Dan Brown and Associates, LLC

kcICON Bond Bridge Update – Drilled Shafts Complete!

May 05th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

UPDATE (5/19/09): Here is an article the Kansas City Star on-line. It has links to photos and video.

Main Pylon under construction for Bond Bridge, Kansas City, MO

Work by DBA is all but compete on the kcICON project. All drilled shafts have been installed and base grouted. Construction of the shafts went very well, with no significant issues. Hayes Drilling installed all of the land-based shafts. AFT performed all of the base grouting.

The main pylon in the river continues to take shape. It won’t be long before PCC will have it looking like a bridge!

Paul has been “enjoying” observing drilled shafts at night and base grouting during the day. A collection of some of his photos from the last bits of shaft construction are below. He got some great shots of the pylon, including some out in the river.

More pictures here.

Previous post here.

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Category: Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts | Leave a Comment

Dan wins 2009 ASCE Martin S. Kapp Foundation Engineering Award.

April 28th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

Dan was recognized with the 2009 Martin S. Kapp Foundation Engineering Award at the International Foundation Congress and Exposition 09 in March. The award is given annually by ASCE to recognize outstanding achievement in geo-construction. From the ASCE Web site:

The Martin S. Kapp Foundation Engineering Award will be given to an individual on the basis of the best example of innovative or outstanding design or construction of foundations, earthworks, retaining structures, or underground construction. Emphasis shall be placed on constructed works where serious difficulties were overcome or where substantial economies were achieved. The example shall have been described in published form available to the entire engineering community.

Dan receiving Kapp Award from G-I President, Dr. Jean-Louis Briaud, P.E.

Congratulations, Dan!

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Audubon (JJA) Bridge Construction Update – April 09

April 27th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

I had the pleasure of making two trips to the Audubon Bridge site in April to help Steve. I got to observe the excavation of two of the shafts on the West High Approach (on land!), observe base grouting of some of the West High Approach shafts, and base grouting of the test shaft on the East High Approach. While there, I got to see both of the river pier cofferdams. They were something else to see with all of the bracing and sheet piles. I did not get to see them installed, but I understand it was quite an interesting process as the cofferdams were “jacked down” into place. While I was there, they were cutting of the permanent casing that sticks up above the seal slab of the pier.

As usual, some pictures from this trip are below.

More pictures here.

Previous posts here.

While not as current, the project web site has a photo gallery with interesting photos, including from the high water of April, 2008.

West Pier and West High Approach Construction

East Pier and East High Approach Construction

Technorati Tags: Drilled Shaft Construction,Deep Foundations,Load Testing,Bridge Foundations,Base Grouting

Category: Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts | Comments off

New DBA Site Features

March 27th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

I have spent a little time tweaking some features on the site;

1. Instead of having a long list of links to conferences, etc. in the side bar, I have created a calendar using Google Calendar. You can click on an event to get a pop-up that has a brief description. In the pop-up, you can click on links for more details, including web site links and copying the event to your calendar. The calendar is located on a new Events page. The link to the page is in the top menu bar.

2. I have also added a Media page with a link to our Picassa Web Albums and a YouTube player.

Category: Miscellaneous | Comments off

IFCEE 09 Wrap-up and Papers Posted

March 25th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

Last week’s International Foundation Congress and Equipment Exposition was a huge success! Dan gave a keynote address on Tuesday on managing risk in deep foundations within the design-build delivery model. Paul, Erik, and I also had papers to present. The technical sessions were excellent, the indoor exhibits were excellent, and the outdoor exhibits of foundation equipment were outstanding! The ADSC, Geo-Institute, and PDCA were the co-organizers of the event. A big hats off to all of the staff of all three organizations that made the event a huge success! Thanks and “atta boy” go to Mohamad Hussein, P.E. (Conference Chair) and to Dan (Technical Program Chair) for all of their work, as well as the rest of the organizing committee.

I have also blogged about the conference here at GeoPrac.net.

Here are some pictures of the outdoor exhibits:

There were over 300 papers included in the conference. The proceedings were published as three Geotechnical Special Publications:

GSP 185: Contemporary Topics in Deep Foundations

GSP 186: Contemporary Topics in In-Situ Testing, Analysis, and Reliability of Foundations

GSP 187: Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support

The editors, Magued Iskander, Ph.D., P.E. (Polytechnic Institute of New York University), Debra Laefer, Ph.D. (University College Dublin, Ireland), and Mohamad Hussein, P.E. (GRL) all had their work cut out for them.

I have added all seven papers authored by DBA team members to our site. The links are below, or you can go to our Publications page.

Axtell, P.J., Stark, T.D., and Dillon, J.C., 2009. “Strength Difference Between Clam-Shell and Long-Reach Excavator Constructed Cement-Bentonite Self-Hardening Slurry Walls”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 187, ASCE, pp. 297-304.

Brown, D.A., 2009. “Management of Risk in Deep Foundations with Design-Build”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in Deep Foundations, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 185, ASCE, pp. 1-11. Brown, D.A. and Thompson, W.R., 2009. “Drilled Shaft Performance in Cemented Calcareous Formations in the Southeast United States”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in Deep Foundations, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 185, ASCE, pp. 119-126.

Loehr, J.E and Huaco, D.R., 2009. “Probabilistic Calibration of Resistance Factors for Slope Stability”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in In-Situ Testing, Analysis, and Reliability of Foundations, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 186, ASCE, pp. 297-304.

Parsons, R.L., Pierson, M., Han, J., Brennan, J.J., and Brown, D.A., 2009. “Lateral Load Capacity of Cast-in-Place Shafts Behind an MSE Wall”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in In-Situ Testing, Analysis, and Reliability of Foundations, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 186, ASCE, pp. 560-567.

Rollins, K.M., Adsero, M.E., and Brown, D.A., 2009. “Jet Grouting to Increase Lateral Resistance of Pile Group in Soft Clay”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 187, ASCE, pp. 265-272.

Thompson, W.R., Hill, J.R., and Loehr, J. E., 2009. “Case History: Value Engineering of Driven H-Piles for Slope Stability on the Missouri River”, 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo, Contemporary Topics in Deep Foundations, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 185, ASCE, pp207-214.

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Category: Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Driven Piles, Micropiles, Miscellaneous, Recent DBA News, Slope Stability | Leave a Comment

Drilled Shafts by Oscillator – I-15 Beck Street Bridge

March 13th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

DBA is working with Parsons Transportation Group and Kiewit-Clyde (a joint venture of Kiewit and W.W. Clyde & Co.) on part of the I-15 Express Link project in Salt Lake City, Utah. DBA is working only on one bridge within the project: the Beck Street Bridge replacement. An existing 6-lane bridge will be replaced and widened to 8 or more lanes utilizing two bridge structures. The southbound bridge is being constructed first adjacent to the existing bridge. Once completed and traffic has been shifted, the existing bridge will be demolished and the new northbound structure will be built.

The abutments are going to be supported by 12.75” diameter, closed-end, concrete-filled pipe piles. The interior bents will be supported by 9.2’ diameter drilled shafts, heavily reinforced for seismic loads. The new approach embankments will include MSE walls and have deep soil mixing under the area adjacent to the abutment to mitigate ground vibration issues. The approach embankments were designed by others.

In addition to liquefaction issues, the bridge spans several railroad tracks that include Union Pacific lines and one commuter rail line. There are also several pipelines in and around the planned foundation locations. The pipeline service an adjacent oil refinery.

I (Robert) was on site recently to observe the excavation of the first shaft. Malcom Drilling Company, Inc. is performing the shaft excavations using a temporary segmental casing advance ahead of the excavation with an oscillator. This method is well suited for the soil conditions that consist of layers of sand, clay, silt, and gravel from both the Great Salt Lake when hit was higher in the past, as well as glacial outwash and alluvial deposits from the Wasatch Mountains adjacent to the site.

I have embedded a slide show and some video below.

You can see all of our project photos on Picasa Web Albums.

You can see all of our project videos on YouTube.

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Category: Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment

kcICON River Bridge Update – March 08

March 11th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

I started on a post back in January, realizing I never finished it when I started writing a new one for this project. So, this one now covers a few months!

Work on the land bents began back in November, before it got really cold! There are 5 land-based bents (Bent 1 on the “south” side of the river and Bents 2 – 5 on the “north” side of the river). Work started with Bent 2 in November, of which Paul took a few photos that I have put into the slideshow below. After a pause for the holidays and scheduling, work on Bent 3 was started in January. The drilled shaft contractor, Hayes Drilling, begins shaft excavation in late afternoon so that that is completed early in the morning for concrete to be placed in the daytime. This means that Paul is verifying the low temperature forecasts of the local KC weather personalities, as well as messing up his sleep habits with many late nights (early mornings?) spent observing the shaft excavations. Paul writes concerning the progress as of this week:

The main pylon is beginning to take shape as the delta-tower rises out of the river. The drilled shafts are complete at Bents 2 and 3, including base-grouting for QA purposes. Despite encountering several difficult boulders right above bedrock, the shafts at Bent 4 have been installed and are awaiting base-grouting. Hayes has constructed three of the five shafts at Bent 5. When complete, they’ll move their operation to the south bank to complete the five shafts at Bent 1.

Pile sleeves have been installed behind the MSE walls at the north and south end bents and are awaiting HP14×73 piles. The piles at the south end bent will be driven after settlement of the fill is mostly complete. The north end bent piles will be installed upon completion of the Bent 5 shafts.

The MSE abutments are being constructed prior to pile driving, hence the sleeves (corrugated metal pipe) being set for the piles.

I have complied a slideshow from some of Paul’s latest pictures. There are a couple in there from early work on site. You can see the pylon tower in the river is coming on up!

More pictures here.

Previous post here, here and here.

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Category: Drilled Shafts, Recent DBA News | Comments off

Report of Nashville Load Test Research - UPDATE

February 17th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

Dan has updated the report for the ADSC SE Chapter research project Nashville, TN site. The new link is below.

Brown, D.A., 2009. “Load Testing of Drilled Shaft Foundations in Limestone, Nashville, TN”, Report for ADSC Southeast Chapter, Feb 2009

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Audubon (JJA) Bridge Construction Update

January 14th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

I have been too busy to post more photos from my trips to New Roads, LA in the fall to help Steve with the work at the Audubon Bridge project. It has been a flurry of activity as they worked to finish installing, tip-routing, and load testing all of the shafts in the river (done in December!). They have also completed and tested the land test shaft on the west side of the river and begun installing the land shafts. Throw in a lot of pile driving, including some 5-foot diameter pipe piles for temporary bents, and it has been a very busy site. All of the various tip-grouting, O-cell load tests on drilled shafts, and PDA testing of the pre-cast piles has been successful. As of today, the Mississippi River has come up and slowed things down a bit, but they should get all of the foundation completed within the next couple of months.

Some pictures I took on some of my trips are setup below. I have also experimented with embedding some video I took with my camera. The camera was not set on a very high video capture resolution, but I think they are good enough for you to get the idea of the shaft excavation and the pile driving activities.

More pictures here.

Previous posts here.

East Pier Construction – September 2008:

East Temporary Bent Pile Driving – September 2008:

West Side Construction and Other Stuff - October 2008:

Excavating Shaft 5E with airlift.

Driving 5′ dia. pipe pile for East Temprary Bent

Extracting casing at Shaft 21W

Technorati Tags: Drilled Shafts,Drilled Shaft Construction,Deep Foundations,Bridge Foundations,Geotechnical Engineering

Category: Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Miscellaneous, Recent DBA News, Site updates, Terzaghi and History | Leave a Comment

New Publications and Presentations – KDOT Wall Report, Ground Improvement Paper, and Drilled Shaft Presentations

January 14th, 2009 | Author: Robert Thompson

I have added some publications and presentations to the site – trying to catch up on things here.

The report of the lateral load tests on drilled shafts and an MSE wall for KDOT has been published. My post on this project is here. Dr. Bob Parsons at University of Kansas was the principal researcher. Our main contribution was analysis of the lateral response of the drilled shafts (Appendix B in the report).

Pierson, M., Parsons, R.L., Han, J., Brown, D.A. and Thompson, W.R., 2008. “Capacity of Laterally Loaded Shafts Constructed Behind the Face of a Mechanically Stabilized Earth Block Wall”, Report for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

We now have a paper co-authored by Paul in the just released DFI Journal Volume 2. The subject is shear modulus in soil mixing and jet grouting.

Axtell, P.J. and Stark, T.D., 2008. “Increase in Shear Modulus by Soil Mix and Jet Grout Methods”, DFI Journal Volume 2, No. 1, Nov2008, Deep Foundations Institute, pp11-21.

Two presentations have also been added – one from Dan’s talk at the 2008 STGEC Conference (program page is here) and one from Dan’s appearance at the San Antonio Section of ASCE earlier this month.