Marina's Steel Pipe Piles Withstand Hurricane-Force Winds

摘要

Hurricane Satty was the seventh hurricane of a record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. She made landfall at Key Biscayne on Sept. 12 and slowly intensified, passing across Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico to hit the Alabama shore. Along that path of destruction lies Escambia County, home of Pensacola, the Naval Air Station and Museum, and about a dozen marinas used for recreational boating. One such marina, the Palafox Marina, is a prime example of what Category 2 hurricane-force winds can do. Just three months ago, Davis Marine worked with Nucor Skyline to procure 12 pieces of 12.75-in. OD x 0.375-in. x 40-ft pipe piles to install in the marina using a vibratory hammer. These pipe piles are still standing strong after the hurricane swept through, but the same cannot be said for the timber piles and cylindrical hollow concrete pllee that were being utilized within the marina. Nucor Skyline hopes to replace the failed piles with new pipe piles so that the Palafox Marina owners can rest assured that the new pilings will withstand any number of storms that pass through the area in the coming years.