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
October 26, 2012: Factors Affecting the Selection and Use of Drilled Shafts for Transportation Infrastructure Projects - 26th Central Pennsylvania Geotechnical Conference - ASCE/DFI - Hershey, Pennsylvania
Other DBA Team Speaking Appearances
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
Robert made a presentation at the recent Alabama Section ASCE 2010 Summer Meeting on our participation in some pile load tests on a couple of the storm protection projects in New Orleans (see previous post here). DBA worked for Kiewit Engineering Company (KECo) and the two joint ventures on the projects, providing geotechnical consulting. We are collaborating with KECo on a couple of papers (maybe more) that include the test data. This presentation covered the basics of the test pile programs, highlighted some of the results, discussed the measured setup values for the piles (driven in the soft Louisiana clays), and looked at some comparisons of the dynamic and static load test results to the pile resistance predictions made by DBA during the course of our work. Please note that the Corps of Engineers (and their consultants) were the design engineers. Our work was in support of the contractor joint ventures, especially evaluating pile drivability and installation issues.
UPDATE (11/1/10): I have replaced this presentation with a similar one presented at the STGEC 2010 conference in October. The link now directs to the more recent presentation.
DBA was part of foundation engineering and construction history while participating in a drilled shaft load test for the New I-70 Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri. A new O-cell world record of 36,000 tons (bi-directional) was achieved on the test, besting the former record of just under 32,000 tons set in 2005 in Korea (see here).
The test shaft was built by MTA (a joint venture of Massman/Traylor Brothers/Alberici Constructors) as part of an Alternative Technical Concept (ATC) that MTA submitted in their winning bid. During the bid phase, the owner allowed ATC’s to be submitted by pre-qualified teams. These ATC’s were unique to the team that submitted them (e.g., each team was allowed to submit their own ATC’s if they desired, but the ATC’s were not shared amongst all the teams). DBA worked with MTA to develop an ATC that optimized the drilled shaft foundations shown in the “baseline” drawings provided by the owner. That ATC provided a more economical foundation solution that was accepted, bid, and awarded (note MTA also had the option of bidding the “baseline” drawings as-is). A full-scale load test on a dedicated test shaft using the Osterberg Cell (O-cell) test method was included in the ATC to: 1) prove the design values used for the resistance in the rock socket; and (2) take advantage of higher resistance factors for using a load tests as opposed to only calculations. The baseline drawings did not include a load test.
Loadtest, Inc. performed the load test. The bottom-up static load test applied slightly greater than 36,000 tons (bi-directional) to the shaft resulting in about 1/8in of upward movement of the shaft and about the same magnitude of downward displacement at the base. The rock socket was about 23ft deep and 11ft in diameter in very hard limestone. Four 34in O-cells placed at the base of the shaft were loaded to 150% of their rated capacity to achieve the record load.
UPDATE (8/4/10): The bridge was featured in the July 2010 issue of Civil Engineering magazine from ASCE in the “News” section. Follow the link below and then go to Page 30.
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.
Our support of Kiewit Engineering and two Kiewit joint ventures working on the flood control projects around New Orleans has completed. I posted on the support work we provided for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway – West Closure Project here. The JV for that project is Gulf Intracoastal Constructors (GIC), a joint venture of Kiewit and Traylor Brothers.
Another project we worked on is the Chalmette Levee Loop Improvements LPV-145 project. The joint venture for this project is Chalmette Levee Constructors (CLC), a joint venture of Kiewit, Massman, and Traylor Brothers. Some information about the project can be found at Traylor Brothers website here. This project consists of building over 5 miles of T-wall on the levee. A test pile program with piles at 4 tests sites was completed, including static and dynamic tests on H-piles and open-ended pipe piles. Dynamic, static compression, and static tension tests were performed at 3 of the 4 sites. One site had only dynamic tests during driving. Our newest staff engineer, Aaron Hudson begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, started his tenure at DBA by heading to New Orleans to help me with our work on this project.
During the test pile program, the project location was accessible only by boat. A temporary bridge has been constructed over Bayou Bienvenue to provide better access. The bridge is a pre-engineered bridge kit similar to the Bailey Bridge sets used by the U.S. Army starting in WWII, and still in use today by the Army and the private sector all over the world. I had some experience as an Army Engineer officer planning and executing the assembly and launch of Bailey Bridges. In the Army labor is plentiful, so there are not near as many cranes and other equipment available when assembling a bridge kit as there are on a modern construction site. Compare this photo from a training exercise near Fort Polk, Louisiana in 1989 (from my Army days) with one in our show below and at the website of the current Bailey Bridge manufacturer.
I have posted some photos from our visits there to our Picassa Albums (linked below). There are pictures of the test piles and the temporary bridge. Also included are some photos I took of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Barrier project. This project is amazing with 66-inch diameter cylinder piles and 18” pre-stressed concrete piles making up the bulk of the structure. Project photos at the Corps of Engineers site are here.
Update 7/25/10: Webcams of the West Closure Project are here. The Corps’ Team New Orleans has a Flickr page here with lots of great photos.
One area of work we are frequently involved in is data analysis and evaluation of lateral load tests performed by the Statnamic testing device (learn more at the website of Applied Foundation Testing). The mathematics involved in the data reduction can be quite formidable as you interpret the dynamic load-response to an equivalent static load-response. Regardless of the math behind it, watching a test can be pretty cool. It is a whole lot of work for a brief moment of load, but in some situations it can be more economical than a traditional load test.
The video below is from a test on 170-foot long, 32-inch outside diameter steel pipe pile with 0.75"-inch wall thickness. The pile was filled with concrete that included an instrumented rebar cage.
Yes, you read that right – the last drilled shaft has been installed on the John James Audubon Bridge near New Road, Louisiana. The project has been quite an adventure for us, especially Steve. He spent the most time on the site during shaft excavation, tip grouting, load testing, and even pile driving. Robert got to spend a fair amount of time, too, over the last couple of years. Paul was even lucky enough to make a couple of trips.
The shaft construction was concluded with one last O-cell test on Shaft 3W South. Dan was present for the last load test which went fabulously well.
If you are going to the Geo-Institute congress GeoForida 2010 next February in West Palm Beach, you can hear Steve present the paper he and Dan wrote on the tip grouting and load test program.
The bridge is still under construction, of course, and will be an awesome structure when completed. It was an exciting project for us to be a part of the team. We’ll have a project summary posted in the near future to highlight the details of the foundations. For now, you will have to be satisfied with the slideshows below (in reverse chronological order) from some of our visits this summer and fall.
Load Test at Shaft 3W South – October 2009
Excavation of Shaft 3W South – September 2009
Shaft Grouting and other Construction – June 2009
Shaft Excavation, Pile Driving, and Cofferdams – May 2009
I have added the paper that we wrote and Dan presented at the Deep Foundations Institute 34th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations that was held in Kansas City, MO late last month. The paper highlights how the design-build process was successful in the design and construction of the large diameter drilled shafts supporting the bridge. We discuss the installation methods used, the load test program, and how we evaluated the durability of the shale rock sockets under drilling fluid.
Who says we only work on drilled shafts?? Robert had the opportunity to work for Kiewit Engineering Company providing geotechnical engineering support to Gulf Intracoastal Constructors (GIC), a joint venture of Kiewit and Traylor Brothers on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Project near Belle Chase, Louisiana. The project is part of the overall flood protection system improvements that are supposed to protect New Orleans from future hurricanes. The key components of this particular project are a massive gate and pump station across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Go For more information on the project, go here, here, and here (video from Corps of Engineers).
Robert spent a good part of the summer in New Orleans doing a variety of geotechnical engineering tasks to support the construction efforts of GIC. The main thing he worked on was the test pile program. The project included a massive test pile program with 24 test piles spread among 5 test sites with various combinations of dynamic, static axial, static tension, and static lateral tests. The piles were mostly open-ended steel pipe piles varying from 18” to 54” in diameter. A few 18” x 18” pre-stressed precast concrete piles were also thrown in for good measure. In addition to performing drivability studies and evaluating tests data, Robert got to spend some time in the wonderful June and July weather in southern Louisiana on the site observing pile installation and testing. And as always, he came back with a lot of pictures. Here are a few to enjoy.
If you frequent this blog, you have noticed that posts have been rare the last few months. That is mostly to my being in the field a lot this summer and very busy on lost of projects. While that is good, it meant I did not have time for updates. Below are some slide shows from a few drilled shaft projects we worked on this summer.
Garden State Parkway Mullica River Bridge, New Jersey – Test Shaft Installation
Paul took a trip to lovely New Jersey to observe a large diameter test shaft on the Mullica River Bridge. DBA worked as a consultant for Parsons Brinckerhoff on an 8-foot diameter, 220-foot deep test shaft. CASE was the drilled shaft contractor and Agate was the general contractor. DBA consulted on the design of the test shaft program, as well as the use of Self Consolidating Concrete (SCC).
Drilled Shaft Lateral Load Test Research with the University of Kansas
Paul took a ride out west to Kansas City, Kansas (close to home!) to observe a drilled shaft lateral load test in Wyandotte County, near the Cabela’s store on I-435. The test is part of ongoing research by the University of Kansas for the Kansas DOT. DBA was involved in previous research concerning laterally loaded shafts behind MSE walls (see previous post, click here for more information on the project). This research continues on the same theme of investigating the behavior of laterally loaded shafts socketed into the sedimentary rocks in eastern Kansas. DBA does not have an active role in this project, just an academic interest.
Huey P. Long Bridge Improvements, New Orleans, Louisiana – Test Shaft Installation
The Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans (built in the 1930s) is undergoing a major rehab and expansion. The vehicle traffic will increase from 2 9-foot lanes in each direction to 3 11-foot lanes in each direction. This is a very interesting combined highway and railroad bridge with a fascinating history. The bridge is actually a private bridge owned by the New Orleans Public Belt Railway (click the link to see some cool photos from the construction of the bridge in the 1930s). The project website is here.
DBA was consulting with the joint venture building the bridge for the base-grouted drilled shafts under one new pier. A test-shaft was built and tested with O-cells. Robert was on site while they excavated the test shaft. Steve was on site during grouting.
Robert’s paper with Lloyd Held (retired from Eustis Engineering) and Steve Saye of Kiewit Engineering Company on the Biloxi Bay Bridge test pile program has been published in the latest issue of the DFI Journal, published by the Deep Foundations Institute. A total of 22 indicator piles were installed on the project using the pile driving analyzer to monitor the pile behavior. Five load tests were performed: two axial Statnamic, two lateral Statnamic, and one static axial. The results of the test pile program established driving criteria for production piles that included end of drive blow counts and pile tip elevations with an appropriate allowance for setup.
Robert made a presentation at the recent Alabama Section ASCE 2010 Summer Meeting on our participation in some pile load tests on a couple of the storm protection projects in New Orleans (see previous post here). DBA worked for Kiewit Engineering Company (KECo) and the two joint ventures on the projects, providing geotechnical consulting. We are collaborating with KECo on a couple of papers (maybe more) that include the test data. This presentation covered the basics of the test pile programs, highlighted some of the results, discussed the measured setup values for the piles (driven in the soft Louisiana clays), and looked at some comparisons of the dynamic and static load test results to the pile resistance predictions made by DBA during the course of our work. Please note that the Corps of Engineers (and their consultants) were the design engineers. Our work was in support of the contractor joint ventures, especially evaluating pile drivability and installation issues.
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