Rolando,
Thank you for the explanation of the usage/purpose of the gussets.  One question comes to mind would be how wide would they be relative to the height/diameter of the pier, I suppose also it depends on whether the pier material is aluminum or steel.  You already stated that typically they would be 1/2 the length, but how wide optimally should they be at the base (or is that a really critical dimension).

Thanks,
Steve H