Long Foundation Drilling A Ride FOUNDATION August/September 2019 Drilling

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0819_FDMag_Aug-Sept.indd 1 8/22/19 9:21 AM Cover feature Long Foundation Drilling A roller Coaster Ride By Phil Paolelli, Long Foundation Drilling Co.

It happened the same as it had before: a sudden, unexpected phone call, this time in March of 2018, with the voice on the other end advising that Southside Constructors was reassembling their covert construction squad for a top-secret project on the North Carolina/South Carolina border. Mission code name: Project Snake Bite. This meant it was time to return to and have some fun!

Carowinds is a 400-acre amusement park that opened in 1973 boasting dual citizenship with portions of the park located in both Charlotte, North Carolina and Fort Mill, South Carolina. With over 50 rides and attractions, Carowinds can keep young visitors and hardcore adrenaline junkies alike equally entertained. Owned and operated by Entertainment Company, Carowinds is a “must see” attraction for the Carolinas and surrounding area.

Long foundation Cover feature 21 Long Foundation Drilling Company (Long Foundation) was of only the specifications, geotechnical report, foundation no stranger to Carowinds Amusement Park, as this was layout and a detail sheet of the project, ensured that all the their third roller coaster in the past decade that utilized a details of would be kept under wraps drilled shaft foundation. In 2009, Long Foundation was until the official announcement was made to the public. commissioned to install a drilled shaft foundation for Carowinds’ security measures were so effective, we had the roller coaster named “Intimidator.” Intimidator was no idea what we were installing foundations for until the inspired by the late NASCAR legend and North Carolina official announcement was made in August of 2018, two native, Dale Earnhardt. Climbing a 232-foot hill before months after we began working on the project! For the racing down a 74-degree drop at 80 mph through 5,316 duration of the project, we worked under the watchful feet of track, has you going for the checkered flag in eye of children at the top of the water slide, Blackbeard’s fearless Earnhardt style, on one of the top ten, tallest, Revenge and coaster hobbyists, who took photographs steel hyper coasters in North America. in an effort to obtain as much information as they could about the new attraction. I did not have to go onsite or In 2014, Long Foundation again received the call to install call our superintendent for updates; all I had to do was a drilled shaft foundation for “.” Fury 325 is the go on Facebook and see all the posts and construction world’s fastest and tallest steel giga coaster. Riders updates from the public. Carowinds climb a 325-foot hill and take an 81-degree stoked the fire of public interest by drop, all while reaching speeds of up to adding teasers to the construction 95 mph, for the novelty of traveling walls and increasing speculation through the two states of North about the new attraction. and South Carolina on over 1.25 miles of steel track. The 2019 season would mark the opening of Carowinds’ largest invest- Long Foundation’s previous ment to date: Blue Ridge Junction, a experience at Carowinds had themed area designed as a tribute to fostered familiarity with the the majestic landscape and vibrant kind of schedule required in the colors of the Blue Ridge Mountain construction of a new roller coaster. As region, as well as the lazy pace and innate Steve Jackson, director of Maintenance and Con- charm of the moonshine-producing culture struction at Carowinds put it, “When I found out Long that flourished there. Coiled and waiting for visitors at Foundation had submitted a comparative bid for the the center of Blue Ridge Junction would be Carowinds’ coaster foundations, I was very confident we would meet newest roller coaster, Copperhead Strike. Carowinds’ our deadlines. They understand our business and can promotion for the new coaster cautioned visitors about make things happen, despite challenging schedules. Our the copperheads found by the old, broken-down barn experience with them on Intimidator and Fury 325 as- nestled way, way back in the Blue Ridge Mountains. sured me we would be successful once again debuting Granny Byrd has been creating her delicious “jam” in that our new coaster on time.” barn for nearly 40 years; however, Granny’s “jam” has a little bite that can get you in a lot of trouble if you’re Our previous experience also prepared us for the ever caught with any of it. present, insatiable curiosity of the coaster hobbyists and the airtight security it necessitates. Although the closing Manufactured by GmbH & Co. KG of of an attraction and the appearance of utility paint marks Waldkirch, Germany, Copperhead Strike has the distinc- on the ground always sparks speculation about a new tion of being the first double launch roller coaster in the project, Carowinds’ requirement of signed confidentiality Carolinas. The half mile, 530-ton steel track blasts riders agreements from all parties involved, as well as the release to over 50 mph in two seconds, then launches them into

Carowinds’ security measures were so effective, we had no idea for what we were installing foundations until the official announcement was made two months after we began working on the project!”

22 Long foundation Cover feature FOUNDATION DRILLING | august/September 2019 a series of fast, tight, close-to-the- ground maneuvers tangled with five head over heels inversions, the most of any double launched coaster in North America.

Installation of drilled shafts at Caro- winds is always a challenge, but a tight schedule, excessive hard granite rock excavation, 46 years’ worth of utilities, granite rock, tight work space, granite rock, tight tolerances, two hurricanes—and did I mention gran- ite—collectively made Copperhead Strike a ride to remember for all involved in building it.

Geologically, Carowinds is nestled in the heart of the Piedmont Phy- siographic Province. Stretching from New Jersey to central Alabama, the Piedmont Province is a complex geol- ogy comprised of numerous rock formations of differing materials and ages intermingled with one another, including the remnants of several ancient eroded mountain chains. To complicate matters, the Copperhead Strike site consisted of fills ranging in depths from 3.5 to 15 feet due to previous construction at the site that included a water park swimming pool. Residual soils consisting of sandy silts and silty sands ranged in depths from Baby 3.5 to 28.7 feet. The transitional zone Granite from residual soils and rock known as Partially Weathered Rock (PWR), is defined as residual soils exhibiting Mommy N-values in excess of 100 bpf and Granite extending to depths that range between 12.4 and 33 feet. Granite rock with recoveries ranging from 50 to 100 percent and RQD of 50 to 100 percent was encountered below the residual and PWR soils ranging in depths between 12.4 and 33 feet below ground surface. Groundwater was encountered at depths ranging between 9 and 27.5 feet.

Previous coaster constructions at Carowinds were long and sprawling, with track supports spread out in a lin- ear fashion. By contrast, Copperhead Strike is a small footprint coaster with all the shafts compressed in an approximately four-acre site, a fact that required extensive planning on

FOUNDATION DRILLING | august/September 2019 Long foundation Cover feature 23 Looks like it’s going to get tight rig placement and sequencing. Additionally, the shafts The ride manufacturer provides all of the design were not laid out in a traditional grid system, but rather forces. followed the alignment of the coaster’s track, meaning Deflection tolerances are usually the overriding that since the track repeatedly crossed over itself, the critical design criteria. foundation drawing evolved into nothing more than a Cyclic loading and the lifetime design ride cycles chaotic collection of circles. must be considered. Ride foundations and other nearby structure foundations should be kept isolated. The drilling of each shaft required constant oversight to ensure that utilities Each shaft was designed with different loading criteria which had to be calculated in the field to ensure each shaft and park operations were not disrupted.” had the required end-bearing and uplift-loading criteria met in the PWR and Rock as designed. Due to the highly The location chosen for Copperhead Strike meant that variable depth and type of PWR and rock, as well as the many utilities were in the footprint of construction. The different loading values assigned to each type of material, use of large pier caps over the top of each shaft instead constant inspection of the material being excavated by the allowed vital utilities that conflicted with the coaster onsite geotechnical engineer and constant communication foundations locations to be spanned. The drilling of each with the structural engineer was required. Every shaft shaft required constant oversight to ensure that utilities re-quired a 2-inch percussion drilled test hole to ensure and park operations were not disrupted. In the event a continuity of the rock. The onsite geotechnical engineers utility was discovered, shaft installation was halted until inspected the cleanliness of the shaft and the test hole the Carowinds utility team could conduct an inspection to ensure no soil seams were present in the rock below and create a plan to construct around the utility without bearing elevation. interruption. Copperhead Strike is supported on drilled shafts ranging Dan Peak, Clark Reder Engineering, specializes in roller in diameter from 30 to 60 inches, and depths from 10 to 35 coaster design engineering and points out a couple of key feet, and rock socket depth ranging from no rock socket differentiators when designing roller coaster drilled shafts. required to 12 foot rock sockets. Long Foundation used

24 Long foundation Cover feature FOUNDATION DRILLING | august/September 2019 Not your usual load factors

Copperhead Daddy Strikes Granite Back!

FOUNDATION DRILLING | august/September 2019 Long foundation Cover feature 25 Drilling: A Wild Ride the temporary telescoping casing methods to install the Standard rock removal practices utilizing core barrels shafts. After shaft excavation and inspection, a full-length and rock augers worked some of the time; however, reinforcing cage specifically designed for each shaft was the use of roller cone air barrels internally fabricated placed and aligned. A 3,000-psi concrete with six to eight at Long Foundation ultimately got the job done. Not inch slump was then placed by the free fall method in only were the roller cone barrels able to cut a curf in the dry, utilizing Long Foundation’s specially designed the rock to create some relief for auguring, but we were concrete chutes, ensuring the concrete fell in the center successful on many occasions in breaking the rock cores of the shaft without striking the side wall or reinforcing intact and removing the full length core from the shaft cage. Temporary casings were extracted during concrete without the use of any augers or other tools, saving a placement until the proper cut off elevation was reached. tremendous amount of time and wear and tear on the Large pier caps that encased the anchor bolts required to hold the track supports for the coaster were then constructed over the drilled shafts. Due to the tight tolerances required, the location of the anchors bolts was verified twice by two independent surveyors before the pile cap was poured and a third time immediately after pile cap concrete placement.

When Long Foundation mobilized to the site and hit the ground running in June 2018, we immediately started to encounter extremely hard granite rock shallower than expected. The rock in the Charlotte, North Carolina area is known to routinely have an unconfined compressive strength of 25,000-psi – 35,000-psi or more. Even over the small footprint of the project, the type of granite encountered changed from a salt and pepper granite with thick quartz veins to a blue granite so hard it seemed it couldn’t be scratched. Using three of our trusty Watson workhorses, we began doing what Mother Nature….This is not helpful we do best—removing hard rock from the ground.

26 Long foundation Cover feature FOUNDATION DRILLING | august/September 2019 equipment. If the rock cores could not be extracted intact, of hard granite rock being excavated. Copperhead Strike the combination of drop hammers, augers, grinders, and opened to the public on time on March 23, 2019. We are operator experience succeeded in successfully removing all used to installing drilled shaft for bridges, high rises, the required rock sockets. dams and utilities, but hearing the screams from people riding these roller coasters and knowing the joy they bring is a gratifying experience. We look forward to seeing what Mother Nature bestowed her own types of twists and turns Carowinds has in store next! brand of challenges when the Charlotte area sustained the effects of two hurricanes during the project.” Long Foundation Drilling Team PROJECT MANAGEMENT Mother Nature bestowed her own brand of challenges Phil Paolelli when the Charlotte area sustained the effects of two SUPERINTENDENTS hurricanes during the project. Hurricane Florence hit Billy Powers and Rob Simpson Charlotte in mid-September as a tropical storm carrying high winds and dumping over six inches of rain in a two- Project Team day period. High winds made an appearance again in mid-October, when Hurricane Michael made his way into GENERAL CONTRACTOR Southside Constructors Charlotte, this time releasing over six inches of rain in just a few short hours. Before the storms hit the project ENGINEER site, all the equipment and tools were boomed down and Clark Reder Engineering secured to protect the property and equipment. Once OWNER the winds subsided, the real work was in making the site Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. clean and safe in the aftermath of the heavy rains. RIDE SPECIFIC LINKS www.carowinds.com/play/rides/copperhead-strike In the end, all 263 drilled shafts were successfully installed with over 5,100LF of earth/PWR and over 600LF

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