Are Helical Pier Foundations The Answer to Building Faster, Better, & Cleaner Data Centers?

With AI pushing the demand for data center capacity to a fever-pitch, could helical pier foundations be the answer to building them more quickly, efficiently, and sustainably?

Introduction

There's (probably) no other industry that's ever sparked more mega construction projects in a short time frame than data centers. The hunger for more information processing and storage capacity is demanding ever-larger builds at an ever-increasing pace.
Good thing that's not, you know, hard to do or anything.
Anyone whose worked in construction knows building massive projects like data centers is an elaborate task with a myriad of moving parts. And if any one of those parts doesn't perform or falls behind, it typically results in a nasty knock-on effect to timelines and budgets.
With hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into data center construction, there's a big question that needs to be answered:
What's the solution for building data centers more quickly and efficiently? Plus, how can we achieve this without harsh environmental costs?
There's different tactics and ideas floating around, like leveraging modular building solutions, for example. But, there's one key part of data center construction that's ripe for a serious transformation... the foundation.

A common foundation solution for large-scale projects like data centers is typically either drilled-shaft concrete piles or driven steel piles. Not bad options at all, but they can be time-consuming and labor-intensive to install.
Drilled shafts result in a significant amount of excavated spoils to deal with, not to mention laying formwork, rebar, and waiting for concrete to cure.
Driven piles need several pieces of large machinery for installation, plus they can create significant noise and ground vibrations which impact the surrounding area.
As mentioned, neither of those foundations are bad options. But, what if there was an alternative to them which:

That foundation does exist, and it's called helical piers (or helical piles, depending on where you're from).

In this article, we're giving you a complete introduction to helical pier foundations and how they can massively improve the way data centers are built. From expediting construction timelines to reducing embodied carbon and cutting environmental impacts, this technology has huge implications for the data center industry.

What Are Helical Pier Foundations?

Helical piers are, in essence, an end-bearing displacement deep foundation. Comprised of a central steel shaft and one, or more, helix-shaped bearing plates, they rotate into the ground and transfer structural loads into competent soil layers.

First invented in the early 19th century, you can find helical foundations supporting virtually every kind of structure in any type of industry. From heavy industrial projects to light residential, it's proven to be a versatile and adaptable solution.
But, how does a helical pier actually hold structural loads? 
To understand that, we need to talk about what makes a helical pier unique to other options - the helix-plate.  

These plates are manufactured from a sheet of steel, cut into circles, then cold-pressed into a specifically-pitched helical shaped plate. Square or octagonal-shaped helix plates also exist, but are less common.

This helix plate is responsible for helping advance the pier smoothly into the ground, through the use of a hydraulic gear motor known as an anchor drive. These drives come in a wide range of torque capacities to suit different sizes of pier and varying soil conditions. In most cases, they'll be attached to common machines like excavators or skidsteers.

How Does a Helical Pier Work?

So, how does a helical pier actually deliver structural load capacity? There's two primary ways:

Helical piers can also derive additional lateral load capacity via skin friction. How much capacity it can gain depends on the pier shaft diameter and soil conditions.

Because of this unique interaction between a helical pier and the soil, it's able to deliver high load capacities even in weak or non-cohesive conditions. The narrow pier shaft combined with larger helix plates creates a wide surface area that anchors in the soil, without requiring excavation.

How is a Helical Pier Installed?

The process for installing a helical pier will vary depending on the specific scenario, but generally speaking you can break it down into these main phases:

And with those five steps, your helical foundation install is done! Because there's no curing required, you'll be able to start building immediately.

As you can see, helical foundations are based on simple and straightforward concepts that have been well-proven over nearly two centuries of use. Their unique design and method of installation can unlock unbelievable speed and efficiency while providing tremendous load capacities. Compared to solutions like poured concrete, a helical foundation can actually be over 90% faster to install.

Speaking of 90% faster, that leads us to the next thing you need to know about helical foundations:

How can they address three key challenges facing data center construction today?

How Helical Piers Solve Three Key Challenges of Data Center Construction

Now, here's the thing. We know there's a lot more than just three challenges to overcome when it comes to building a data center. Like any large-scale construction project, you have a wide array of problems to solve and questions to answer.
That said, trying to cover all these challenges would make for an extremely long and (probably) painful article. So, we wanted to break down three major headwinds that virtually all data center projects will run into. 
More specifically, let's try to understand how helical piers can help overcome these challenges.

1. Speed of Construction

Even though AI is garnering the most attention and investment right now, there's plenty of other tech industries who are chomping at the bit for data center capacity. This means expediting construction is more important, and desirable, than ever. 
Unfortunately, foundation methods such as drilled shafts or driven piles can slow a project down. Extensive excavation, site prep, concrete curing, weather delays, or difficult soils, all add time and risk to your schedule.

Like we've already covered, helical piers eliminate a lot of these steps and slow-downs in the foundation process. 
Quick installation, no excavation, reduced site prep, zero curing, and an ability to deal with difficult soils, they can dramatically slash your foundation timeline. Plus, they can be installed even in poor weather (provided there's no safety risks in doing so).

2. Durability and Longevity

Investing billions of dollars into building a data center is a staggering commitment. Having a robust, reliable, and long-lasting foundation, isn't merely a "nice to have". It's absolutely essential to ensuring that investment of time and money is protected well into the future.
Helical piers are manufactured entirely from steel, hold big structural loads, and have been proven to stand the test of time when properly installed. You may have heard this before, but there's a lighthouse over 150 years old in the Chesapeake Bay that's still standing on its original helical foundation.

With modern steel and our advanced understanding of corrosion, there's no reason a helical foundation can't last for over a century under a data center. And, if the time comes to decommission the structure, the piers can be removed and 100% recycled. Speaking of recycling...

3. Sustainability and Environmental Impact

A lot of attention is paid to the environmental cost of running a data center. However, there's a growing number of people who are voicing concern about the environmental impact of construction as well.

It's hard to ignore the reality that data centers consume immense volumes of raw materials while consuming vast tracts of land. Some of this is unavoidable, but that doesn't mean we don't have opportunities to reduce that impact.

Think about a typical drilled-shaft concrete foundation, and what it takes to install. Huge amounts of ground disturbance, tons upon tons of raw materials, tremendous volumes of CO2 emissions, and lots of embodied carbon.

Source: American Cement Corporation

When you compare a helical foundation with something like concrete, there's a clear environmental advantage to the former. On average, a helical foundation can use over 95% less raw material than concrete. Plus, the lack of ground disturbance gives them a much smaller footprint in the soil.
Of course, you might be thinking that driven steel piles also have some of those advantages - which is true. But, they also require a fair amount of installation equipment and result in potentially-damaging vibrations. Helical piers, conversely, are almost silent during installation and require only an excavator or skidsteer.
On the whole, a helical foundation can have a dramatic positive impact on the overall CO2 emissions and embodied carbon associated with the foundation phase of your project.

Helical Foundation Applications in Data Center Construction

Okay, so, we've said a lot about how helical piers work and what they do to overcome common data center construction challenges. All good stuff, but you might be wondering what you can really use them for on a data center project?

The short answer is... pretty much anything! They're highly adaptable and versatile, making them a sound foundation solution for all aspects of your project.

That's a boring answer though, so let's take a brief look at the specific areas where you might use a helical foundation:

Six Essential Benefits of Helical Pier Foundations for Data Centers

Alright, we're getting close to the end here, and hopefully your head isn't spinning (bad pun, sorry) with all this information on helical piers. To be honest, we could have made this article two or three times as long and still not covered all the aspects of this technology.

So, it seemed like a good idea to summarize what we feel are six key benefits that helical foundations can deliver for data center construction. There's unquestionably more than six benefits, but here's the ones that often have the biggest positive impact...

Time to Rethink Your Data Center Foundation Solution

If you've stuck with us until this point, congratulations! That was a heck of a lot of ground to cover, and we're hoping your mind isn't spinning too much with the possibilities a helical foundation offers.
The rapid growth of the data center industry has brought increasing pressure to build facilities that are fast, reliable, and sustainable. That's a tall order, and you need every possible advantage you can get in order to fulfill those demands. 
Your foundation is the cornerstone of your data center project. Even though it ends up hidden-away, underground and forgotten, it responsible for the stability, longevity, and success, of your project.
More than that, your foundation can also be a key partner in helping you meet those speed, reliability, and sustainability, targets. 
Helical piers are redefining foundation technology by offering a solution to many of the core challenges that project owners, engineers, and contractors are facing. With their efficient installation process, high load-bearing capacity, and reduced environmental impact, they offer a key to unlocking phenomenal results on your projects.
By simply rethinking how you approach your foundation, you have the opportunity to radically transform your entire project while cutting timelines and keeping stakeholders happy.

However, we could only fit so much information about helical pier foundations for data centers in this article. There's a whole lot more we could talk about, which is why we'd love to invite you to get in touch with our team at S&B Helical.
(Self-serving plug incoming)
We've been designing, procuring, and installing, helical pier foundations for large-scale projects across the U.S. since 2015. Our team is comprised of hard-working and dedicated professionals who take pride in producing phenomenal results.
If you're interested in learning more about helical pier foundations for your project, we'd love to help you out. Whether you need questions answered, are looking for help with design and engineering, or would like us to submit a bid, we're here for you. No sales pitches or clingy emails, just straight-shooting information from a team who cares about their craft. 
Give us a call, send an email, or connect on social media, and let's see if a helical pier solution might be right for you.