Category Archives: Drilled Shafts

DBA News, Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Miscellaneous, Site updates, Terzaghi & History

Audubon (JJA) Bridge Construction Update

January 14, 2009 Robert Thompson

I have been too busy to post more photos from my trips to New Roads, LA in the fall to help Steve with the work at the Audubon Bridge project. It has been a flurry of activity as they worked to finish installing, tip-routing, and load testing all of the shafts in the river (done in December!). They have also completed and tested the land test shaft on the west side of the river and begun installing the land shafts. Throw in a lot of pile driving, including some 5-foot diameter pipe piles for temporary bents, and it has been a very busy site. All of the various tip-grouting, O-cell load tests on drilled shafts, and PDA testing of the pre-cast piles has been successful. As of today, the Mississippi River has come up and slowed things down a bit, but they should get all of the foundation completed within the next couple of months.

Some pictures I took on some of my trips are setup below. I have also experimented with embedding some video I took with my camera. The camera was not set on a very high video capture resolution, but I think they are good enough for you to get the idea of the shaft excavation and the pile driving activities.

More pictures here.

Previous posts here.

East Pier Construction – September 2008:

East Temporary Bent Pile Driving – September 2008:

West Side Construction and Other Stuff – October 2008:

Excavating Shaft 5E with airlift.

Driving 5′ dia. pipe pile for East Temprary Bent

Extracting casing at Shaft 21W

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DBA News, Drilled Shafts, Site updates

New Publications and Presentations – KDOT Wall Report, Ground Improvement Paper, and Drilled Shaft Presentations

January 14, 2009 Robert Thompson

I have added some publications and presentations to the site – trying to catch up on things here.

The report of the lateral load tests on drilled shafts and an MSE wall for KDOT has been published. My post on this project is here. Dr. Bob Parsons at University of Kansas was the principal researcher. Our main contribution was analysis of the lateral response of the drilled shafts (Appendix B in the report).

Pierson, M., Parsons, R.L., Han, J., Brown, D.A. and Thompson, W.R., 2008. “Capacity of Laterally Loaded Shafts Constructed Behind the Face of a Mechanically Stabilized Earth Block Wall”, Report for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

We now have a paper co-authored by Paul in the just released DFI Journal Volume 2. The subject is shear modulus in soil mixing and jet grouting.

Axtell, P.J. and Stark, T.D., 2008. “Increase in Shear Modulus by Soil Mix and Jet Grout Methods”, DFI Journal Volume 2, No. 1, Nov2008, Deep Foundations Institute, pp11-21.

Two presentations have also been added – one from Dan’s talk at the 2008 STGEC Conference (program page is here) and one from Dan’s appearance at the San Antonio Section of ASCE earlier this month.

Design of Drilled Shafts for Extreme Events – Dan A. Brown, Ph.D., P.E. – San Antonio Section ASCE Meeting – January 9, 2009

Improved Design of Drilled Shafts in Rock – Dan A. Brown, Ph.D., P.E. – STGEC 2008, Pigeon Forge, TN October 2008

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Drilled Shafts

ADSC SE Chapter Research Project – Test Shaft 1 Prediction Contest Winner Announced!

October 9, 2008 Robert Thompson

The results are in for the load test at Test Shaft 1 at the Nashville site. The shaft was not loaded to failure in end bearing, in fact, it barely exceeded 1/2 inch of movement. Failure in side shear was not reached, either, but appeared to be approaching the maximum. Thus, for our contest, the maximum end bearing resistance was not evaluated. The average unit side shear in the socket was 24.2 ksf and the end bearing resistance mobilized at 1/2 inch deflection was a surprising 520 ksf!

So, our winner is………Matt Bullard, E.I. of the Nashville Branch of TTL, Inc. He predicted a unit side shear of 25 ksf and an end bearing of 552 ksf at 1/2 inch deflection. A detailed look at the results and the range of the predictions can be found here.

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DBA News, Drilled Shafts

ADSC SE Chapter Rock Socketed Drilled Shaft Research Project Underway (and contest, too!)

September 22, 2008 Robert Thompson

DBA is one of many participants in a geotechnical engineering / deep foundation design research project being sponsored by the ADSC Southeast Chapter and funded by the ADSC Industry Advancement Fund. The project is investigating the axial resistance of drilled shafts socketed in to various rock formation in the Southeastern U.S. Design of drilled shaft foundations in the Southeastern U.S. has been very conservative over the years, often based solely on presumptive values of end bearing on rock and a requirement that the shaft be founded on sound rock with some minimum embedment below the rock surface. The research program hopes to test several shafts socketed into different rock formations to provide data for evaluating current design methodology, particularly the presumptive design values used in the region.

The first test shaft is being constructed this week at the Long Foundation Company equipment yard in Nashville, Tennessee. The shaft has a 48-inch rock socket in limestone. In conjunction with the research project, the ADSC SE Chapter is holding a prediction contest for the first test shaft. You can submit your prediction of the unit side shear and end bearing values. You can access the page on the shaft and the contest on the project page here or at the link on the top of the right sidebar. Information available includes boring logs, rock core photos, and photos of the rock socket construction. Contest entry deadline is Thursday, September 25th.

Other participants/sponsors include: Loadtest, PSI, S&ME, and Tennessee DOT.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Load Test, Test Shaft

DBA News, Drilled Shafts

kcICON River Bridge Update

August 28, 2008 Robert Thompson

Work is well underway on the main pylon foundation for the Christopher S. Bond Bridge on the kcICON project in Kansas City. By Labor Day, 4 of the 8 shafts (with 10.5-foot diameter rock sockets) will be completed. Construction of the shafts is progressing smoothly. The Pylon shafts may be completed as early as the end of September. Work on the land shafts will start sometime after Labor Day.

The photos in the slide show below were provided courtesy of the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).

Update: MoDOT has set up a webcam on the exisiting bridge looking down on the pylon construction. Check it out here.

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Progress at Audubon Bridge

August 21, 2008 Robert Thompson

Audubon Bridge Constructors (ABC) is making progress on the new John Jame Audubon Bridge near New Roads and St. Francisville, Louisiana. Steve has been spending quite a bit of time there looking at shaft excavations ,test shaft installations, and test pile installations. Paul made a trip in July and I made one earlier this month to give Steve a break. It is really amazing to be part of such a large bridge project. The amount of work required to build the foundations is incredible. I have posted a couple of slide shows below from the visits Paul and I made. Links to the slide shows and albums are on the project page.

Shafts W21 and W 5 – July 2008

Shaft W12 and West High Approach Test Shaft – August 2008

Technorati : Bridge Foundations, Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Post-grouted Drilled Shafts, Test Shaft, Tip-grout

Drilled Shafts, Miscellaneous

Call for Papers – ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication to Honor Clyde Baker, Jr., P.E., S.E.

August 20, 2008 Robert Thompson

The Deep Foundations Committee of the Geo-institute of ASCE has announced that a Geotechnical Special Publication (GSP) will be issued in 2010 honoring the work of Clyde Baker, P.E., S.E.. A call for papers has been issued on the G-I website:

The Geo-Institute is soliciting abstracts for technical papers to be considered for inclusion in the Geotechnical Special Publication (GSP) honoring Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., S.E., Hon.M.ASCE. The GSP will be titled The Art of Foundation Engineering Practice; Mohamad Hussein, J. Brian Anderson, and William Camp, III, Editors. It will be published in 2010 during the Geo-Institute annual meeting.

Technical papers covering all aspects of foundation engineering – research, structural and geotechnical design, construction practices, testing, and performance – will be considered. Papers documenting case histories are particularly welcome.

Deadline for abstract submission is November 30, 2008. Abstracts should have between 300-400 words and may be submitted by email to ClydeBakerGSP@uncc.edu.

Clyde has made many contributions to the design and construction of deep foundations, having consulted on the foundation design of the world’s tallest buildings, including the 2000-ft-tall Chicago Spire under construction since 2007 and the most prominent houses in Palm Beach, with the help of the roofing company from this Web Site. He was recently honored with the Engineering News Record’s 2007 Award for Excellence.

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DBA News, Drilled Shafts

kcICON Moving Forward – Test Shaft Installation

June 17, 2008 Robert Thompson

I have been slow in posting on the progress of our part in the kcICON project (see here for background and here for latest project images by MoDOT). The exploratory drilling went very well with a short pause due to ice in the river in late January. The crews from Terracon did an outstanding job getting the borings completed, overcoming the occasional problems with drilling tools deciding they did not want to come out of the hole.

Design work by Parsons on the main bridge proceeded (and is still ongoing) through the rest of winter and into the spring. In late April, PCC installed the test shaft in the middle of the pylon foundation with a 6-foot diameter rock socket 20 feet long. The shaft was tested using a group of 3 O-cells placed near the bottom of the shaft. The test yielded excellent results in both side shear and end bearing in the shale socket. Look for us to include the results in a future technical paper or journal article.

Design is continuing with the pylon shafts anticipated to be started in early July. The abutments and approach piers are schedule to be started later this summer or early fall.

The slide show embedded below has some photos of the exploratory drilling and the test shaft installation. Enjoy!

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DBA News, Drilled Shafts, Slope Stability

ADSC 2008 Faculty Workshop Field Day at DBA

June 16, 2008 Robert Thompson

Well, the ADSC 2008 Faculty Workshop Field Day was a great success! A group of 46 civil engineering faculty members from across the country participated in the week-long workshop that culminated in a field demonstration day at the World Headquarters of Dan Brown and Associates in Sequatchie, Tennessee. The participants and instructors were treated to installation and testing demonstrations of drilled shaft foundations, micropile foundations, and anchored earth retention systems. The load tests included a static load test of a micropile and a Statnamic test of a drilled shaft, which provided some of the day’s excitement. Installation demonstrations of the various drilled foundations and anchors allowed the participants to observe how the various elements are installed. Even though we had to dodge an occasional thundershower, everyone had a great time and felt that they went away with a lot of valuable information for their classes back home.

More info on the Workshop here.

I put together a slide show of photos taken by myself (Robert) and Dr. Erik Lohr.

Technorati : Deep Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Engineering Research, Foundation Construction, Foundations, Geotechnical Engineering, Micropiles, Slope Stabilization