Tag Archives: ADSC

Deep Foundations Events Update–October 2013

As involved as we are in the deep foundations industry (and just returning from the DFI annual conference), it seemed appropriate to take time to highlight several upcoming events in the industry.  All of these are great opportunities to get PDH credits, do some networking, and build relationships in the deep foundations industry.  Most are cooperative efforts of one or more of the G-I, DFI, PDCA, and ADSC.  All of them have a line-up of great speakers that are leaders in the industry.  Click on the links below to learn more about each one. 

 

14th Annual Design and Installation of Cost-Efficient Piles Conference
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Sheraton North Houston, Houston, TX

The DICEP conference will present modern approaches to maximize Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economy (E3) of driven piles through a series of presentations including driven pile design, testing, evaluation and case studies.  Steel sheet pile design and corrosion protection are also addressed.

 

 

Drilled Shaft Foundations Seminar – Reliability in Drilled Shaft Foundations
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Hilton Midtown, New York, NY

The program will feature presentations by leading industry design engineers and civil engineering contractors on some problems encountered with drilled shaft foundations and how those problems were solved.

 

 

Driven Pile – A Foundation for the 21st Century
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, Nashville, TN

  • A one-day specialty seminar on driven piles
  • Featuring 11 presentations by key industry professionals
  • Provides 6 PDH credits for all participants, including 1 PDH on Ethics  

 

 

Here are few open Calls for Abstracts (by order of due date):

IFCEE 2015 – March 17-21, 2015 – San Antoniio, TX – Due October 28, 2013

DFI 39th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations – October 21-24, 2014 – Atlanta, GA – Due January 10, 2014

DFI Superpile 2014 – June 19-20, 2014 – Cambridge, MA – Due February 3, 2014

Call for Abstracts – 2015 International Foundations Congress and Equipment Exposition (IFCEE 2015)

IFCEE 2015 logo_150

Although 2015 seems like a long way away, when you are planning the largest foundation engineering and construction conference in the U.S., you need to get started early!  The organizing committee for the  the 2015 International Foundations Congress and Equipment Exposition (IFCEE 2015) has released the Call for Abstracts here at the conference website.

This conference will be at the JW Marriott in San Antonio, Texas, March 17-21, 2015 and is hosted by a joint effort of ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC), Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), Geo-Institute of the ASCE (G-I), and Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA).  The program will include technical paper sessions (as poster or podium presentations), panel discussions and debates, indoor exhibits, an outdoor equipment exposition, educational short courses, technical committee meetings, and networking events.

Deep Foundations Discussions on GeoWorld and LinkedIn

The world of social media or on-line networking sites continues to grow.  Some of the sites offer opportunities for industry groups or committees to have groups that provide a place for discussion on specific topics relevant to the group or committee.  DBA staff members are active on many technical committees in the Geo-Institute, DFI, PDCA, and ADSC. The G-I Deep Foundations Committee has Groups on both GeoWorld and LinkedIn open for anyone to join – not just committee members.

GeoWorld is the online professional networking site for geotechnical engineers and associated fields.  It was launched last year and is growing.  If you aren’t a member, click here to join.  Once you join you will find all sorts of groups and other avenues for networking within the geoengineering community, including a group for the DFC (look for Technical Committees in the Groups area). Or just click the icon below to go to the group.

LinkedIn (as many of you already know!) is a social media site for all professions, providing networking opportunities for many purposes (industry news, technical advice, job seeking, keeping up with colleagues, etc.) .  To find the DFC group, click on the icon below.

In addition to the G-I DFC, the DFI and the ADSC have groups on LinkedIn – go there by clicking on the logos below:

Check out these and other groups – join a discussion, or start your own!

Busy Fall Speaking Schedule for DBA

The months of September and October will be busy for several DBA team members speaking at a variety of conferences and events. Dan Brown and John Turner will be speaking at the ADSC/DFI Drilled Shaft Seminar and Field Day in Denver September 12 and 13. Dan will be giving the 4th Annual Osterberg Memorial Lecture at the DFI Educational Trust dinner being held on the evening of the 12th. Dan and John will be speaking mostly on construction issues during the seminar.   

 

MWGC logoLater in the month, Dan and Robert Thompson are both featured at the 2012 Midwest Geotechnical Conference hosted by Ohio DOT in Columbus, Ohio. Dan will be speaking on base grouted shafts while Robert will give his presentation on the ADSC SE Chapter rock socket load test research program.     

 

STGEC 2012In October, Dan and Robert appear together again at the 2012 Southeastern Transportation Geotechnical Engineering Conference (STGEC) in Richmond, Virginia. This will be the 43rd installment of this conference, hosted this year by the Virginia DOT. Dan will speak on design-build construction issues for deep foundations, while Robert will again present the load test research project. Dan will also speak at the 26th Central Pennsylvania Geotechnical Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania in October, and Robert will speak at the ADSC Carolinas Chapter meeting in Greenville, NC.

FHWA Research Project: Post-Grouted Drilled Shafts

DSCN1233

(Note from Robert: I used material from the team proposal and the article referenced below for this post, with the authors’ permission. Also, DBA is a significant participant in the project and we hope to provide updates as things move along.)

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has partnered with the ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC-IAFD) on a comprehensive research project on post-grouted (also called base grouted or tip grouted) drilled shafts. The FHWA and the deep foundations industry are very interested in the proper application and implementation of post-grouting for drilled shafts. The potential benefits of post-grouting have been demonstrated, and the industry has attempted to capitalize on these benefits in numerous ways. Some of these attempts have been successful while others have not, which has led to confusion and even misapplication of post-grouting technology within the industry.

The project will include an extensive synthesis of existing practice and literature, evaluation of theoretical concepts, full-scale field testing, and comprehensive analysis of the field testing to develop design methods. Each phase of work will have a set of deliverables that will go through a rigorous review process. The project is anticipated to be completed sometime in 2014.

The four main objectives of the research program are:

  1. Bound the application of the post-grouting technology for the current state-of-knowledge;
  2. Quantify the improvement mechanism(s) for the post-grouting of drilled shafts;
  3. Develop design methodology(ies) for appropriate applications of post-grouting; and,
  4. Provide method(s) for verification.

To accomplish these objectives, a highly qualified and experienced team of practitioners and researchers has been assembled to execute this project. This team includes industry representatives from construction, design, and academia that can bring a variety of perspectives to the project as well as respond to input from the many stakeholders within the geotechnical and transportation design and construction communities that routinely implement this technology.

Dr. Antonio Marinucci, MBA, P.E., of ADSC-IAFD will serve as Project Manager for the project and will be responsible for coordination and oversight of all project activities. Dr. J. Erik Loehr, PE, of the University of Missouri will serve as Principal Investigator (PI) with overall technical responsibility for the project including technical planning, data collection, synthesis, interpretation, and document production. Three Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) will collaborate with Dr. Loehr to address the technical aspects of the project: Dr. Marinucci of ADSC-IAFD; Dr. Dan Brown, P.E., D.GE of Dan Brown and Associates, PC; and Dr. Jesús Gómez, P.E., D.GE of Schnabel Engineering Consultants, Inc.

An Advisory Panel will be utilized to provide additional objective technical insight regarding planning and execution of the project and development of the project deliverables, as well as unique expertise regarding specific aspects of the proposed work. The Advisory Panel will include:

Mr. Tom Armour, P.E., D.GE of DBM Contractors, Inc.

Dr. Donald Bruce, CEng, D.GE of Geosystems, LP

Mr. Allen Cadden, P.E., D.GE of Schnabel Engineering Consultants, Inc.

Dr. Steven Dapp, P.E. of Dan Brown and Associates, PC

Mr. Michael Muchard of Applied Foundation Testing

Dr. Miguel Pando, PEng of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

To provide objective review and evaluation of project plans and deliverables at key stages of the project, a formal Peer Review Panel will be formed composed of representatives from throughout the drilled shaft industry. The peer review process will be coordinated through the drilled shaft technical committees of each of the major stakeholder organizations in the U.S.: the ADSC-IAFD Drilled Shaft Committee; the ASCE/Geo-Institute (ASCE/GI) Deep Foundations Committee; the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Drilled Shaft Committee; and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Foundations of Bridges and Other Structures.

The final component of the project team will be the ADSC-IAFD Contractor Members, Associate Members, and Technical Affiliates that will provide substantial in-kind contributions to meet the needs of the proposed experimental programs. Likely in-kind contributions from ADSC members will include provision of testing sites and facilities, construction equipment, materials, testing apparatus, as well as services necessary to complete the proposed project.

The configuration of this team consisting of the PIs, the Advisory Panel and the Peer Review Panel will provide a thorough review process as well as “checks-and-balances” against any perceived or realized personal biases regarding the use of post-grouting with drilled shafts. It is believed that the recommendations resulting from this effort will reflect a consensus on the application, design and construction of base-grouted drilled shafts that will be accepted by the industry at-large. This should result in consistent application of this technique by the industry.

For a detailed description of the project, see the article linked below from May 2012 issue of Foundation Drilling magazine, available from the ADSC-IAFD. In the article, Dr. Marinucci provides the first in a series of updates that will be published reporting the progress of the research through the various phases of the project. We’ll provide posts here as new reports are released, as well as posts of all the action when field work gets started!

ADSC-FHWA Research Project: Evaluation and Guidance Development for Post-Grouted Drilled Shafts for Highways

Papers from ADSC EXPO 2012–Drilled Shafts and Other Drilled Foundations

ADSC EXPO 2012, San Antonio, Texas

2012-ADSC-EXPO-Technical-Conference-[2]

There were several of us presenting at the ADSC EXPO 2012 in mid-March: Dan, Erik, Robert and Tim. The EXPO is always a great event (occurs every 3 years) where equipment manufacturers and dealers bring out all of the big equipment (as Dr. Dave Elton at Auburn has been known to say: “It’s a classic case of big boys and big toys!”).  It is a lot of fun to be able to walk through a large show of equipment and tooling that is all clean and painted – you can see what it is all supposed to look like!  As an engineer, you can learn a lot about the latest tools, equipment capabilities, and the like from the sales and manufacturing reps.  The ADSC always does a great job putting this event on, and this year’s venue a the J.W. Marriott Hill Country Resort outside San Antonio was fantastic.

Dan and Robert both had papers included in the proceedings. Links to the papers are below.  Erik and Tim had presentations along with those that Dan and Robert gave on their papers.  Links to the presentations are on our Presentations page.

Brown, D.A. (2012). “Factors Affecting the Selection and Use of Drilled Shafts for Transportation Infrastructure Projects”, ADSC EXPO 2012 Geo-Construction Conference Proceedings, March 14-17, 2012, San Antonio, TX, pp25-35.

Thompson, W.R. (2012). “ADSC Research Project Update: Rock Sockets in the Southeastern U.S”, ADSC EXPO 2012 Geo-Construction Conference Proceedings, March 14-17, 2012, San Antonio, TX, pp103-117.

Update (Robert – 5/22/12): I have added a copy of an article from Foundation Drilling magazine on the ADSC research project.  To subscribe to Foundation Drilling, contact the ADSC and join!

Brown, D.A. and Thompson, W.R. (2012) “ADSC Research Supports Improved Design of Drilled Shaft Foundations in Atlanta Area Piedmont Rock”Foundation Drilling, Vol. 33, No. 2, February 2012, pp.27-39.

ADSC SE Chapter Lawrenceville Test Site Report Published

Fig 12 - Test shaft 1 completedThe report for the ADSC Southeast Chapter Lawrenceville, Georgia Test Site is complete and published (link below).

This is the second report from their research project on rock-socketed drilled shafts in the Southeast U.S.  This report is from the Lawrenceville, Georgia test site where shafts constructed in metamorphic rock of the Piedmont geologic province were load tested using the O-Cell load test device.  The report link is below.  Additional information about the test site can be found at the Lawrenceville Site Page.

The first site of this project was in Nashville, Tennessee where shafts constructed in limestone were tested.  Information on the Nashville Site and the test reports can be found at the Nashville Site Page.

Both reports will be the feature of a paper and presentation by Robert at the 2012 ADSC Expo, March 13-17, in San Antonio, TX. More information about the Expo can be found here.

Thompson, W.R., Brown, D.A., and Hudson, A.B. (2012). “Load Testing of Drilled Shaft Foundations in Piedmont Rock, Lawrenceville, GA, Report for ADSC Southeast Chapter, January, 2012.

ADSC Lawrenceville Test Site–We Have Winners!

That’s right load test fans, The results are in! The ADSC Southeast Chapter is proud to announce the “winners” from the prediction contest for the Lawrenceville, GA test site. In the table below, we have listed the winner and their prediction. The winners are the closest to the average measured values as reported by Loadtest, Inc and may not represent the reported maximum values recommended in the final report by DBA. We won’t release the final report until the ASCE Georgia Section Geotechnical Group meeting November 15, 2011 at 6:30pm at the Georgia Power Company’s Headquarters in Atlanta. Dr. Brown will be presenting the findings then – so come to the meeting and get it first, or look to the DBA or ADSC web sites after November 15th to get the report.

 

Shaft

Name

Prediction

1 – Unit Base Resistance

Gloria Rodgers
(Building and Earth Sciences, Inc.)

750 ksf

1 – Unit Side Resistance

Todd Barber (Geo-Hydro Engineers, Inc.)

50 ksf

2 – Unit Base Resistance

Todd Barber (Geo-Hydro Engineers, Inc.)

690 ksf

2 – Unit Side Resistance

TIE:
Jim Pegues (Southern Company Svcs.)
Tom Scruggs (Georgia DOT)

3 ksf

ADSC Lawrenceville Test Site–Prediction Contest!

Update (7/31/11)Field Day set for Thursday, August 18th – More info here!

Back by popular demand, we will hold a prediction contest for the second test site in the ADSC drilled shaft research project for rock sockets in the Southeastern U.S.  Contestants are encouraged to download the information linked below and then submit their predictions of unit side resistance and base resistance that will be measured by the O-cell tests.  The winner will be announced at the field test and demonstration day on site, as well as published in this blog along with all submitted predictions.

Two test shafts will be installed July 26 – 29th at the yard of Foundation Technologies, Inc. One will include a rock socket to attempt to test side and base resistance in the rock socket.  The other shaft will be drilled to “rock auger refusal” to attempt to test side resistance in the partially weathered rock (locally termed PWR) and base resistance at “rock auger refusal”.  In the Piedmont area, the highly weathered upper rock zone is commonly called PWR.  Another common usage is “rock auger refusal” to define where “hard rock” begins.  It is thought that designers may be overly conservative with base resistance values at “rock auger refusal”.  Hopefully this test will provide useful data in that regard.

Testing will occur during a field demonstration day in mid-August. We’ll post the date once it is finalized.

Information to include the test shaft configurations and exploratory boring data can be downloaded here.

The contest entry form along with instructions for submission can be downloaded here.

We will have Aaron on site to observe and take lots of pictures.  We’ll post his photos of the excavations as soon as we can (check the project web page soon after August 1st) to assist in making predictions.

All predictions must be submitted by the close of business, August 12, 2011.

For more information, visit the test site page.

Previous posts.

ADSC Load Test Research – Lawrenceville, GA Site – SCHEDULE UPDATE

The planned second load test in the ADSC research project for rock sockets in the Southeastern U.S. is moving closer to execution.  Bruce Long of Long Foundation Drilling Company provides this update:

To Fellow Load Testers,

We want to thank everyone who submitted questions or comments regarding the preliminary load test program submitted to us by Dr. Dan Brown.  Those comments, and more, will be considered while fine-tuning the program.

Because we have several Share Registrars companies donating their time and money, we have to be flexible with respect to the installation and testing dates.  We have tentatively selected some dates, but these are subject to change depending upon the workloads of those volunteering their efforts.  We hope to begin shaft installation during the last two weeks of July (weeks beginning the 18th or 25th).  The actual load testing would probably take place the week of August 8th, with the actual test date being decided upon by sometime in early July (I hope to give everyone at least a 3-4 week notice). 

The actual test date would include a field day visit by all interested parties to the test site at Foundation Technologies office in Lawrenceville, GA.  Activities will include a load testing discussion led by Dr. Dan Brown, along with lunch.  We would then move to the test site where Loadtest, Inc. will be conducting the Osterberg Load Test on our first shaft.  A discussion of the testing process and procedures by Loadtest will precede the actual testing (We will be submitting information later regarding a load test contest where each of you will get to predict the outcome of the test with a special prize going to the winner).  We also hope to be drilling on the second shaft that day and will be discussing the drill rigs, tools, and other equipment being used, as well as having the other Osterberg cell available for viewing.  This site visit proved to be very well received when we did it in Nashville at the last load test.  We hope for a big turnout that day. 

I wanted to give everybody a brief update and will be in touch when additional information becomes available in the near future.  Thank you for your interest, and if anyone has any questions regarding this plan, please feel free to call me at your convenience.

Bruce Long

President

Long Foundation Drilling Co.

Previous post is here.

The test site page is here.

The main page for the research project is here.