Abstract: The piled foundation for the sports ground of a middle school was planned to resist the buoyancy uplift forces. However, construction difficulties were encountered, and the piles could not be installed. This paper presents the construction phase design change of using fully grouted rock anchors to meet the uplift requirements. The rock anchor design considered the sitespecific conditions revealed in the geotechnical investigation report. The total uplift forces determined from the piled foundations are also applied in the rock anchors. The design analysis and the optimization process indicate that the utilization of rock anchors for the buoyancy design can effectively resolve the constructability issues of pile foundation and the rock anchors have the advantages of cost effective and fast construction.

Key words: Tension Piles, Uplift Anchors, Optimization Design