Get the New FHWA Drilled Shaft Manual
Get the NCHRP Synthesis 418 – Pile Criteria From Test Pile Data
Dan’s Speaking Schedule September 12-13, 2012: Concrete used in Drilled Shaft Construction - ADSC/DFI Drilled Shaft Seminar - Denver, Colorado Other DBA Team Speaking Appearances D. Mike Holloway (May 17, 2012): A Driven Pile is a Tested Pile - Not So Fast - DFI SuperPile - Portland, Oregon
John Turner (September 12-13, 2012): Analysis & Design of Drilled Shafts - ADSC/DFI Drilled Shaft Seminar - Denver, Colorado
John Turner (September 12-13, 2012): Techniques for Drilled Shaft Construction - ADSC/DFI Drilled Shaft Seminar - Denver, Colorado Conferences, Meetings, Seminars, Workshops
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By Robert Thompson, on May 25th, 2010
As geotechnical/foundation engineers, we don’t usually get to see much of what happens on a project after the foundations are completed, especially a project like a large bridge that can take years to complete. Technology such as the Internet, webcams, and digital photography have made it easy for us to see how things are progressing on projects, as well as maybe get images of the completed structure. As I have noted before, some projects are using Twitter and Facebook to keep the public informed on closures, delays or overall project progress as part of good public relations. Her are some updates on a few of our recent projects.
kcICON:
The main span is well underway, including the cables. The kcICON Facebook page is here.
 
Audubon Bridge:
Check out the webcam. You can download images if you like. YOu can also do a time-lapse from Day 1 of construction.
 
Beck Street Bridge:
Part of the I-15 Express Link project in Salt Lake City, UT. The photos below I obtained from the photos page on the project web site. We were involved in the design and construction of the foundations for the Beck Street Bridge only.
  
By Robert Thompson, on May 11th, 2010
Papers by Dan, Steve, and Tim that were included in the GeoFlorida 2010 conference have been uploaded to our Publications page. Dan and Steve co-authored a paper on the test program of the base grouted drilled shafts for the Audubon Bridge. Tim co-authored a paper with Willie NeSmith of Berkel and Company Contractors, Inc. on plate load testing of displacement grout columns. Dan was also a co-author with several others on a paper on jet grouting for improved pile lateral capacity.
Dapp, S.D. and Brown, D.A. (2010). “Evaluation of Base Grouted Drilled Shafts at the Audubon Bridgeâ€, GeoFlorida 2010, Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 199, ASCE, pp1553-1562.
Rollins, K.M., Herbst, M., Adsero, M. and Brown, D.A. (2010) “Jet Grouting and Soil Mixing for Increased Lateral Pile Group Resistanceâ€, GeoFlorida 2010, Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 199, ASCE, pp1563-1572.
Siegel, T.C. and NeSmith, W.M. (2010). “Large-Scale Plate Load Testing of Ground Improvement Using Displacement Grout Columnsâ€, GeoFlorida 2010, Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design, Geotechnical Special Publication No. 199, ASCE, pp2398-2405.
By Robert Thompson, on May 10th, 2010
With all of us visiting construction projects across the country, occasionally we take a photo that appears to be somewhat “artistic†– maybe the lighting (or lack of), or the aspect. I have assembled a few such photos submitted by DBA engineers in the first installment of the DBA Artistic Construction Photo Contest. Included in this installment are such items as: “Daybreak on Night Shift at JJA†and “Fountain†by S. Dapp, the series “Evolution†by P. Axtell, “GI Rig at Sunset†by T. Siegel, and “Piles in the Mist†by R. Thompson. This first volume has more photos of mine than others, but we’ll work on better balance in future volumes.
Feel free to “vote†for your favorite in the comments. I’ll try to update periodically as we have more “worthy†photos!
By Robert Thompson, on May 4th, 2010
The Spring 2010 issue of Deep Foundations from the Deep Foundations Institute includes an article by Dan and Paul (with a little help from yours truly!). The article is based on our paper presented by Dan at the 34th DFI Conference on Deep Foundations last October in Kansas City.
The kcICON project continues to roll along. Check out their Facebook page where they have lots of photos and links to their YouTube page. They recently completed the widest bridge deck pour ever for MoDOT.
Go to our Publications page to see the article, or click the image below.
By Robert Thompson, on March 1st, 2010
I have uploaded the presentation Steve gave at Geo-Florida 2010 on February 24th. You can find it on our Presentations page or by clicking the image below. Enjoy!
By Robert Thompson, on February 25th, 2010
It has been a little while since we last visited the John James Audubon Bridge site in New roads, Louisiana. My how things have changed! I just have a couple of pictures of the piers from January – it is really looking like a bridge now! For frequent updates, check out the webcam and the photo albums on the project web page. The web cams have a really cool time lapse button that shows you a time lapse loop of the pier from the beginning of construction.
UPDATE (2/28/10) - I added 3 new photos to the slide show that were taken this last week. At that time the piers were at lift 21 and were about elevation +335 feet (the top of the sheet piles at the foundation level are about elevation +50 feet).
By Robert Thompson, on January 26th, 2010
 
DBA is on the successful team that was awarded the contract for the new Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri. The project is a joint project of MoDOT/IDOT with MoDOT being the lead agency. HNTB is the lead bridge designer for the new cable-stayed bridge carrying I-70 over the river. The bridge is one part of a larger project that also includes the Missouri North I-70 Interchange, the Illinois I-70 Connection, and the Illinois Tri-level Exchange.
From the project web site:
The $640 million Mississippi River Bridge project is proceeding through design, with construction scheduled to start in early 2010. The new Mississippi River Bridge is the first bridge built connecting downtown St. Louis and southwestern Illinois in more than 40 years. Currently, the only urban interstate bridge between Illinois and Missouri is the Poplar Street Bridge, known locally as the PSB. The PSB is one of two bridges in the United States that carry three interstates. By relocating one interstate (I-70) from the Poplar Street Bridge to the new Mississippi River Bridge, drivers will experience less congestion, fewer crashes and less unnecessary fuel use.
The new Mississippi River Bridge will be a 1,500 foot cable-stayed bridge across the Mississippi River between Metro East and St. Louis, Missouri. The bridge is two lanes in each direction, but is wide enough to be restriped for three lanes in each direction if traffic volumes warrant and additional funding is secured. In addition, the bridge project includes approaches on the Illinois and Missouri sides to get traffic to the bridge.
The wining contractor team is Massman/Traylor Brothers/Alberici Constructors. DBA’s role was to help prepare an alternate concept for the drilled shaft foundation design which will include load test measurements. We anticipate construction to begin in March with load test shaft.
An overview of the bridge is here. The press release for the award of the main bridge is here.
  
By Robert Thompson, on January 11th, 2010
The kcICON project in Kansas City, Missouri is using Facebook and YouTube as a public relations tool. They have recently posted new videos and pictures. The latest video is of demolition of one of the existing approach structures.  It is all done for public relations, so the photos and videos are oriented for the general public, showing how the project is moving along, how their tax dollars are being spent, and providing information on lane closures, etc.
The kcICON Facebook page is here. The project website with more photos and a web cam is here. You can also follow the project on Twitter here.
I expect we’ll see more use of Facebook, Twitter, etc. on projects in the future. It appears to be effective, at least for the techno-savy crowd!
By Robert Thompson, on December 18th, 2009
By Robert Thompson, on November 30th, 2009
An article on the kcICON bridge project was published in the November 2009 issue of Roads and Bridges magazine. The article was written by Pat Cassity, P.E. of Parsons Transportation Group, Brian Kidwell, P.E. of MoDOT, and Pat Byrne, P.E. of Massman. The on-line version is here. I have also posted a PDF on the kcICON page our Consulting Projects page you can access by clicking the image below.
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ADSC Drilled Shaft Foundations Seminar – Mar 19
PDCA 14th Annual International Conference and Expo – May 6-8
TRB 7th International Bridge Conference – Dec 1-2
