PDCA Professors’ Driven Pile Institute June 18-22, 2007

By Robert Thompson, on May 8th, 2007

The PDCA is holding the Professors’ Driven Pile Institute in Logan, Utah on June 18-22, 2007. This institute will provide information on design and construction of driven pile foundations for 25 professors that teach deep foundations courses at universities in the U.S. For more information on supporting this institute, click here to go to the PDCA website.

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

Link to GeoPrac.net added

By Robert Thompson, on May 4th, 2007

I have added a link to GeoPrac.net, a new website in the on-line geotechnical community, under our Geotechnical Resources side bar on the left. The site has been started by Randy Post, P.E. of NCS Consultants. From the site: “GeoPrac.net is a community site for practitioners of geotechnical engineering, geological engineering, engineering geology, hydrogeology and related disciplines.”

Technorati : Engineering Research, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

Links to ASCE Research Library, ADSC Technical Library, and DFI Catalog added

By Robert Thompson, on May 3rd, 2007

I have added links to the ADSC Technical Library, the ASCE Research Library, and the DFI Publications Catalog under our Geotechnical Resources section of the left sidebar. All three of these are sources for purchasing publications of interest in geotechnical engineering. The ADSC Technical Library, of course, focuses mostly on drilled foundations. The DFI Library has a variety of deep foundations related publications, including many DFI conference proceedings. The ASCE Research Library provides access to over 33,000 ASCE Journal papers and conference proceedings. They currently have conference proceedings from 1998 to present and all volumes of all 30 ASCE Journals published since 1995. ASCE is working to digitize their entire collection of journals and proceedings at the rate of about 4,000 papers per year.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Geotechnical Engineering

ADSC’s Design and Construction of Drilled Shafts coming in May

By Robert Thompson, on April 19th, 2007

Dan will be one of the instructors at the ADSC Design and Construction of Drilled Shafts seminar May 18, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio. Information is here.

Ron Erb, P.E., of BBCM Engineering will also be an instructor.

Cooperating organizations include the ADSC Ohio Valley Chapter, ASFE, DFI, and the Geo-Institute of ASCE.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

Dan’s High Performance Concrete paper from GeoDenver is posted

By Robert Thompson, on April 16th, 2007

I have added Dan’s recent paper from the Geo-Institute’s GeoDenver 2007 meeting to the site. This paper is on high performance concrete in drilled shaft construction and was written with Dr. Anton Schindler of Auburn University. Problems associated with concrete in drilled shafts are discussed, including workability of concrete and congested reinforcing cages. Several case histories are presented.

Brown, D.A. and Schindler, A., 2007. “High Performance Concrete and Drilled Shaft Construction”, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 158, Geo-institute GeoDenver 2007 Conference.

Technorati : Case History, Concrete, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Self-Consolidating Concrete

New Links Added

By Robert Thompson, on April 12th, 2007

We have added links to Pile Dynamics, Inc. and to the web site for the 8th International Conference on the Application of Stress Wave Theory to Piles, or Stress Wave 2008. Pile Dynamics, Inc. provides testing and monitoring systems for deep foundation construction and testing. Their sister company, GRL Engineers, Inc., provides deep foundation testing, analysis, and consulting services. They have a technical library of papers by members of their firms, including many on driven pile foundations.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Driven Piles, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

First Test Shaft Started at Audubon Bridge

By Robert Thompson, on March 7th, 2007

The first test shaft was begun recently at the John James Audubon Bridge in Louisiana. DBA’s Steve Dapp, Ph.D., P.E. had the pleasure to make a site visit last week and this week to observe progress. The shaft is the first shaft to be excavated on the project and is at the west pier in the Mississippi River. Excavation of the shaft is being done using a Toyo 1600 gpm pump. The shaft will be about 200 feet deep below the river level, will be tip-grouted, and will be load tested using an O-cell load device. Some photos below.

Toyo pump being lowered into the shaft:

Excavating the shaft with Toyo pump:

Wire cable casing cleaner used to clean out the casing:

Mini-SID (Shaft Inspection Device) being lowered into the shaft:

Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Post-grouted Drilled Shafts, Test Shaft, Tip-grout

Dr. Dan Brown co-chair of ADSC Civil Engineering Faculty Workshop scheduled for 2008

By Robert Thompson, on February 20th, 2007

The ADSC has announced that Dan will co-chair their popular Civil Engineering Faculty Workshop in June, 2008 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Allen Cadden, P.E., Director of Engineering and Vice President of Schnabel Engineering will be co-chair with Dan. The 5-day course includes full-scale field demonstrations of drilled foundations and earth retention technologies. A press release from ADSC is here. We’ll post more links when ADSC posts more information, including applications.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

Project Summary – AEC Lowman Riverbank Stabilization Project

By Robert Thompson, on January 8th, 2007

I have added a new project to our project list. DBA provided several key services for the AEC Charles R. Lowman Power Plant Riverbank Stabilization project. Erik and Dan developed a design that used 100 drilled shaft foundations to stabilize the riverbank and allow AEC to construct new air quality control improvements. The shafts are 54 inches in diameter and extend over 100 feet deep to socket into limestone. Click on the image to download a summary sheet.