Foundation designs for telecommunication monopoles

[paaz]

Hi,

I have been trying to find a sort of a guide to use a design software for Drilled Piers for Telecommunication Towers. The software is made by Powerline systems and it is call CAISSON. I am currently having difficulties trying to come up with suitable or workable foundation designs for such structures.

Anyone out there that have used this design program before or using it now and have some good tips I would gladly appreciate the help. I have been designing Monopoles for over 7 years, but foundation for such structures only for 4 months.

I thank you in advance for your help, and if this is not the right forum for this thread please advise which forum will be the most appropiate.

 

[MikeDB]

I have used PLS Caisson for years. If you have soil borings and know what the tower loading is, it should be very easy to use. Use the anchor bolt pattern diameter plus a foot or so for the pier diameter. I usually ignore the top two feet of soil.

Remember that the safety factor needs to reflect the desired level of safety. If you are using TIA-222-G, Section 9.4 indicates a minimum strength factor of 0.75, so you would want to enter the inverse, 1.33 as an addtional safety factor to the factored loads used on the tower analysis.

Also recognize that the program is not a substitute for sound engineering judgement.