Helical Piles: Test Evaluation Evidence Against the Project

A helical pile evaluation report can shorten product review, but its existence does not approve a foundation for every site or structure. The report covers named products, defined properties, specified installation conditions and particular code editions. The project still has its own loads, ground profile, movement limits, durability exposure, interfaces and approval authority. Before accepting a proposed system, compare those two boundaries line by line. The result should classify each claim as directly supported, supported only after additional project evidence, or outside the report. This guide provides that review route and an Evaluation Evidence Crosswalk. It does not determine pile capacity, prescribe installation criteria or confirm that East Baoyu holds a particular evaluation report.

Define What the Evaluation Report May Support

Begin with the pending decision. A reviewer may need to approve a product family for design development, accept a substitution, release a trial installation or verify evidence for a permit submission. These are different decisions. State the intended use of the review before reading capacity tables.

An ICC-ES Evaluation Report, or ESR, organizes evidence for a named product against specified code provisions or acceptance criteria. ICC-ES explains that an ESR identifies the report holder, evaluation subject and scope, properties evaluated, uses, product description, installation requirements, conditions of use, evidence submitted and identification method. Those headings create a useful reading sequence; they do not replace project design or approval by the authority having jurisdiction (ICC-ES, What’s in an Evaluation Report).

Use four boundaries to frame the review.

The review ends with a bounded statement, not “ESR available.” A useful statement names the exact report, product configuration, evaluated properties, applicable project zone or use, supplemental evidence and unresolved conditions.

Verify Document Identity Before Using Technical Values

Obtain the report from the issuing body or another controlled source. A supplier screenshot, excerpted table or undated certificate cannot show whether the document remains current or whether later pages add conditions. Record the URL, file date, report number, revision or reissue date, stated renewal status, evaluated code editions and every supplement supplied.

Confirm what type of document you received. An acceptance criterion describes how a product category may be evaluated. An evaluation report records findings for a named report holder and product. A test report records a particular test. A listing, certificate or manufacturer declaration may serve another purpose. Similar logos and references do not make these documents interchangeable.

The current public AC358 page identifies the April 2025 edition as Acceptance Criteria for Helical Pile Systems and Devices. Its scope requires defined system/device information, product-specific installation information, identification and design or test evidence. AC358 is therefore a framework for evaluation. Possession of AC358 alone is not a product report, and a reference to it does not show that a proposed model appears in an ESR (ICC-ES AC358).

Check code geography and edition with the project authority. An ESR may address named editions of the International Building Code or International Residential Code and may include separate regional supplements. A project in another jurisdiction may still find the technical evidence useful, but the adoption route must be stated rather than assumed. Record whether the project uses the report as code-compliance evidence, supporting technical data, a specification reference or only a screening input.

Finally, read the entire report, including footnotes, figures, tables and conditions of use. A headline allowable value can depend on a particular shaft, bracket, helix arrangement, soil method, load direction or installation limit defined elsewhere. If the reviewer cannot trace the number to those conditions, the number is not ready to enter the project model.

Match the Offered Assembly to the Evaluated Product

Helical piles are systems. AC358 describes a factory-manufactured steel system made from a central shaft with one or more helical bearing plates, extensions, couplings and an attachment bracket. The allowable system result therefore depends on more than the lead section. The proposed order must be matched to the evaluated assembly at component level.

Build a Product Identity Crosswalk from the purchase description, controlled drawings, bill of materials and markings.

Do not bridge a mismatch with a family resemblance. A different shaft wall, helix size, coupling, bracket, fastener, coating or manufacturing source may affect only one claim, or it may place the assembly outside the report. The report holder and responsible project reviewers should determine the needed disposition. Possible routes include a documented clarification, separate calculation or test, revised product selection, report update, or rejection of the evidence for the intended use.

A current ICC-ES report can illustrate the required specificity without becoming a recommendation. ESR-3982, reissued September 2025, names its report holder, evaluated codes, uses and particular helical-foundation system. Its tables and conditions apply to the products defined in that report; they are not generic East Baoyu values or a universal helical-pile schedule (ICC-ES ESR-3982).

Map Evaluated Properties to the Project Demand

Next, compare what the report actually evaluates with what the foundation must do. “Structural and geotechnical” is a scope heading, not a completed project check. The project demand includes load directions and combinations, serviceability, geometry, connection behavior, ground resistance, construction states and the adopted design route.

Use a Property-to-Project Demand Matrix.

AC358 separates bracket, shaft, helix and soil capacities and uses the lowest applicable link for the evaluated system. That organization is valuable because it prevents one capacity number from representing several different failure paths. Apply its current licensed requirements and the project’s adopted design rules. Do not transfer a capacity, factor or torque relationship from one report or configuration to another (ICC-ES AC358).

Treat soil capacity as site-specific unless the adopted evidence explicitly establishes otherwise. The actual ground profile, groundwater, fill, frost, obstructions, installation disturbance, group effects and loading mode can change the applicable analysis or test route. The Ground Screw Load Capacity guide provides a separate workflow for checking the complete foundation path. This article only determines whether cited evaluation evidence belongs in that workflow.

Where a report does not evaluate the needed property or configuration, record the gap directly. Do not present absence as failure of the product, and do not present unrelated evidence as closure. The correct result may be “not covered by this report; project-specific design and acceptance evidence required.”

Test Site and Installation Conditions Separately

Product evidence and site evidence meet during installation. The report may prescribe equipment, torque measurement, minimum or maximum installation conditions, embedment or depth rules, inclination, extension and coupling procedures, termination, inspection, special inspection or field verification. Extract these requirements into the project installation plan instead of attaching the report without implementation.

Compare each condition with the real work package:

• ground profile and the zones the investigation represents;
• groundwater, frost, scour, corrosion exposure and any aggressive soil information;
• required pile position, inclination, cut-off elevation and supported-structure interface;
• access, headroom, equipment size, tooling and reaction-control constraints;
• torque indicator type, range, calibration, sampling frequency and record ownership;
• component identification before sections disappear below ground;
• stop, refusal, obstruction, spin-out, predrilling or other exception routes permitted by the project;
• proof, verification or load-test objectives, locations, configurations and acceptance authority; and
• per-pile records, deviations, as-builts and release status.

The U.S. Department of Defense UFGS 31 63 26.60 is a project specification resource rather than evidence for a particular commercial product. Its helical-pile section requires project submittals, equipment and operator information, installation criteria, exception handling and a formal record for each installed pile. It shows why installation evidence needs a defined project route. The applicable specification, editions, bracketed selections and acceptance values must be completed by the project team; the UFGS text is not a ready-to-issue universal specification (WBDG, UFGS 31 63 26.60).

Keep torque in its stated role. It may be an equipment demand, a component limit, a monitored installation value or part of a documented capacity correlation. Those meanings differ. A project should name the approved relationship, applicable product and ground conditions, measurement method, limits and confirmation evidence. The Ground Screw Pile Installation article explains how to route observations and exceptions without turning one final torque value into automatic acceptance.

Separate Evaluation Evidence from Project Proof

An evaluation report can reduce duplicated product qualification work, but several project questions remain outside its boundary. Assign them before approval rather than hiding them in a general condition.

The structural engineer may own project reactions, combinations, serviceability limits and connection design. The geotechnical engineer may own the ground model, soil resistance, settlement and test interpretation. The specialty designer or report holder may provide configuration-specific design data and installation requirements. The installer owns controlled execution and records. The inspector verifies the work required by the project. The authority having jurisdiction decides whether the compliance route is accepted. Contract documents must define the actual division of responsibility.

Typical supplemental evidence includes:

1. a site-specific geotechnical basis and foundation-zone map;
2. project reactions, combinations, movement limits and supported-structure interface data;
3. calculations for the exact assembly and any demand outside the report tables;
4. durability design for the stated environment and working life;
5. trial-installation, verification-test or load-test evidence tied to representative configurations and zones;
6. an installation method, inspection plan and exception route using the report conditions;
7. material, welding, coating, dimensional and identification records for the supplied components; and
8. authority comments, permits or acceptance records required for the destination.

The Ground Screw Design Input Checklist can organize these project inputs. If the project is still deciding between product architectures, use the Ground Screw vs Helical Pile comparison first. Evaluation-report review should begin only after the offered configuration and intended approval use are clear enough to test.

For every gap, choose a disposition: close it before design release; allow a named preliminary use while holding procurement or construction; obtain project-specific calculation or test evidence; request a product/report clarification; change the configuration; or reject the report for this claim. State the owner, due date and blocked decision. “Supplier to confirm” is incomplete when the project has not defined what must be confirmed.

Issue the Evaluation Evidence Crosswalk

The final record should be short enough to review and detailed enough to audit. Use one row per material claim or condition. Do not write one row for the entire report.

A directly supported result means the cited report evidence matches the product and the specific claim, while separate project checks are complete or clearly outside that approval gate. It does not mean the report approves the complete foundation.

A conditionally supported result names the exact additional work. For example, the report may establish component properties while a site-specific ground analysis and field verification remain open. The condition must identify who supplies and approves that evidence before the next release.

An outside-the-report result means the cited document should not support that claim. The product may still proceed through another accepted design, test or approval route. Keep that route separate and visible.

Close the crosswalk with change triggers. Recheck applicability if the report status, code basis, report holder, manufacturing source, component model, material, coating, bracket, helix arrangement, connection, loads, ground zone, installation method, test route or jurisdiction changes. Link the accepted revision to the design calculation, product submittal, purchase description, inspection plan and installed pile records.

Related Resources

• Screw Piles — review East Baoyu’s current product-family information and inquiry route.
• Ground Screw vs Helical Pile — compare two defined foundation architectures against the same project requirements.
• Ground Screw Load Capacity — check the complete path from supported structure through components to ground.
• Ground Screw Design Input Checklist — assemble project information before design or quotation.
• Ground Screw Pile Installation — control equipment, hold points, records and field exceptions.

References

• ICC Evaluation Service — What’s in an ICC-ES Evaluation Report
• ICC Evaluation Service — AC358, Acceptance Criteria for Helical Pile Systems and Devices
• ICC Evaluation Service — ESR-3982, Helical Anchors Helical Foundation Systems
• Whole Building Design Guide — UFGS 31 63 26.60, Grouted Helical Piles

Next Step: Review One Offered Configuration

Choose one proposed helical pile assembly and one project zone or use. Collect the current evaluation report and supplements, exact component schedule, controlled drawings, project reactions, geotechnical basis, interface details, durability requirements, installation method, test plan and authority comments. Complete the Evaluation Evidence Crosswalk claim by claim. Hold any release that depends on an unidentified product, unsupported property or unresolved report condition.

Submit the bounded package through Screw Piles when you need East Baoyu to identify a proposed product configuration, manufacturing-document scope and missing quotation inputs. The project’s appointed structural, geotechnical, installation, inspection and approval parties retain responsibility for design, capacity, code acceptance, construction safety and final release.