To enable a Solar PV system to stand the test of time, the soil make-up must be understood before the foundation is designed. Before a project starts, we do various geotechnical soil suitability tests to ensure we develop the most appropriate solution.
From the testing, we determine a preferred founding method, the preferred steel profile or concrete pile, as well as the embedded depth of the pile and ultimate uplift potential of the soil.
Pull out tests, in particular, need to be undertaken as a precursor to the finalisation of the design for any mounting structure.
Best
practice
As a standard, we undertake such tests for our own products and third-party products to make sure they retain their structural integrity during and after installation.
Testing procedures
Our experience ranges from Uplift Tests and Incline Traction Tests to Horizontal Traction Tests and Saturation Tests.
The purpose behind
the procedure
Vertical Uplift
With this procedure, we test to determine whether the 100% maximum vertical design force, to be experienced by the most extreme loaded rear foundation, will be able to be resisted by the interaction between the soil and installed pile.
Lateral Load
Here, we aim to determine that the 100% maximum horizontal design force and moment to be experienced by the most extreme loaded front foundation, will be able to be resisted by the interaction between the soil and installed pile.
Ultimate Vertical Uplift
The purpose of this procedure is to determine the maximum vertical force that the pile is able to resist after being loaded vertically to 100% of the design load and horizontally to 150% of the design load. This test is continued to the point of complete pile failure or when the loading is unsafe to be continued to establish the overall factor of safety that exists for the soil resistance to uplift in a worst-case scenario.
Saturation tests
Saturation tests seek to determine that the 100% maximum vertical design force to be experienced by the most extreme loaded rear foundation, will be able to be resisted by the interaction between the soil and installed pile under saturated conditions.
This test is also continued to the point of complete pile failure to establish the overall factor of safety that exists for the soil resistance to uplift in a worst-case scenario whereby saturated soil and ultimate load is applied.
