Tag Archives: Drilled Foundations

New I-70 Bridge Featured in Foundation Drilling Magazine

The new I-70 bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri is quite the project.  When completed, it will be the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States, with a 1,500-ft main span.  Most significantly for the geotechnical community, the bridge made history when one of its 11-ft diameter drilled shafts resisted a world record breaking 36,000 tons (bi-directional) during an O-cell load test.  The bridge has already seen press in Civil Engineering Magazine (July 2010, page 30-32), at ENR.com, and in a post by Robert on this blog.  Now, an article by DBA’s Paul Axtell is featured in the September/October issue of Foundation Drilling Magazine.  The editor summarized the article saying:

The information in the following article is a composite of material that came to Foundation Drilling Magazine from three separate sources.  Part I is based on information gleaned from an article that was published on the Associated Press news wire.  Part II is excerpted from ENR’s August 18th, E-Newsletter.  Part III was provided by Paul Axtell and Dan Brown of ADSC Technical Affiliate company, Dan Brown and Associates.  The bridge project is of interest in general.  The Osterberg Load Cell test will be of particular interest to professionals in the deep foundation industry, and specifically for those who work in the drilled shaft segment.

Axtell, P.J. (2010). “Mississippi River Bridge Project Includes Record Load Test: A Three Part Story”, Foundation Drilling, Vol. 31, No. 7 September/October 2010.

A Foundation Engineering Trip Down the Mississippi River

A Foundation Engineering Trip_Brown_STGEC 2010Dan recently played the part of storyteller at the Southeastern Transportation Geotechnical Engineering Conference  (STGEC) 2010 conference in Charleston, West Virginia when he gave the lunch presentation on the conference’s first day.  He took the audience on a trip down the Mississippi River from a foundation engineer’s perspective, talking about several bridges that DBA has had the pleasure to work on, or is still working on, along the river the last few years.  Dan began with the I-35W Bridge replacement in Minneapolis, Minnesota and ended at the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Stops along the way included the Hastings Bridge (Hastings Minnesota), the new I-70 Bridge (St. Louis, Missouri), and the Audubon Bridge (New Roads/St. Francisville, Louisiana).  Dan covered some of the technical issues/problems associated with each project and the solutions applied to complete the foundations (or complete the design).  It was a very informative talk presented in a unique way that everyone at the luncheon seemed to enjoy.  Dan’s presentation is now available on our Presentations Page.

 

Posts on Hastings Bridge here.

Posts on I-70 Bridge here.

Posts on Audubon Bridge here.

Posts on the Huey P. Long Bridge here.

 

 

STGEC 2010 - Pile Load Tests in New Orleans - R Thompson 100915Immediately after lunch, Robert made a presentation that described some of the pile load tests performed on two of the storm protection projects in New Orleans that DBA was privileged to be involved with through Kiewit.  By following Dan, it provided a little continuity to the story as Robert took the group below the Huey P. Long Bridge to the levees and canals downstream of New Orleans.  Robert’s presentation can also be found on our Presentations Page.

 

Post on the pile load tests here.

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.

Long Time ADSC Director Scot Litke “Retiring”

As some readers of this blog know, the ADSC is having a leadership transition as Scot Litke retires.  Everyone will miss Scot and his outstanding wit, but Michael Moore is stepping in as a very capable leader for the organization.  A press release from ADSC is below.

 

For Immediate Release

August 4, 2009

Michael D. Moore Moves into CEO Role at ADSC

ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling reports that Michael Moore has been appointed to the position of CEO as long time ADSC Executive Director S. Scot Litke moves on to other things. Moore joined the ADSC in 2005 initially serving as the association’s Education and Membership Administrator. He was promoted to the position of Assistant Executive Director in 2006.

Litke had informed the ADSC Board that he planned to leave his post as ADSC Executive Director at the end of 2009 and recommended that Moore be appointed to take on the staff leadership role. A formal transition plan was put into effect at the beginning of 2008 with the expectation that Litke would stay on through the year working closely with Moore as he assumed tasks related to his new role. Litke will stay on as the Editor of the association’s award winning publication, Foundation Drilling magazine and will assist Moore as needed in the role of Senior Advisor.

Moore is excited about taking on the responsibilities associated with being the CEO and has been mapping out his vision of how the ADSC staff can support the wide range of activities that have been the organization’s hallmark. These include providing assistance to the association’s eight regional chapters, working with its 20 technical and operations committees, coordinating the workings of the ADSC board of directors, and continuing to enhance the ADSC’s successful education and unique training programs. Moore feels it is of utmost importance to maintain and extend the association’s long standing industry liaison activities such as those with federal and state agencies as well as other sister organizations in the geo-industry.

The ADSC is pleased to have Mike Moore on board to help lead the association into a very bright future.

Moore can be reached at: mmoore@adsc-iafd.com.


ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling is a not-for-profit international trade association headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The ADSC establishes standards and specifications; conducts Drilled Shaft Foundation, Anchored Earth Retention, and Micropile Design and Construction Seminars; offers field, supervisory, and management training programs for its members; develops and promotes safety materials, safety training programs, including OSHA certification  training; interfaces with government agencies at the national, regional and local levels;  funds scholarships and research; publishes a monthly magazine; and maintains a technical library. The association is represented at the regional level by Chapters which address issues of local importance. Through these activities, the ADSC seeks to advance the state-of-the-art in the foundation drilling and anchored earth retention industries. The ADSC represents drilled shaft, anchored earth retention, and micropile contractors, civil engineers, and foundation drilling, anchored earth retention, and micropile equipment manufacturing firms worldwide.