Lateral Response of Pole on Engineered Driven Timber Pile Footing at Ararat Windfarm Terminal Station-Paper

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The Ararat Terminal Station, which connects electricity from the Ararat Wind Farm to the grid, used driven cruciform piles made from engineered glue-laminated Australian pine. The piles were selected to shorten construction time, reduce costs and limit concrete use across the project’s foundation works. The project was the first large-scale use of farmed Australian pine timber piles in an environmentally focused development.<br /><br />To improve durability, the piles received H5 treatment and were protected at ground level by reinforced-concrete pile caps. A driving sequence was developed through field trials. The paper describes the pile design, durability measures, construction and installation procedures, and the protocol for full-scale lateral load testing. It compares test results with predictions from several engineering methods and discusses validation, potential applications in other infrastructure projects, and opportunities for improvement.

Keywords

Ararat Terminal Station

wind farm

electricity grid

glue-laminated Australian pine

timber piles

H5 treatment

reinforced-concrete pile caps

lateral load testing

pile design

construction procedures