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

Dr. Jorj Osterberg, inventor of the Osterberg Cell (or O-Cell) load testing device, passed away on June 1, 2008. Information on his life and achievements can be found at geoprac.net, at the Geo-Institute, or at Loadtest, Inc. The O-Cell has been used worldwide to test drilled shaft and other deep foundations. Tributes to Dr. Osterberg are planned in the ADSC’s Foundation Drilling magazine and possibly other publications. (Photo credit: Geo-Institute of ASCE)

Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

Brown, D.A. and Thompson, W.R. 2008. “Performance of Drilled Shafts in Cemented Calcareous Formations in the Southeast”, Foundation Drilling, Vol. 29, No.3 March/April 2008

Brown, D.A. and Thompson, W.R., 2008. “BRF-00008(536) Drilled Shaft Load Test Assessment, Sumter County”, Report for the Alabama Department of Transportation.

Axtell, P.J., Loehr, J.E., and Jones, D.J. “Case History: Multiple Axial Statnamic Tests on a Drilled Shaft Embedded in Shale” Deep Foundations Institute 31st Annual Conference, October 4-6, 2006, Washington, D.C.

Brown, D.A. and R. Thompson, 2006. “Report of the Evaluation of Foundation Response to Storm Surge Loading, U.S. 90 Biloxi Bay Bridge” Coastal Research Institute, Univ. of South Alabama.

Axtell, P.J., Owen, J.W., and Vollink, S.D. “Increase in Pile Capacity with Time in Missouri River Alluvium” Fifth International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering, April 13-17, 2004, New York, NY.

Technorati : Case History, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Driven Piles, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Pile, Test Shaft

HB installing micropiles (L) and HB installing soil nails (R)

Tieback retaining wall (L) and Long Foundation drilling a shaft (R)

Some info on the workshop from ADSC:

The Workshop offers classroom and field work. It will provide the participants with all the tools needed to teach the fundamentals of drilled shaft and anchored earth retention design for foundation engineering studies at the undergraduate and graduate level. The program focus will be on drilled shafts, anchors, and micropiles. In addition to the classroom experience attendees will participate in hands-on field demonstrations of the latest construction and testing techniques. Each participant will be provided with a complete take-home Teaching Package including texts, manuals, and audio visual aids all in electronic format..

A list of the workshop faculty, composed of many experts in the field of geotechnical engineering and construction:

Lead presenters are top experts in the fields of deep foundation and earth retention design and construction. In addition to Dr. Brown the teaching faculty includes Dr. John Turner P.E., University of Wyoming, Dr. Jim Long, P.E., University of Illinois, Dr. Dave Weatherby, P.E., Schnabel Foundation, Dr. Don Bruce, P.E., Geosystems, Inc., Dr. Eric Loehr, P.E., University of Missouri, as well as Allen Cadden, P.E., Schnabel Engineering, Jerry DiMaggio, P.E., FHWA, Alan Macnab, P.Eng., Condon-Johnson& Associates, Tom Armour, P.E., DBM Contractors; Dr. Tom Witherspoon, P.E., S&W Foundation, John Wolosick, P.E., Hayward Baker, and many other deep foundation academicians and practitioners.

We’ll have more after the workshop.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Micropiles, Slope Stabilization, Soil Mechanics, Test Shaft

The American Society of Civil Engineers has just published Geotechnical Special Publication (GSP) No. 180: From Research to Practice in Geotechnical Engineering. This book includes 16 papers from the career of Dr. Schmertmann and 28 invited papers on various topics.

From Research to Practice in Geotechnical Engineering, GSP 180, honors Dr. John H. Schmertmann, Professor Emeritus and P.E., for his contributions to civil engineering. It begins with his biography, a list of his students and writings, followed by reprints of his selection of 16 representative papers from his career. Twenty-eight new, mostly invited papers follow on a great variety of subjects, including: the installation and testing of piles; pile-structure interaction; liquefaction and its mitigation; case histories of settlement and landslide mitigation and capping a superfund landfill; and computer modeling. The authors include six members of the National Academy of Engineering. This GSP concludes with a paper by one of these, Dr. Schmertmann, which itself concludes with a suggestion for improving your technical writing. Everyone working in the geotechnical profession will find something interesting and useful herein.

The book is available from the ASCE Bookstore (click the image above).

Technorati : Engineering Research, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

The International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo ‘09 (IFCEE09) will provide a spectacular and comprehensive Congress. It combines the International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC), the Geo-Institute of ASCE, and the Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA) 2009 annual meetings, and will bring together varied USA and worldwide industry organizations.

As part of the technical program, engineers, foundation contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers of tools and services, and researchers will discuss the latest technological advances in the foundation and earth retention industry. The extensive outdoor large equipment exposition and indoor displays provide attendees an opportunity to examine the tools of foundation construction, and are an additional incentive for constructors and engineers to attend this mega-event. This expanded program builds on the highly successful 2004 Geo-Support conference and equipment exposition held in Orlando, FL.

The conference will be at the Buena Vista Palace Resort and Spa adjacent to Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World, Florida. In addition to a full program of keynote speakers, technical paperas, case histories, and panel discussions, the largest equipment exposition devoted to the foundation industry will also be held.

Information on the Call for Papers is here. Abstracts are due April 30, 2008.

Information on exhibits and sponsorships is here.

We will have a link to the conference website at the top of our right side bar until the conference date.

Technorati : Case History, Deep Foundations, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Soil Mechanics

Also, check out the changes in geotechnical engineering related to transportation projects coming out in Arizona at Geoprac.net. From Randy’s post:

There are some significant changes being made to the state of the practice in geotechnical engineering in Arizona. NCS Consultants, LLC has prepared three policy memoranda for the Arizona Department of Transportation or ADOT that have been issued to consultants all over the State. These memos are on the topics of bearing capacity and settlement of spread footings and retaining walls, the design of drilled shaft foundations in gravelly soils, and the preparation of drilled shaft axial capacity charts for use by bridge engineers.

Randy does a good job of scouring the web for geotechnical related items. A link to his site is on our left sid bar and we have a feed to his posts on the right side bar.

While I am on the topic of resources, we also have a link to Geoengineer.org, another resource website for the geotechnical engineering community. A link to the site is on the left side bar, and links to their latest newsletters are on the right side bar.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering

A great man and geotechnical engineer has passed. Dr. Ralph Peck died February 18th. His obituary:

Ralph B. Peck, Professor Emeritus of Foundation Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign died of congestive heart failure on February 18, 2008, at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was born in Winnipeg, Canada, to his American parents, Orwin K and Ethel Huyck Peck on June 23, 1912.

Ralph Peck earned a Civil Engineering Degree in 1934 and Doctor of Civil Engineering Degree in 1937, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. In 1938-39 he attended the Soil Mechanics course at Harvard University and was a laboratory assistant to Arthur Casagrande. From 1939 to 1942 Peck was an assistant subway engineer for the City of Chicago, representing Karl Terzaghi who was a consultant on the Chicago Subway Project. He joined the University of Illinois in 1942, and was a Professor of Foundation Engineering from 1948 to 1974. Since 1974, Professor Peck was a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, and a consultant in geotechnical engineering.

In 1948, together with Karl Terzaghi, Ralph Peck co-authored the most influential text book in geotechnical engineering, Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice. In 1953 with Walt Hanson and Tom Thornburn, Ralph Peck co-authored the widely used text book Foundation Engineering.

In 1942, Dr. Peck joined the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Illinois, where he remained as a teacher and mentor until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1974. After moving to Albuquerque, Dr. Peck continued his active consulting practice which included jobs in forty-four states in the USA and twenty-eight countries on five continents. His more than one thousand consulting projects include: the rapid transit systems in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington; the Alaskan Pipeline System; the James Bay Project in Quebec; and the Dead Sea dikes. He authored over 250 technical publications, and served as the President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering from 1969 to 1973. In 1974, he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Ford. A few of his many honors include the Norman Medal, The Wellington Prize, and the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Education from the American Society of Engineers. His last project was the Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece. It received the ASCE’s OPAL Outstanding Civil Engineering Award for 2005, and is the only project outside the United States to be so honored.

Ralph Peck married Marjorie E. Truby on June 14, 1937. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Nancy Peck (Allen) Young, and son and daughter-in-law, James (Laurie) Peck, and grandchildren, Michael Young and Maia Peck.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to: Ralph B. Peck Geotechnical Engineering Fund Univ. of Illinois Foundation 1305 West Green Street, MC-386 Urbana, Illinois, 61801.

A publication on his life and works by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute is here.

The recently published book on Dr. Peck, Ralph B. Peck - Educator and Engineer - The Essence of the Man, by John Dunnicliff and Nancy Peck young, can be found at the ASCE Bookstore.

Technorati : Geotechnical Engineering

Welcome aboard, Paul!

Technorati : Geotechnical Engineering