Dan to speak at ADSC Drilled Shaft Foundation Seminar

By Robert Thompson, on August 17th, 2007

Dan will be one of eleven speakers at the ADSC’s Northeast Chapter Drilled Shaft Foundation Seminar. From the ADSC’s August 2007 edition of The Hole Story:

” The seminar will be held by the ADSC Northeast Chapter on November 14, in East Elmhurst, NY,at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, located at LaGuardia Airport. Eleven presenters drawn from the ranks of the nation’s top design, construction and testing practitioners will cover drilled shaft design, specifications, construction, concrete design, testing, as well as geotechnical investigation, and remediation techniques. An opportunity to visit with exhibitors will add to the seminar’s value. Among the featured presenters will be Dr. Dan Brown, P.E., Auburn University; Silas Nichols of the FHWA; Dr. Bernie Hertlein, P.E., STS Consultants; and Fred Rhyner, P.E., Mueser Rutledge. Internationally prominent design engineer Clyde Baker, STS Consultants will moderate a Q&A Panel. PDH credits are offered. For information including registration details, contact Ralph Capelli, 712/353-9616 or rcapelli@posillicorp.com.”

Technorati : Case History, Deep Foundations, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

New Seminar Links Added to Upcoming Fall Events

By Robert Thompson, on July 21st, 2007

There are a lot of seminars and workshops coming up this fall that should be of interest to geotechnical engineers and contractors. Seminar organizers include ADSC, DFI, and PDCA. The events are are:

ADSC Anchored Earth Seminar – Anaheim, CA (November 7-9, 2007)

DFI Piling Foundations Seminar – Cincinnati, OH (August 17, 2007)

DFI Current Trends in Foundations of Major Bridges – Sacramento, CA (September 21, 2007)

DFI Augered Cast-in-Place Pile Design, Construction, and Quality Control Seminar – Colorado Springs, CO (October 10, 2007)

DFI Micropiles – Developments in Design and Construction Short Course – Colorado Springs, CO (October 10, 2007)

DFI-CSCE Annual Geotechnical Seminar “Foundation Construction in an Urban Environment – Berlin, CT (November 2, 2007)

DFI Helical Foundations and Tiebacks Seminar – New Orleans, LA (November 16, 2007)

PDCA 8th Annual Design and Installation of Cost Effective Piles – Ellicot City, MD (September 27, 2007)

I have broken the link sidebar on the left labeled Conferences and Meetings into two areas:
Conferences and Meetings (for organization meetings, conferences, etc.) and Seminars and Workshops (for seminars, workshops, short courses, etc.)

Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Continuous Flight Auger Piles, Deep Foundations, Drilled Displacement Piles, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Driven Piles, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Micropiles

Added Link to International Society for Micropiles

By Robert Thompson, on July 21st, 2007

I have added a link to the International Society for Micropiles in our links area. I have also linked the upcoming 8th International Workshop on Micropiles in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 26-30.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Micropiles

8th Annual PDCA DICEP Conference

By Robert Thompson, on July 14th, 2007

The PDCA (Pile Driving Contractors Association) has scheduled their 8th Annual Design and Installation of Cost Efficient Piles conference for September 27, 2007 at the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland. Click below to get more information or to register.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Driven Piles, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Test Pile

Link added to Loadtest, Inc.

By Robert Thompson, on July 3rd, 2007

We have added a link to Loadtest, Inc.,developer of the Osterberg cell (now commonly called the O-cell) test device for drilled shaft and foundation load testing. They have been providing O-cells for the loadtests at the John James Audubon Bridge in Louisiana. Results of those tests will be published ion the near future.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Shaft

Publications on IGM (intermediate geomaterials) added to site

By Robert Thompson, on June 29th, 2007

I have added a couple of publications to the site that cover intermediate geomaterials, or IGM. The first is a paper Dan and I published from my master’s thesis in 1994 which I presented at the 25th Ohio River Valley Soils Seminar in Lexington, Kentucky.: The second one is a report of axial and lateral load tests for drilled shaft foundations in shale for a bridge in Alabama. The loadtests, analysis, and design recommendations were done as part of a research project on drilled shafts Dan was doing for ALDOT. My thesis work was part of the research project.

I am slowly working on getting as many of our publications on the site as possible. Thank you for your patience!

Thompson, W.R. and Brown, D.A., 1994. “Axial Response of Drilled Shafts in Intermediate Geomaterials in the Southeast,” Recent Advances in Deep Foundations – Proceedings, Ohio River Valley Soils Seminar XXV, Lexington, Kentucky, pp 3-1 – 3-10.

Brown,D.A. and Thompson, W.R., 1994. Drilled Shaft Foundation Testing and Design Recommendations, I-65 over Mulberry Fork of the Warrior River, Blount/Cullman Counties,Alabama,Highway Research Center, Auburn University, Alabama, January, 1994.

Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Shaft

Dan leads team updating the FHWA Drilled Shaft Manual

By Robert Thompson, on June 18th, 2007

Dan is leading a technical team that is updating the FHWA drilled shaft manual “Drilled Shafts: Construction Procedures and Design Methods”, FHWA Publication Number IF-99-025, by Dr. Michael W. O’ Neil, P.E. and Dr. Lyman C. Reese, P.E.. The manual was first published in 1988. An updated version was published in 1999. A new edition is now underway in order to incorporate advances in design and construction of drilled shaft foundations. The effort will include a comprehensive review and analysis of load test results from all over the country in a variety of soil and rock formations in order to review and modify the recommended design methodologies. The team of authors that has been assembled includes:

Dr. Dan Brown, P.E. – Auburn University and DBA

Dr. John Turner, P.E. – University of Wyoming

Dr. Jim Long, P.E. – University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)

Ray Castelli, P.E. – PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff)

The author team will be assisted by Dr. Tom Sandford, P.E. of the University of Maine as well as graduate and post-doc students at the various universities. The team will also rely on input from designers and contractors in the drilled shaft industry. PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff) is the contract administrator for the manual update project. Jeremy Hung, P.E. is the PB project manager. The revised manual is planned to be available sometime in 2008.

Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Specifications, Test Shaft

Dr. Steve Dapp lecturing at PDCA Professor’s Driven Pile Institute

By Robert Thompson, on May 18th, 2007

Steve will be one of the presenters at the PDCA Professor’s Driven Pile Institute June 18th through 22nd at Utah State University. Steve’s lecture will be comparing the capacity of driven piles to cast-in-situ piles. He will also be assisting with the axial and lateral load test demonstrations. For more information or to contribute to the funding of the Institute, click here.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Driven Piles, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Pile

Drilled foundation construction in the Piedmont – Dan’s 2002 paper from JGGE

By Robert Thompson, on May 14th, 2007

Dan’s paper from the December, 2002 issue of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering has been added to our Publications page.

Brown, D.A., 2002. “Effect of Construction on Axial Capacity of Drilled Foundations in Piedmont Soils,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Volume 128, No. 12, ASCE, pp967-973.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Technical Journal, Test Shaft

Tip grouting research paper added to site

By Robert Thompson, on May 14th, 2007

I have added a paper on tip-grouting of drilled shafts to the site. Steve was coauthor with Dr. Gray Mullins, P.E. and Danny Winters of the University of South Florida. The paper was published in the April edition of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.

Mullins, G., Winters, D., and Dapp, S., 2006. “Predicting End Bearing Capacity of Post-Grouted Drilled Shaft in Cohesionless Soils ,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Volume 132, No. 4, ASCE, pp478-487.