Dan Brown and Associates is pleased to announce the newest addition to the team – Jon H. Gould, P.E. Jon has over 38 years of experience as a geotechnical engineer and for the last several years has been self-employed as a geotechnical consultant. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida. Jon’s geotechnical engineering experience includes geotechnical exploration and evaluation of sites for major industrial and commercial projects throughout the U.S., deep foundations, ground improvement, expert witness, and dam inspection. Jon’s resume is available on the About Us page of our website.
Welcome aboard, Jon!
The folks at Geoengineer.org are developing a website to honor the legacy of Professor Ralph B. Peck who passed away earlier this year. The development team is offering an invitation for contributions:
To honor a distinguished geotechnical engineer, for his dedication and contributions to the society as a teacher, author, and engineer, we invite his friends, students and colleagues to send us any material relevant for inclusion in this website. Photos, videos, notes, or other material of historical value is more than welcome. Your contribution to this effort is vital and will be acknowledged.
The team behind the website includes:
The website is being developed in collaboration with Mrs. Nancy Peck-Young, Prof. Peck’s daughter and is supervised by an international Advisory Committee of distinguished members of the engineering community that have worked closely with Prof. Peck. The Advisory Committee presently consists of:
- Professor Ricardo Dobry, Professor, RPI.
- Dr. Suzanne Lacasse, Director, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI)
- Prof. Shamsher Prakash, Emeritus Professor, University of Missouri-Rolla
- Prof. Edward Cording, Emeritus Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
More information can be found at the Geoengineer.org website here.
The results are in for the load test at Test Shaft 1 at the Nashville site. The shaft was not loaded to failure in end bearing, in fact, it barely exceeded 1/2 inch of movement. Failure in side shear was not reached, either, but appeared to be approaching the maximum. Thus, for our contest, the maximum end bearing resistance was not evaluated. The average unit side shear in the socket was 24.2 ksf and the end bearing resistance mobilized at 1/2 inch deflection was a surprising 520 ksf!
So, our winner is………Matt Bullard, E.I. of the Nashville Branch of TTL, Inc. He predicted a unit side shear of 25 ksf and an end bearing of 552 ksf at 1/2 inch deflection. A detailed look at the results and the range of the predictions can be found here.
Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Shaft
Karl von Terzaghi (October 2, 1883 – October 25, 1963)
Photograph From the World Wide Web of Geotechnical Engineering Hall of Fame (http://www.ejge.com/People/Terzaghi/Terzaghi.htm)
Good day and Happy Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday! Today is a celebrated day on the geotechnical calendar each and every year, and this year is special as it is the 125th year since the birth of the Father of Modern Soil Mechanics. For those of you that this is the first year you have received this message, let me welcome you to my annual tribute to Professor Terzaghi and the geotechnical engineering profession. (If you do not want this annual greeting, please let me know and I will drop you from my list!).
This year I am writing from a hotel room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana preparing to be on a bridge site in the morning to observe an O-cell load test. I wish I could say I spent some time perusing Professor Terzaghi’s biography: “Karl Terzaghi – The Engineer as Artist” by Richard E. Goodman in order to prepare something that reflects on some event or achievement of Professor Terzaghi. Alas the last two weeks have been terribly busy with trips back and forth between Alabama and Louisiana, long days on the project site, and staying on top of everything else as usual.
Therefore, I will keep this post brief and encourage you to celebrate today wherever work finds you today. Every day is a great day to be a geotechnical engineer, foundation contractor, professor, sales engineer, or other part of the geo-industry. Go out and have fun today, and make sure and remind everyone in your office, etc. that today is Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday!
DBA is one of many participants in a geotechnical engineering / deep foundation design research project being sponsored by the ADSC Southeast Chapter and funded by the ADSC Industry Advancement Fund. The project is investigating the axial resistance of drilled shafts socketed in to various rock formation in the Southeastern U.S. Design of drilled shaft foundations in the Southeastern U.S. has been very conservative over the years, often based solely on presumptive values of end bearing on rock and a requirement that the shaft be founded on sound rock with some minimum embedment below the rock surface. The research program hopes to test several shafts socketed into different rock formations to provide data for evaluating current design methodology, particularly the presumptive design values used in the region.
The first test shaft is being constructed this week at the Long Foundation Company equipment yard in Nashville, Tennessee. The shaft has a 48-inch rock socket in limestone. In conjunction with the research project, the ADSC SE Chapter is holding a prediction contest for the first test shaft. You can submit your prediction of the unit side shear and end bearing values. You can access the page on the shaft and the contest on the project page here or at the link on the top of the right sidebar. Information available includes boring logs, rock core photos, and photos of the rock socket construction. Contest entry deadline is Thursday, September 25th.
Other participants/sponsors include: Loadtest, PSI, S&ME, and Tennessee DOT.
Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Shaft
Work is well underway on the main pylon foundation for the Christopher S. Bond Bridge on the kcICON project in Kansas City. By Labor Day, 4 of the 8 shafts (with 10.5-foot diameter rock sockets) will be completed. Construction of the shafts is progressing smoothly. The Pylon shafts may be completed as early as the end of September. Work on the land shafts will start sometime after Labor Day.
The photos in the slide show below were provided courtesy of the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).
Update: MoDOT has set up a webcam on the exisiting bridge looking down on the pylon construction. Check it out here.
Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering
Audubon Bridge Constructors (ABC) is making progress on the new John Jame Audubon Bridge near New Roads and St. Francisville, Louisiana. Steve has been spending quite a bit of time there looking at shaft excavations ,test shaft installations, and test pile installations. Paul made a trip in July and I made one earlier this month to give Steve a break. It is really amazing to be part of such a large bridge project. The amount of work required to build the foundations is incredible. I have posted a couple of slide shows below from the visits Paul and I made. Links to the slide shows and albums are on the project page.
Â
Shafts W21 and W 5 – July 2008
Â
Shaft W12 and West High Approach Test Shaft – August 2008
Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Post-grouted Drilled Shafts, Test Shaft, Tip-grout
The Deep Foundations Committee of the Geo-institute of ASCE has announced that a Geotechnical Special Publication (GSP) will be issued in 2010 honoring the work of Clyde Baker, P.E., S.E.. A call for papers has been issued on the G-I website:
The Geo-Institute is soliciting abstracts for technical papers to be considered for inclusion in the Geotechnical Special Publication (GSP) honoring Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., S.E., Hon.M.ASCE. The GSP will be titled The Art of Foundation Engineering Practice; Mohamad Hussein, J. Brian Anderson, and William Camp, III, Editors. It will be published in 2010 during the Geo-Institute annual meeting.
Technical papers covering all aspects of foundation engineering – research, structural and geotechnical design, construction practices, testing, and performance – will be considered. Papers documenting case histories are particularly welcome.
Deadline for abstract submission is November 30, 2008. Abstracts should have between 300-400 words and may be submitted by email to ClydeBakerGSP@uncc.edu.
Clyde has made many contributions to the design and construction of deep foundations, having consulted on the foundation design of the world’s tallest buildings, including the 2000-ft-tall Chicago Spire under construction since 2007. He was recently honored with the Engineering News Record’s 2007 Award for Excellence.
Technorati : Deep Foundations, Foundation Construction, Geotechnical Engineering
I have been slow in posting on the progress of our part in the kcICON project (see here for background and here for latest project images by MoDOT). The exploratory drilling went very well with a short pause due to ice in the river in late January. The crews from Terracon did an outstanding job getting the borings completed, overcoming the occasional problems with drilling tools deciding they did not want to come out of the hole.
Design work by Parsons on the main bridge proceeded (and is still ongoing) through the rest of winter and into the spring. In late April, PCC installed the test shaft in the middle of the pylon foundation with a 6-foot diameter rock socket 20 feet long. The shaft was tested using a group of 3 O-cells placed near the bottom of the shaft. The test yielded excellent results in both side shear and end bearing in the shale socket. Look for us to include the results in a future technical paper or journal article.
Design is continuing with the pylon shafts anticipated to be started in early July. The abutments and approach piers are schedule to be started later this summer or early fall.
The slide show embedded below has some photos of the exploratory drilling and the test shaft installation. Enjoy!
Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Shaft
Well, the ADSC 2008 Faculty Workshop Field Day was a great success! A group of 46 civil engineering faculty members from across the country participated in the week-long workshop that culminated in a field demonstration day at the World Headquarters of Dan Brown and Associates in Sequatchie, Tennessee. The participants and instructors were treated to installation and testing demonstrations of drilled shaft foundations, micropile foundations, and anchored earth retention systems. The load tests included a static load test of a micropile and a Statnamic test of a drilled shaft, which provided some of the day’s excitement. Installation demonstrations of the various drilled foundations and anchors allowed the participants to observe how the various elements are installed. Even though we had to dodge an occasional thundershower, everyone had a great time and felt that they went away with a lot of valuable information for their classes back home.
More info on the Workshop here.
I put together a slide show of photos taken by myself (Robert) and Dr. Erik Lohr.
Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Micropiles, Slope Stabilization
