In addition to the ADSC EXPO 2012 earlier in March (see post here), the annual Geo-Institute meeting for 2012, GeoCongress 2012 , was held later in the month in Oakland, California.  The conference featured a very large technical program with a variety of tracks covering geotechnical engineering . . . → Read More: GeoCongress 2012–Dan Gives A SOP Lecture; John Turner paper published]]> GeoCongress 2012, Oakland, California

In addition to the ADSC EXPO 2012 earlier in March (see post here), the annual Geo-Institute meeting for 2012, GeoCongress 2012 , was held later in the month in Oakland, California.  The conference featured a very large technical program with a variety of tracks covering geotechnical engineering topics.  There were also the annual named lectures (Terzaghi, Peck, etc.) and other special events. Randy Post wrote about his time at the GeoCongress at his blog, GeoPrac.net.  Check out all of his posts on the conference, including photos and video.

A key feature of this congress was the State of the Art (SOA) and State of the Practice (SOP) Lectures given throughout the four days.  Thirty prominent engineers were invited to give the SOA/SOP lectures.  Dan gave one of the SOP lectures with his highlighting advances in drilled foundation use and selection. His paper, along with all of the other SOA/SOP lectures, is included in GSP No. 226, Geotechnical Engineering State of the Art and Practice, Keynote Lectures from GeoCongress 2012.  His presentation is linked on the image below.

During the regular technical sessions, John Turner presented a paper on a recent project case history on rock-socketed drilled shaft foundations used for a bridge . His paper is in the conference proceedings volume (GSP No. 225):

Turner, J.P., Duffy, J.D., Buell, R. and Zheng, X (2012). “Foundations for the Bridge at Pitkins Curve”, GeoCongress 2012 State of the Art and Practice in Geotechnical Engineering, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 225, ASCE, pp414-423.

The new I-70 bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri is quite the project.  When completed, it will be the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States, with a 1,500-ft main span.  Most significantly for the geotechnical community, the bridge made history when one of its 11-ft diameter . . . → Read More: New I-70 Bridge Featured in Foundation Drilling Magazine]]>

The new I-70 bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri is quite the project.  When completed, it will be the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States, with a 1,500-ft main span.  Most significantly for the geotechnical community, the bridge made history when one of its 11-ft diameter drilled shafts resisted a world record breaking 36,000 tons (bi-directional) during an O-cell load test.  The bridge has already seen press in Civil Engineering Magazine (July 2010, page 30-32), at ENR.com, and in a post by Robert on this blog.  Now, an article by DBA’s Paul Axtell is featured in the September/October issue of Foundation Drilling Magazine.  The editor summarized the article saying:

The information in the following article is a composite of material that came to Foundation Drilling Magazine from three separate sources.  Part I is based on information gleaned from an article that was published on the Associated Press news wire.  Part II is excerpted from ENR’s August 18th, E-Newsletter.  Part III was provided by Paul Axtell and Dan Brown of ADSC Technical Affiliate company, Dan Brown and Associates.  The bridge project is of interest in general.  The Osterberg Load Cell test will be of particular interest to professionals in the deep foundation industry, and specifically for those who work in the drilled shaft segment.

Axtell, P.J. (2010). “Mississippi River Bridge Project Includes Record Load Test: A Three Part Story”, Foundation Drilling, Vol. 31, No. 7 September/October 2010.

I have updated our calendar for 2010 to include many events in the geotechnical and foundation engineering world that may be of interest, plus known speaking/teaching appearances by Dan.  I’ll put in a plug for the events calendars and listings for ADSC, DFI, Geo-Institute, and PDCA.  I get most of my information from . . . → Read More: Events Calendar Updated for 2010]]>  

I have updated our calendar for 2010 to include many events in the geotechnical and foundation engineering world that may be of interest, plus known speaking/teaching appearances by Dan.  I’ll put in a plug for the events calendars and listings for ADSC, DFI, Geo-Institute, and PDCA.  I get most of my information from them.

Some, but not all events,(in addition to my previous post) are:

DFI Helical Foundations & Tiebacks Specialty Seminar – Feb 1

    Geo-Florida 2010 – Feb 20-24

DFI and PDCA – A Joint Conference on Driven Pile – Mar 12

ADSC Drilled Shaft Foundations Seminar – Mar 19

PDCA 14th Annual International Conference and Expo – May 6-8

2nd International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing – May 9-11

 International Bridge Conference 2010 – June 6-10

DFI Super Pile – June 10-11

Earth Retention 2010 – Aug 1-4

 DFI 34th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations – Oct 12-15 

TRB 7th International Bridge Conference – Dec 1-2

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 . . . → Read More: kcICON Bond Bridge Update – Drilled Shafts Complete!]]> 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.

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 . . . → Read More: IFCEE 09 Wrap-up and Papers Posted]]>

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.

Yes, folks, GEC 8 is finally complete! The publication version of Geotechnical Engineering Circular No.8: Design and Construction of Continuous Flight Auger Piles will soon be available from the FHWA Geotechnical Web Site. If you . . . → Read More: Updated – GEC No. 8: Design and Construction of Continuous Flight Auger Piles – It’s Finally Here!]]> 11/30-07 Update! – GEC No. 8 is now up on the FHWA web site. You can download it here.

Yes, folks, GEC 8 is finally complete! The publication version of Geotechnical Engineering Circular No.8: Design and Construction of Continuous Flight Auger Piles will soon be available from the FHWA Geotechnical Web Site. If you want an official sneak peek at GEC 8, just click here to get the PDF (approx. 10 MB). This circular is part of FHWA’s efforts to implement the use of CFA piles as a viable foundation alternative for transportation structures. We’ll post a notice when GEC 8 is on the FHWA web site.