Tag Archives: Dan Brown

DBA Announces Officer Transitions

DBA is excited to announce recent transitions within the company.

Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, is turning over the reigns of leadership to the next generation in the firm and stepping down as President.   While stepping back from day-to-day management of the company, Dan will remain fully involved in technical aspects and client service in the role of Chief Engineer where he will continue to focus on developing practical solutions to complex and challenging foundation issues.

Three Senior Principal Engineers will assume the roles of the officers of DBA.  Tim Siegel, P.E., G.E., D.GE  has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer.   Paul Axtell, P.E., D.GE has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer.  Robert Thompson, P.E., D.GE has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer.   Tim, Paul, and Robert will provide the management and leadership for the continued growth of DBA and for DBA to provide value to its clients and continue to be a key contributor to the practice of geotechnical engineering.

Tim Siegel, CEO Paul Axtell, COO Robert Thompson, CFO

 

Dan Brown Added to DFI Board and Educational Trust

Dan has taken on some new responsibilities with the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI).  He has joined both the Board of Directors and the Educational Trust Board as treasurer.  From DFI:

Dr. Dan Brown has joined the DFI Educational Trust Board and the DFI Board of Trustees as treasurer, effective January 1, 2014. Dr. Brown is recognized as one of America’s leading authorities on the construction and design of deep foundations for transportation structures. After 22 years on the faculty at Auburn University, Dr. Brown remains active in deep foundation practice through his consulting firm, Dan Brown and Associates. He has been recognized with the DFI Distinguished Service Award, ASCE Martin Kapp Foundation Engineering Award and the ADSC Outstanding Service Award. 

David Coleman of Underpinning & Foundation Skanska, has been elected to a second five-year term as Trustee (2014-2019), and Roger Healey of Goettle, was elected to second two-year term as At-Large Trustee (2014-2016). 

The elected officers for the Board of Trustees in 2014 are:

Chair: David Coleman

Vice Chair: M. Byrl Williams

Treasurer: Dan Brown

Secretary: Dan Dragone 

 

Congratulations Dan! 

Dan Inducted into the UT Austin Cockrell School Academy of Distinguished Alumni

graphic of crane suspending text

Seven alumni and one faculty member of the Cockrell School of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin were recently inducted into the School’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni.  Dan, who received his Ph.D from UT Austin in 1985, was recognized for his award wining research at Auburn and his distinguished consulting career here at DBA. If you are also looking for good english vce tutor, visit learnmate.com for more info. The other 2012 inductees included:

  • Raul E. Allegre, a former UT and NFL football star and Spanish-speaking NFL football commentator.
  • Elia King de Jordan, a Peruvian transportation engineer turned business-woman who was the former general manager of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
  • Elie H. Homsi, the senior vice president of Engineering Services at Flatiron Corp. responsible for much of that company’s success and accolades, including some DBA consulting projects.
  • James H. Metzger, the president and CEO of a construction company that bears his name with over 45 years of experience in the construction industry.
  • G. Charles Naeve, an award winning structural engineer and founder of Architectural Engineering Collaborative who has pioneered green and sustainable design.
  • Kelley S. Neumann, a 20-year veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers, she is also responsible for several major public works projects in San Antonio as senior vice president of Strategic Resources.
  • Roy E. Olsonprofessor emeritus of geotechnical engineering, was recognized for his long and honored career as faculty member at UT Austin.

Congratulations to Dan and all the others who have received this honor!

NCHRP Report 461–Static and Dynamic Lateral Loading of Pile Groups

nchrp_rpt_461-Static and Dynamic Loading of Pile Groups

Here is a blast from the past on pile groups: NCHRP Report 461 – Static and Dynamic Lateral Loading of Pile Groups.  I had a request for this report recently, so I found it and figured we needed to post the links to it.  Dan was the lead researcher on this report during his time at Auburn University, and had an all-star line up that included Dr. Mike O’Neill and Dr. Mike McVay, two of the heavy hitters in foundation engineering.  The report introduction gives a good summary of the contents:

A key concern of bridge engineers is the design and performance of pile group foundations under lateral loading events,
such as ship or ice impacts and earthquakes. This report documents a research program in which the following were developed:
(1) a numerical model to simulate static and dynamic lateral loading of pile groups, including structural and soil hysteresis and energy dissipation through radiation; (2) an analytical soil model for nonlinear unit soil response against piles (i.e., p-y curves) for dynamic loading and simple factors (i.e., p-multipliers) to permit their use in modeling groups of piles; (3) experimental data obtained through static and dynamic testing of large-scale pile groups in various soil profiles; and (4) preliminary recommendations for expressions for p-y curves, damping factors, and p-multipliers for analysis of laterally loaded pile groups for design purposes. The report also describes experimental equipment for performing site-specific, static, and dynamic lateral load tests on pile groups.

Several full-scale field tests were conducted on pile groups of 6 to 12 piles, both bored and driven, in relatively soft cohesive and cohesionless soils. All of the groups were loaded laterally statically to relatively large deflections, and groups of instrumented pipe piles were also loaded dynamically to large deflections, equivalent to deflections that might be suffered in major ship impact and seismic events. Dynamic loading was provided by a series of impulses of increasing magnitude using a horizontally mounted Statnamic device.

For a relatively short (50 pages) report, there is a lot of information packed into it gleaned from a lot of full-scale field work.

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.

Dan Inducted into The Moles

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Back in April, Dan received news of a special honor…he was elected to membership in The Moles, a prestigious organization composed of individuals now or formerly engaged in heavy underground construction (tunnel, subway, foundation, marine, etc.). The organization has a limited membership (538 Active Members) and one must be nominated by a current member.

The Moles, a fraternal organization of the heavy construction industry, is the most prestigious organization of its kind in the world. Moles members are leaders in their profession who are dedicated to promoting the industry and supporting their colleagues through outreach programs and networking opportunities.

In addition to their fraternal activities, a significant mission of The Moles is to encourage young people to participate in heavy construction and its related fields.  The Moles have several educational programs, cooperating with 20 colleges and universities, to further that objective, including an annual Students Day tour of construction projects, scholarships, student awards, and a Career Connection program.

Dan was elected along with 16 others this year.  A list of the new Moles can be found in the April 2012 issue of Holing Through, the news bulletin of The Moles (available on their website).  The new members were inducted in May. 

Congratulations Dan!!!!!

Dan Brown Selected for 2012 DFI Osterberg Lecture

Dan has been selected by the DFI Educational Trust to deliver the 4th Annual Osterberg Memorial Lecture.  The lecture is given at a benefit dinner for the  DFI Educational Trust Scholarship Funds.  The dinner this year will be held in conjunction with the joint DFI-ADSC Seminar Drilled Shafts: Top to Bottom on September 12th in Denver.  From DFI:

The Osterberg Memorial Lecture has been established in honor of Dr. Jorj Osterberg, inventor of the Osterberg Cell, to recognize innovations in the deep foundations construction industry and related to deep foundations engineering design, testing or education; all aspects of his lifelong contributions.

According to the invitation letter from DFI, the committee selects a “person who encompasses the spirit of the lecture which is to emphasize innovations or contributions to the deep foundation industry and related to deep foundation engineering design, testing or education, all aspects of Jorj Osterberg’s lifelong contributions.”

Previous lecturers are:

2011: John. H. Schmertmann, Ph.D., P.E.

2010: Bengt H. Fellenius, Dr. Tech., P.Eng.

2009: Clyde Baker, Jr., P.E., S.E., and Robert G. Lukas, P.E.

About the DFI Educational Trust:

Today DFI Educational Trust is an independent charitable foundation of the Deep Foundations Institute. The TRUST manages the Annual Student Paper Competition, the Annual Young Professors Paper Competition, the History of Deep Foundations Poster Program, the Sustaining Membership Fund and the Paul DeBruyn Memorial Student Scholarship Fund, the Berkel & Company Contractors Inc. Scholarship Fund, and the Annual Osterberg Memorial Lecture. These programs, along with future initiatives, will play a large role in enabling better Industry-Academia communications by instilling an interest in the heavy construction and civil engineering sciences in both high school and college level students.

Currently the TRUST plans to awards annually four Student Scholarships in the amount of $12,500 each to undergraduates studying in the field of civil, geotechnical or construction engineering. Auburn University, Carnegie Mellon, University of California-Berkeley and University of Illinois are awarded the funds and select students based on the TRUST’s criteria of majoring in one of the above fields of engineering with interest in deep foundations construction and having financial need. Additionally the TRUST provides scholarships to high school students in partnership with the ACE Mentor Program for those interested in pursuing college studies in engineering or construction management. These scholarships are endowed through charitable donations and fund raising events, such as golf outings and benefit dinners.

Creating opportunities for students to see Industry in action is another large element of the DFI Trust mission, by providing affordable student attendance of DFI Conferences and technical seminars, site visits and live demonstrations or by bringing Industry Experts into the classrooms. The TRUST is proud to announce the formation of its first student chapter at UC-Berkeley in 2009.

I-70 St. Louis Bridge–New Papers by Paul and Dan

The drilled shaft foundations for the new I-70 Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis, MO are the subject of two recent papers written by Paul and Dan and published by DFI.  Dan presented the paper focusing on the Alternate Technical Concept (ATC) process at the DFI 36th Annual Conference in October. (previous post here).  A case history paper by Paul and Dan was published last month in Volume 5, Number 2 of the DFI Journal.  Links to the papers are below, as well as on our Publications page.  Other posts on this bridge are here.

Brown, D.A., Axtell, P.J., and Kelley, J. (2011). “The Alternate Technical Concept Process for the Foundations at the New Mississippi River Bridge, St. Louis”,  Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations, 2011, Boston, MA, USA, pp171-177.

This paper was originally published in the Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations, the 2011 annual meeting of DFI.  Go to www.dfi.org to purchase the procedings or for further information.

Axtell, P.J. and Brown, D.A. (2011). “Case History – Foundations for the New Mississippi River Bridge – St.Louis”, DFI Journal Volume 5, Number 2, December 2011, Deep Foundations Institute, pp3-15.

This paper was originally published in DFI’s bi-annual journal, Volume 5, No. 2 in December 2011.  DFI is an international technical association of firms and individuals involved in the deep foundations and related industry. The DFI Journal is a member publication. To join DFI and receive the journal, go to www.dfi.org for further information.

DBA at DFI 36th Annual Meeting–Photos and Links

DFI held its 36th Annual Meeting October 18-21 in Boston, including the annual awards banquet.  Dan was honored with the 2011 Distinguished Service Award at the banquet.  The Christopher S. Bond Bridge in Kansas City, MO was honored with a Special Recognition award (one of 5 runners-up for the Outstanding Project Award).  Photos of DBA folks at the event are posted below.  All of the photos from the meeting can be found at this link.

Dan gave a presentation on the Alternate Technical Concept (ATC) that DBA supported for the I-70 Bridge over the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.  The link to the presentation is below.  (Some previous posts here and here and here; posts with links to other presentations here).

PowerPoint Presentation – Alternate Technical Concept: Foundations for the New Mississippi River Bridge, St. Louis – Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E – DFI 36th Annual Conference, Boston, MA, October 20, 2011.

Dan receives DFI 2011 Distinguished Service Award

Dan receiving the 2011 DFI Distinguished Service Award

Bond Bridge Special Recognition Award - DFI 2011

Robert receiving the Special Recognition Award for the Christopher S. Bond Bridge Project

Paul and Erik at DFI 2011 Awards Banquet Reception

Paul and Erik at the reception before the awards banquet