Page 17 - North American Clean Energy March April 2018 Issue

Figure 10: Severe damage due to insufficient embedment depth of the pile foundation
erefore, system design must be conducted with professional expertise and diligent interaction between the structural engineer, and foundation design engineer.
e task of geotechnical engineers
is to design safe and economic foundations; these highly specialized civil engineers collect the measurement of the necessary soil parameters at the project site, prepare the design of the foundations, and answer all questions related to the building ground.
Jürgen Schmid is a Civil Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer and CEO
of AquaSoli LLC, an international engineering consultant company which has performed pioneer work with a global experience of more than 11 GWp in geotechnical engineering of renewable energy worldwide.
Manfred Karl has been a Civil Engineer at AquaSoli since 2010. From 2006 to 2009, he worked in ARGE Richard-Strauß- Tunnel in Munich. He is based in Munich.
Jeremy Scott, P.E., is a Civil Engineer at AquaSoli, with over 17 years of diverse engineering experience worldwide,
in design, construction management, and environmental engineering. He
is currently based in Bangalore for AquaSoli India.
A|quaSoli | www.aquasoli.com
Figure 13: Steel “mini pile” product examples from different manufacturers: left side: cross section of
a driven pile foundation, right side: examples for ground screw solutions
Figure 12: Loads acting on mounting systems of solar farms, which must be transmitted to the foundation and the soil
Figure 11:
Classification of structural and geotechnical damages observed at utility scale ground mount solar farms
Take solar attachment
beyond
the Stone Age!
Most rooftop solar racks are designed around ballast blocks or cement pavers. But ballasted rack systems can move around on the roof, grind broken pieces of ballast into the roofing membrane, and leave the building vulnerable to leaks and other roof problems. More important, many buildings cannot accommodate the dead load weight that ballasted systems require.
Move beyond the Stone Age with PowerGrip!
The OMG PowerGrip family of products was designed to reduce ballast from commercial solar racking systems by providing a secure connection directly to the roof deck or structural members. Once secured in place, properly installed PowerGrips minimize rack movement and remain watertight.
Let OMG show you how a PowerGrip can help bring your next solar project out of the Stone Age.
Call 800.633-3800 or visit OutOfTheStoneAge.com.
Superior productivity. Superior performance.
800.633.3800
www.OMGRoo ng.com OMG PowerGripTM is a trademark of OMG, Inc. Copyright © 2017 OMG, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 North American Clean Energy