Tag Archives: Dan Brown

Dan To Receive 2011 DFI Distinguished Service Award

Dan will be honored at the DFI 36th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in Boston, October 19 to 21.  He will receive the award at the annual awards banquet on Thursday, October 20th.  From DFI:

The Deep Foundations Institute is pleased to announce Dan Brown, P.E., Ph.D., as the recipient of the DFI 2011 Distinguished Service Award. The award, in its 31st year, honors individuals chosen by their peers for exceptional contributions to DFI and to the industry.

Brown began his career with a B.S. from Georgia Tech, and later received his Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin, in only 28 months, while working. He then taught at Auburn University for 22 years before setting up his own consulting firm in Tennessee. The Winter 2011 issue of the DFI magazine included a profile of Brown that chronicled the universal admiration and regard for him within the industry. He was cited by others for his expertise, his intelligence and ability to teach others. Brown and his firm are sought out for advice everywhere.

Follow this link to see the full press release.  We’ll post pictures after the ceremony.

Dan Brown Profiled in DFI Magazine

DB photo Colorado2The Winter 2011 issue of Deep Foundations features Dan in its “People, Projects and Equipment” column.  Virginia Fairweather with DFI talked to several folks in the geotechnical engineering community to learn about Dan, including yours truly.   If you are interested in getting a glimpse inside the man who is Dr. Dan Brown, just check out the link below.  This column is just one of many items featured in each issue of Deep Foundations, only from DFI.  If you aren’t a member of DFI, then consider becoming one!

People, Projects and Equipment, Winter 2011 Deep Foundations

New FHWA Drilled Shaft Manual is Done!

FHWA GEC 10 DrilledShaftsAlthough I have known for several weeks that the manual was finished (I work for one of the authors, after all!), I was waiting for the FHWA to post the link for the new manual before posting this…and now it is here!   My friend, Randy Post, has an outside review (meaning not connected to one of the authors!) over at his blog Geoprac.net.  Not only did he get “the scoop” on me, but he covers some of the highlights of the “what’s new” with the new, fully revised manual.   The biggest change is completely re-writing the design sections to follow LRFD as well as to update the methods for calculating soil and rock resistance.  As Randy also notes, the manual has been given a Geotechnical Engineering Circular (GEC) designation: GEC 10.  Make sure and go read his review, as well as check out the other things on his blog (disclosure by Robert: I am an occasional contributor there).

The manual’s authors are three of the country’s top experts in drilled shaft design and construction: our own Dan A. Brown, Ph.D, P.E. , John P. Turner, Ph.D, P.E. of the University of Wyoming, and Raymond J. Castelli, P.E. of Parsons Brinckerhoff.   As with any major FHWA publication such as this, there was significant industry involvement in the review process through various technical committees and individuals from ADSC, DFI, and Geo-Institute.  A note from Dan:

The completion of this manual is a great relief and satisfaction.  Many thanks to John Turner’s hard work and also for Ray Castelli’s diligent work to review and make us better.  Special thanks to PB Project Manager Jeremy Hung and our FHWA sponsor Silas Nichols for their dedicated efforts to help get this done, and to all of you who contributed.

Dan and John have been using the material in the NHI course this fiscal year, having done some pilot courses the previous year.  Some NHI courses, including the Drilled Shaft course, can be hosted by non-government groups.  There are also some public seats available occasionally at DOT hosted courses.  The NHI catalog page for this course is here.

Download Drilled Shafts:Construction Procedures and LRFD Design Methods, 2010.

Also linked on our Publications page.

Update (7/12/10): For those that prefer the feel of a printed volume in their hands, the ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling will be the distributor of the printed volume of the manual through their Technical Library.  It will be available soon, according to ADSC.  We’ll post about it as soon as it is available.

Update 2 (8/19/10): The printed manual is now available.