical Piers Won’t Hold Lateral Loads”
Lateral loads are characterized by an upward force in place of the vertical force that is characteristic of Axial loads. Think of lateral loads as pulling and pulling on your structure. they are in a parallel direction to the ground and not perpendicular.
These kinds of loads are typically encountered in construction work such as the fields of gas, oil and renewable energy. Imagine a narrow and tall tower, or a catcher that is subject to extreme force lateral. It is necessary to have resistance in the horizontal direction as well as vertical resistance to take on these kinds of load.
Tall and narrow structures, like these, can be subject to high lateral forces that threaten to topple it if not appropriately dealt with
It is now claimed that the helical piers aren’t able to be able to support load lateral to. They argue that the shaft of a helical pier can support the axial forces. Yet they will be pushed over and break under the lateral loads. They argue that due to the structure of a Helical pier. It is never be capable of defending against the lateral load as other foundation options can.
At S&B Helical We’re big supporters of proving the claims we make. This is why I’m going expose exactly how that claim is completely false.
Truth of Helical Piers & Lateral Loads
A helical pier is based using a very simple and powerful idea. The body’s main component is made up of a pier shaft which is, in comparison to the length of the plates is quite small. Utah helical piers plates are affixed to the shaft and it’s the plates that are responsible for a large portion of the resistance to load of the helical Pier.
Instead of relying on a huge shaft’s diameter to the support needed. A helical Pier transfer the structural load down the shaft to the plates of helix. They then, in turn, are plates are fixed to a strong and solid stratum. It’s the soil’s resistance on the helix plates. Which provide a helical pier with a large portion of its capacity for load.
To fully appreciate why helical piers are so versatile and how they can help your project. It helps to understand the basics of how they work
If you’d like to find out more about how helical piers work and the fascinating underlying principles of it. Visit this link to learn more about an article on it.
Helical piers, because of this design, have excellent resistance to compressive and tension axial loads. However, there is a claim that helical piers do not possess good resistance to lateral loads.
