Get the NCHRP Synthesis 418 – Pile Criteria From Test Pile Data
Dan’s Speaking Schedule
March 16, 2012 - "Advanced" Design and Construction Issues with Drilled Shaft Foundations; Case Histories - ADSC Equipment EXPO and Technical Conference - San Antonio, Texas
March 26-28, 2012 - State of the Art and Practice for Drilled Foundations - GeoCongress 2012 - ASCE/Geo-Institute - San Francisco, California
Other DBA Team Speaking Appearances
Tim Siegel (January 22, 2012): Innovative Techniques for Characterizing Karst Terrain, Workshop on Geo-innovation in Subsurface Exploration, TRB Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
John Turner and Robert Thompson (February 21-23, 2012): NHI Drilled Shaft Course - Kansas DOT, Topeka, Kansas
Robert Thompson (February 24, 2012): Conservatism in Drilled Shaft Design When
Utilizing Rock Sockets, Alabama Transportation Conference, Montgomery, Alabama
Tim Siegel (March 15, 2012): Micropile Design Installation and Performance for the Foothills Parkway, ADSC Equipment EXPO and Technical Conference, San Antonio, Texas
Robert Thompson (March 15, 2012): Full-Scale Load Tests on Drilled Shafts in Tennessee and Georgia, ADSC Equipment EXPO and Technical Conference, San Antonio, Texas
Erik Loehr (March 15, 2012): Slope Stabilization Using Micropiles, ADSC Equipment EXPO and Technical Conference, San Antonio, Texas
John Turner (March 27, 2012): Foundations for the Bridge at Pitkins Curve - GeoCongress 2012 - ASCE/Geo-Institute - Oakland, California
TBA (April 10-12, 2012): NHI Drilled Shaft Course - South Carolina DOT, Columbia, South Carolina
John Turner (May 7-10, 2012): Highway Geology Symposium, Redding, CA
The planned second load test in the ADSC research project for rock sockets in the Southeastern U.S. is moving closer to execution. Bruce Long of Long Foundation Drilling Company provides this update:
To Fellow Load Testers,
We want to thank everyone who submitted questions or comments regarding the preliminary load test program submitted to us by Dr. Dan Brown. Those comments, and more, will be considered while fine-tuning the program.
Because we have several companies donating their time and money, we have to be flexible with respect to the installation and testing dates. We have tentatively selected some dates, but these are subject to change depending upon the workloads of those volunteering their efforts. We hope to begin shaft installation during the last two weeks of July (weeks beginning the 18th or 25th). The actual load testing would probably take place the week of August 8th, with the actual test date being decided upon by sometime in early July (I hope to give everyone at least a 3-4 week notice).
The actual test date would include a field day visit by all interested parties to the test site at Foundation Technologies office in Lawrenceville, GA. Activities will include a load testing discussion led by Dr. Dan Brown, along with lunch. We would then move to the test site where Loadtest, Inc. will be conducting the Osterberg Load Test on our first shaft. A discussion of the testing process and procedures by Loadtest will precede the actual testing (We will be submitting information later regarding a load test contest where each of you will get to predict the outcome of the test with a special prize going to the winner). We also hope to be drilling on the second shaft that day and will be discussing the drill rigs, tools, and other equipment being used, as well as having the other Osterberg cell available for viewing. This site visit proved to be very well received when we did it in Nashville at the last load test. We hope for a big turnout that day.
I wanted to give everybody a brief update and will be in touch when additional information becomes available in the near future. Thank you for your interest, and if anyone has any questions regarding this plan, please feel free to call me at your convenience.
After some lengthy delays, the rock-socketed drilled shaft research sponsored by the Southeast Chapter of the ADSC is back on track. A second site has been selected at the site of Foundation Technologies, Inc. in Lawrenceville, Georgia. This site will investigate the resistance of some of the rocks of the Piedmont for drilled shaft design. The first test site was in Nashville, Tennessee. The report of the first test site and other information can be found at the test site page. General information about the complete project, including a list of participating/contributing companies and organizations, can be found at the project page.
Bruce Long (Long Foundation Drilling Company) is the lead for the ADSC on this project and has requested interested parties to provide comment on the test plan for the second site (see links below). The hope is to have load testing occur this July if every thing comes together properly. Bruce sent the following email with some refresher material on the Nashville test site and an update on the startup for the Lawrenceville site:
First, I would like for everyone to know that the load test program jointly planned between the Atlanta area ASCE Geotechnical community and the Southeast Chapter of the ADSC is alive and well despite some longer than planned delays. The final boring data has been in hand for some time and Dan Brown and his group have reviewed this information and submitted a preliminary load test program for review and comment. This program is very similar to the test program that was performed in Nashville a couple of years back. For informational purposes, the results of that test program has resulted in an increased awareness of the available load carrying capacity in the limestone formations in the area. Historically, shafts were designed almost exclusively utilizing end bearing with the normal range of values allowed ranging from 60-100 KSF. In recent months, we have seen projects now being designed with recommended values ranging from 100 up to 250 KSF with an increasing number of designs also relying on skin friction values up to 25 KSF in sound limestone sockets. The information gained from these load tests has given area engineers increased confidence in raising the bar for future drilled shaft designs. This will result in lower foundation costs for owners of public and private projects alike. For those involved in the design process, better information will result in improved design values and an improved competitive position for those willing to utilize this data.
Now we are prepared to move forward with the planned testing in the Atlanta area. I have attached the final geotechnical report for your review. There are several people and companies that have generously volunteered their time and expertise to make this happen, Todd Barber with Geo-Hydro Engineers, Inc. being the most notable of these. His persistence and assistance was invaluable. Others that contributed in a variety of ways include Mactec, Golder Associates, Georgia Tech and GeoTesting Express. Thanks to everyone for their efforts.
Also attached is the preliminary memo from Rob Thompson of Dan Brown and Associates. What he has outlined are suggestions based upon the boring information for two separate Osterberg Load cell tests. One would be on a shaft that was hand-cleaned, while the second shaft would be machine-cleaned only. This would allow a comparison to determine the effects (if any) that traditional hand-cleaning has on shaft behavior. This memo is being sent out with the intention that review and comments from the geotechnical community be considered and incorporated in the final program. Depending upon the extent of comments, a final meeting could be necessary to discuss any proposed revisions. If suggestions are minimal, such a meeting might not be required. In this case, we would proceed with shaft installation and testing as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience–I think that the final results will be worth the time. It has been very rare that full scale load testing be done in hard rock areas (Piedmont or Limestone), but if the results of our Nashville area testing are any indication, I think the results will definitely show that the effort was worthwhile.
Please take time to review this information and e-mail or call me with any comments that you might have. As soon as all comments have been reviewed, we will let everyone know our plan to proceed. I would like to have comments submitted to me by May 27, 2011. If there are any questions regarding our plans, schedule, etc., please feel free to contact me at your convenience.
I have linked the proposed load test plan memo and the boring information below. Bruce would like comments from interested parties to be submitted by May 27, 2011. Please submit comments to him at blong@lfdc.com.
A blog page for this test site has been created and will be updated as the project progresses. We intend to have a prediction contest similar to the one we had for the Nashville site, so keep checking for information. Better yet, subscribe to our blog using one of the social media links at the top of the right sidebar of the blog.
Well, I, David, have survived my first (and hopefully last) winter in Minnesota. I spent most of January and February observing the installation of the Pier 5 drilled shafts at the new Hastings bridge project in Hastings, Minnesota. In addition to the drilled shafts, there has been a lot activity at Hastings since Aaron last blogged about this project in January. A link to his post is here. All of the ground improvement piles for the column-supported embankment have been installed and approximately 75% of the caps have been poured. The 42-inch piles and pile caps for Piers 8, 9, and 10 are also complete. Piles for the north embankment retaining wall have been installed and construction of the wall has begun. Excavation for the rock bearing spread footings that will support the south land piers is in progress. Work at Piers 6 and 7 and on the north shore are currently on hold as the Mississippi River is experiencing its annual spring flood. The water level is about 14 feet above normal elevation.
I have taken the pictures Paul and I have collected over the last few months and uploaded some of the more interesting ones to a Picasa web album. The pictures are generally in chronological order and cover most of the construction process from November of 2010 right up to the end of March 2011. A link to our our video of a Statnamic load test at Hastings that Aaron blogged about is here.
On December 29, 2010, Audubon Bridge Constructors recently “closed” the main span of the John James Audubon Bridge between New Roads and St. Francisville, Louisiana. Watch the video featured at the top of the page at the bridge link to hear about the bridge, including the drilled shaft foundations! For something really fascinating, go to the webcams here and scroll back through the various dates. They have archived images all the way back to start of construction.
Photo: Chris Usery, Figg Bridge Inspectors
The last cables were installed on January 3, 2011 as noted on the project website:
The last two cable stays of the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere were installed on January 3, 2011, five days after the spans were connected. The John James Audubon Bridge, Louisiana’s newest crossing over the Mississippi River, now has all of its 136 cable stays in place.
This bridge will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America when it opens later in 2011. Again, from the project web site:
The spans of the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere were connected on December 29, 2010, stretching 1/3 of a mile over the Mississippi River. The John James Audubon Bridge, connecting Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes in Louisiana, is approximately 92% complete. Construction of the spans began from both sides of the 500-foot tall towers earlier this year. Both sides continue to progress at a rapid pace, and now the meeting of the spans has occurred.
Steve Dapp and I had the pleasure of working with many great people during our time on site (much more time for Steve than for me!) during foundation construction. One of them, Chris Ursery of Figg Bridge Inspectors, has been great about providing us with photos now and then to keep us updated of some of the details of the bridge construction. Chris has granted us permission to share a few of his recent photos, which are shown below or can be seen in our web albums here.
Good morning DBA fans! I’m here to give you the latest news on the Hastings Bridge project.
The weather has been a bit chilly in Hastings, MN but that isn’t stopping progress. Paul provided the update below and this picture of one of the beautiful mornings on the site.
Installation of the 12.75” diameter open-ended pipe piles for the column-supported embankment (CSE) is well under way. Each pile is around 165’ in length and will support a geogrid-reinforced load transfer platform (LTP). Light weight fill, or geofoam, will be used to transition from the CSE into the existing embankment.
Installation of the North Embankment retaining wall piles has begun and is about 50% complete.
The Pier 10 test pile was installed and tested with AFT’s 30MN axial Statnamic device. The pile is a 42” open-ended pipe pile with 7/8” wall and is embedded about 190’. Check out the video below. The Pier 6 test pile has also been installed and tested axially and laterally with a Statnamic device.
That’s all for now, but come back later for additional updates on this exciting project. Thanks for reading!
The kcICON project in Kansas City has been completed six months ahead of schedule and within budget with all lanes and ramps being open on December 18th. Demolition has begun on the existing Paseo bridge. You can see some photos of the demolition (like the one in this post – thanks kcICON!) at their Facebook page. It was a great experience for us to have been a part of this project. If you want to see all of our previous posts on this, click here. Other points of interest are linked below.
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.
Paul received a few photos of the kcICON bridge that are just too cool not to share. These were sent to him by Massman Construction. These were taken in September of this year. MoDOT’s Flicker album of the dedication ceremony is here. The new bridge was dedicated and partially opened to traffic (southbound) on September 27th. The northbound traffic was shifted to the new structure on October 22nd. All of the bridges and ramps for the project will be opened by the end of the year – 6 months ahead of schedule. Can’t wait to see it after the exisitng bridge is demoloshed, though it is a pretty cool image with the old and new bridges together. Updates for the project are on the project Facebook Page.
Dan recently played the part of storyteller at the Southeastern Transportation Geotechnical Engineering Conference (STGEC) 2010 conference in Charleston, West Virginia when he gave the lunch presentation on the conference’s first day. He took the audience on a trip down the Mississippi River from a foundation engineer’s perspective, talking about several bridges that DBA has had the pleasure to work on, or is still working on, along the river the last few years. Dan began with the I-35W Bridge replacement in Minneapolis, Minnesota and ended at the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans, Louisiana. Stops along the way included the Hastings Bridge (Hastings Minnesota), the new I-70 Bridge (St. Louis, Missouri), and the Audubon Bridge (New Roads/St. Francisville, Louisiana). Dan covered some of the technical issues/problems associated with each project and the solutions applied to complete the foundations (or complete the design). It was a very informative talk presented in a unique way that everyone at the luncheon seemed to enjoy. Dan’s presentation is now available on our Presentations Page.
Immediately after lunch, Robert made a presentation that described some of the pile load tests performed on two of the storm protection projects in New Orleans that DBA was privileged to be involved with through Kiewit. By following Dan, it provided a little continuity to the story as Robert took the group below the Huey P. Long Bridge to the levees and canals downstream of New Orleans. Robert’s presentation can also be found on our Presentations Page.
The Lunda/Ames design-build joint venture (Lunda Construction Company of Black River Falls, Wisconsin and Ames Construction, Inc. of Burnsville, Minnesota) has been awarded a contract to build the new Highway 61 Hastings Bridge over the Mississippi River in Hastings, Minnesota. Parsons Transportation Group is the designer and DBA is performing geotechnical design of the bridge foundations and settlement mitigation as a sub-consultant to PTG.
Here is the existing bridge that is being replaced (viewing from upstream):
In addition to several relatively large approach spans, the new bridge will include a 545ft long free-standing arch main span with four lanes of traffic and a 12 foot wide common use pedestrian/bike path. The new bridge will allow additional parking and an artistic plaza area south of the river. An anti-icing system will be installed to help achieve the 100-year design life.
On the south side of the Mississippi River, the bridge foundations will consist of spread footings bearing on dolostone bedrock. The remaining bridge foundations will utilize 42in diameter pipe piles. Several Statnamic load tests, both axial and lateral, will be performed by our friends at AFT.
Settlement mitigation is required beneath the North Embankment due to several relatively thick and deep strata of compressible fine-grained soils. The embankment will also be heavily instrumented to evaluate performance of the embankment and mitigation technique.
Preliminary work including subsurface investigation has begun. The subsurface investigation is being performed by Braun Intertec under sub-contract to DBA. Test piles will be installed in early September, 2010 with subsequent load testing soon after.
The awarded design-build contract is for $120M. The estimated project completion date is May 13, 2013.
