Panama- Country Profile

In 2002, when LOATEST performed the first full scale load tests in the Cucaracha Formation, engineers in Panama knew that they had discovered a very special and valuable technology. Although testing at the Centenario Bridge over the Panama Canal was completed in 2003, O-cell technology was not about to say adios.

Nearly two years later, real estate developer Saul Faska of F&F Properties became the first client to make use of O-cell testing on a private high-rise development in Panama called Ocean2. The effort to bring the technology to Panama’s booming real estate market was spearheaded by Ing. Pepi Barbero of Pilotec, S.A., Ing. Alberto Filos of Tecnipan, S.A. and Dr. Luis Garcia Dutari. The team was faced with engineering a foundation for a 70-story high-rise in Panama’s Costa del Este; an upscale development on the Pacific Coast. The hundreds of new homes, commercial buildings and light industrial projects are founded primarily upon fill overlying stiff sandy silt. But in the coastal areas where the high-rise giants are situated, the near surface soils are poorer and the sound metamorphic rock upon which they can be supported isn’t found until depth reach 30 meters or more.

The challenge faced at Ocean2 was to change the common practice of bypassing often ten or more meters of weathered and fractured rock, whose unconfined compressive strengths rendered them unsuitable to contribute supporting resistance based on current empirical methods. The test pile at Ocean2 was embedded 8 meters into the weathered rock and results showed unit shear values of 400 kPa at 4 mm displacement and base resistance in excess of 30 MPa at 60 mm of downward movement. Armed with this information, the design team modified the foundation design shortening all of the piles. The modification saved weeks of construction time and thousands of dollars for the owner.

Since that time, LOADTEST has performed an additional 18 O-cell tests in Panama. The projects are primarily in Punta Pacifica, Avenida Balboa and Costa del Este, but load tests have been performed in Bocas del Toro and in Coronado as well. With equivalent top loads exceeding 70 MN, engineers are turning more and more to O-cell technology to economize their designs. Foundation engineers George Berman, Luis Alfaro and Carlos Ardila of Ingenieros Geotecnicos, S.A. have turned repeatedly to O-cell testing to reduce uncertainty in their foundation designs, with tests on 3 projects in Costa del Este. And with aggregate O-cell generated savings approaching $10 million in Panama, real estate developers are also in the vanguard. Developer Gaby Btesh of Btesh & Virzi, for example, knows a deal when he sees one. Recognizing the savings potential that the O-cell test represented, he and his partner Jackie Hasky made the decision early on to incorporate O-cell testing on every project possible. Together with their structural engineer Dr. Oscar Ramirez, the O-cell method has been utilized on five prestigious high-rise developments just this year.

As savings increase and O-cell testing becomes more commonplace in Panama, the bored pile contractors are also gaining exposure to the technology. With 14 O-cell tests under his belt, Aldo Aramayo of Rodio Swissboring, S.A. acknowledges the power of O-cell testing. With 14 drill rigs booked six months out, efficient foundation design allows him to finish O-cell projects sooner and move on to the next one. As the diverse group below indicates, it appears there will be many “next ones”.

Developers·
Btesh & Virzi·
Consorcio General·
Desarollo Bahia·
Empresas Bern·
F&F Properties·
Lynx Strategic Development·
Ministry of Transportation (MOP) ·
Grupo Provivienda·
Pacific Developers·
Urban Development


GroupEngineers
Dr. Eduardo Briceno·
Dr. Luis Garcia Dutari·
Geoconsult, S.A.·
Ingenieros Geotecnicos, S.A.·
O.M. Ramirez y Asociados, S.A.·
Tecnilab, S.A.·
Tecnipan, S.A.·
Tierra, Inc.


Contractors
Bauer de Panama, S.A.·
Fundaciones, S.A.·
Pilotec, S.A.·
Rodio Swissboring, S.A.

LOADTEST International Inc. is proud to be part of the team building Panama’s new skyline. Viva Panama!


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