Exploratory soil drilling has begun for the John James Audubon Bridge near St. Francisville, LA. PSI is performing the drilling while I observe. The crew completed the borings for the West Pier on May 23rd. They will move to the East Pier after Memorial Day. A picture of the crew is on the left below, one of the samples of clay brought up from about 270 feet below the river bottom is on the right.
near St. Francisville, LA. is performing the drilling while I observe. The crew completed the borings for the West Pier on May 23rd. They will move to the East Pier after Memorial Day. A picture of the crew is on the left below, one of the samples of clay brought up from about 270 feet below the river bottom is on the right.near St. Francisville, LA. is performing the drilling while I observe. The crew completed the borings for the West Pier on May 23rd. They will move to the East Pier after Memorial Day. A picture of the crew is on the left below, one of the samples of clay brought up from about 270 feet below the river bottom is on the right.
DBA is part of the design-build team that is the apparent successful proposer for the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America: the new Mississippi River Bridge connecting New Roads and St. Francisville, Louisiana. The bridge will formally be known as the John James Audubon Bridge and is the Louisiana DOTD’s first design-build project. The team we are on is Audubon Bridge Constructors Joint Venture, a joint venture of Flatiron Construction, Granite Construction and Parsons Transportation Group. DBA will be the geotechnical engineer of record for the planned 8-foot diameter post-grouted drilled shafts that will support the main span towers and the high-level approaches.  Work on the project is expected to start in April. We’ll post more information and links later as the project moves forward.
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Dr .Dan Brown, P.E. and Dr. Bill Isenhower, P.E. of ENSOFT, Inc. will be conducting a two-day short course on Drilled Shaft Design, Construction and Testing. The course is the second in a series produced by ADSC and ENSOFT, Inc. The program will cover drilled shaft design, specifications, QA and QC testing, and recommended construction procedures. This course is modeled on the highly successful NHI course that has been provided to state DOTs and is based on the FHWA Drilled Shaft Design and Construction Manual developed by Dr. Michael O’Neill. The course is being sponsored by the ADSC’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Registration information can be found at www.adsc-iafd.com.
Dr. Dan Brown and Dr. Steve Dapp will be presenting at the PDCA 10th Anniversary Annual Conference at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio in San Antonio, Texas March 2 – 4, 2006.
Dan will be presenting “Pile Set Up in Foundation Design†on Friday the 3rd. Dan’s presentation will provide an overview of the fundamental mechanisms affecting the time-dependency of axial resistance in driven piles, and the effect of this phenomenon on design, quality control, and testing of driven pile foundations. Examples from the ongoing Escambia Bay Bridge project will be described, in which setup has been seen to vary considerably based on soil conditions. Dan will also be a panelist in a roundtable discussion “Comparing Driven Pile Capacities With Drilled Shaft Capacities†to be held later that afternoon.
On Saturday the 4th, Steve will present “Static and Axial Capacity Between Drilled and Driven Pilesâ€. Steve’s presentation will provide an overview of the effect of construction on deep foundation behavior and factors that affect performance. Issues of construction quality assurance and control, along with advantages and limitations of each foundation type will also be discussed.
DBA has recently submitted the final draft of FHWA Geotechnical Circular No. 8 – Augered Cast-In-Place and Continuous Flight Auger Piles. The document is under final review by FHWA and should be released for publication late this year. This manual will provide the technical information for the selection, design, construction, and inspection of drilled piles (auger-cast, continuous flight auger, drilled displacement piles, etc.) for the transportation industry. A model performance-based specification is included in the manual. We’ll post information on the release date and how to obtain copies once it goes to publication.
Welcome to the website and weblog of Dan Brown and Associates, LLC. We are a consulting engineering firm specializing in geotechnical and foundation engineering, with emphasis on problem solving relating to foundation engineering and slope stability problems. Our staff has a wide range of experience in deep foundation analysis, design, construction, and testing, as well as slope stability analysis, design and construction. We will be posting information about projects, presentations at conferences, new publications, short courses, research, and other activities of our staff. We will also include the latest publications authored by our staff and links to other valuable resources for deep foundation and slope stability problems.
Dr. Dan Brown, P.E. will be speaking at the 