Terzaghi & History

Happy Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday 2012 (Updated)

Ah, October….here in the U.S. the leaves are beginning to turn as fall begins (or, in some places, fall off due to summer heat and lack of rain).  The beginning of fall marks a lot of things, such as the Major League Baseball playoffs (insert favorite team name here!), but more importantly the anniversary of the birthday of Karl Terzaghi!

I know that the past few years I have written an extended post highlighting something from Professor Terzaghi’s life or contributions to soil mechanics.  Alas, this fall I let the date creep up on me and my schedule this week left me little time to spend on a more detailed post.  I hope to resume that tradition next year.

Nonetheless, after a busy day of conference calls, design reviews, and calculations of pile resistance (or capacity for all of the folks still living in the ASD world), there will be time for a toast today, or maybe even a slice of birthday cake, in honor of our hero, Karl Terzaghi!

 

UPDATE 2!

Randy Post at Geoprac.net has set up 12 Terzghi Tweets for today.

UPDATE!

My friend (and former professor) Dr. Dave Elton, P.E., currently on sabbatical from Auburn University (War Eagle!), sent this ode today:

A timely ode to our Profession.

The beauty of soil’s

What we consider today,

In which cause we toil,

Be it silt, be it clay.

Foundations are mighty!

The piles we drive!

Geosynthetics are awesome!

We feel so alive!

Tho’ our pride sometimes suffers:

The hillside displaces.

And foundations still settle,

Leaving dirt on our faces.

Still our cause it is just!

From gravel to marl,

Our technology awesome!

Started by Karl!

So onward we press,

With our powers, expert.

As to-day we honor,

The Father of Dirt.

Happy Terzaghi’s Birthday.

Karl Terzaghi (1883 – 1963)

(Celebrate: Go trigger a landslide. You have my permission.)

 

D. Elton, P.E.

Auburn University October 02, 2012

Not copyrighted. Forward at will.

DBA News

Barry Meyer, P.E. joins DBA!

12_Barry MeyerWe are pleased to announce that Barry J. Meyer, P.E., has joined DBA. Barry is a recognized expert in the design and construction of deep foundations. His over 30 years of geotechnical engineering experience includes time at McClelland Engineers in Houston where he designed large diameter high capacity driven piles for major offshore structures and developed subsea geotechnical instrumentation. He applied that knowledge at Marathon Oil Company where he was part of the team that installed the Steelhead oil production platform in Cook Inlet, Alaska.

After his time in Texas, Barry spent time at both Leighton and Associates and at Law Engineering in California, before joining HDR in their Tampa, Florida office. During this time, his drilled shaft experience includes the H-3 Windward Viaduct on Oahu, Hawaii where drilled shafts were used for the first time to support a major bridge structure and are now the foundation of choice in Hawaii. He was also innovative in the use of the Osterberg O-Cell as part of the repair of the Los Angeles Coliseum after the devastating Northridge earthquake.

Barry has worked on numerous international projects in a variety of capacities including the Confederate Bridge connecting New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island over the ice filled Northumberland Straits; the 55 km elevated Bang Na Expressway Project in Bangkok, Thailand; and the Puente de la Unidad cable-stayed bridge over the Santa Catarina River, Monterey, Mexico. He also has considerable seismic engineering experience, and has designed and constructed flood protection levee systems and water storage reservoirs.

Barry will be based in the Tampa, Florida area. You can check out more details about him on the About Us page of our blog.  Welcome, Barry!

Drilled Piles, Drilled Shafts, Driven Piles, Dynamic Testing, Foundation Design, Foundation Testing

Two New Technical Manuals From DFI

The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) has announced the publication of two new deep foundation reference manuals.   Excerpts from the announcement for both manuals are below.  Both manuals are available for order from DFI by clicking the links in the titles.

Guideline for Interpretation of Nondestructive Integrity Testing of Augered Cast-in-Place and Drilled Displacement Piles
DFI Augered Cast-In-Place Pile Committee (2011-2012) Chaired by Michael Moran
Tracy Brettmann, Principal Author; Bernard Hertlein, Matthew Meyer, Bria Whitmire, Co-Authors

(Image from DFI)

This guideline provides practical guidance for the interpretation of nondestructive testing (NDT) of the integrity of augered cast-in-place (ACIP) and drilled displacement (DD) piles.  …  This guideline supplements DFI’s two primary publications on ACIP piles: Augered Cast-in-Place Pile Manual (2003) and the Inspector’s Guide for Augered Cast-in-Place Piles (2010). This guideline was developed to provide 1) more detailed explanations of the various test methods available, 2) guidance on interpretation of the results, and 3) some typical examples of the data and interpretation.

Seismic and Lateral Load Design and Testing Guidelines
DFI Seismic and Lateral Loads Committee (2011-2012)
Chaired by Mark Petersen and Zia Zafir (2003-2009)
Robert Kruger, Guideline Editor

 

(DBA Photo)

This guidance document is intended to assist geotechnical engineers, pile designers, and contractors in analysis, design, and testing of piles and drilled shafts for lateral loads. … … This document discusses the background of different analytical and testing procedures and presents the recommended methods for analysis, design and testing of piles for lateral loads.

Bridge Foundations, DBA News, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Design, Foundation Testing, Load Testing

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.

DBA News

Dan Inducted into The Moles

moles logo

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!!!!!

Bridge Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Foundation Testing

Project Update–New River Bridge (I-70), St. Louis, MO

mr_3807_s

Photo Credit: Missouri Department of Transportation

I and my fellow bloggers here at DBA (David Graham and Aaron Hudson) try to keep up with the various projects under construction that we had a part of.  Sometimes it is hard to do once we have left the site after foundations are complete.  Modern information technology makes it much easier, especially since most large infrastructure projects have a significant public outreach effort, either by the project design/build team, or the owning agency.

One such project, the New Mississippi River Bridge (I-70 Bridge) in St. Louis, MO, is really coming along.  If work didn’t get in the way, I could spend a lot of time just browsing project photo galleries, or looking through the project cams.

(Previous posts)

DBA News

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.

Bridge Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Driven Piles, Foundation Design

New Pictures of Hastings Bridge Added to Our Picasa Web Album

Some new pictures of the Hastings bridge project in Hastings, Minnesota have been added to our Picasa Web Album: Hastings Bridge Construction.  The  pictures were taken by myself, David Graham, who has been in the area working on a load test program for a new bridge crossing the St. Croix River near Stillwater, Minnesota, and Griff Wigley, our blog coach who lives nearby in Northfield, Minnesota.  The pictures show some of the recently poured deck sections, the completed piers, and the main span arch construction.  Once completed, the main span arch will be moved onto barges, floated downstream, and lifted into place in one piece.  We have chronicled this interesting and successful project in several previous blog posts that can be found here.

Bridge Foundations, Foundation Design

TRB Report: Scour at Bridge Foundation on Rock

TRB has released a new synthesis report covering scour of bridge foundations.  Since this is an issue we are involved in on a lot of our big bridge projects, I felt it appropriate to share and help spread the word (Disclosure:  I have not read the report yet – but plan to soon).  ON large bridge projects we are often on the same team as Ayres Associates, Inc. , the firm of one of the three authors, Paul E. Clopper.

I found out about it from our friend Randy Post of Geoprac.net, so hat tip (h/t) to Randy:

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 717: Scour at Bridge Foundations on Rock presents a methodology for estimating the time rate of scour and the design scour depth for a bridge founded on rock. The report also includes design and construction guidelines for application of the methodology.

Check out Randy’s site – he does a great job keeping up with all sorts of things related to geo-engineering.

Go here to get the report (download PDF or purchase printed copy)

DBA News, Site updates

Welcome to DBA, Nathan Glinski!

12_Nathan_s

DBA is proud to announce the addition of Nathan Glinski, E.I. to our staff.  Nathan is a recent graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology (like Dan and Tim! Go Jackets!). Nathan completed his M.S. in civil engineering at Georgia Tech where he also did his undergraduate work. While at Georgia Tech, Nathan was a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. David Frost, P.E. where he investigated the use of pile foundations as geothermal heat exchangers. In addition to his research, Nathan was a teaching assistant for an undergraduate geotechnical engineering course, gaining experience in a wide variety of laboratory soil tests as well as managing the grading of reports and homework for 100 undergraduate students. Nathan has been the resident summer intern for DBA since 2010 and will now be joining us full time as a staff project engineer.

On a more personal note, Nathan is also an accomplished trials motorcycle rider, having been riding since a youth.  He has often ridden the courses and trails at the Trials Training Center (owned by Dan and co-located at DBA World HQ).  He is a big volunteer/instructor/participant in events at the TTC, as seen in two posts last year here (helmet cam while riding a course), and here (instructor).

As you can see from his photo, he has adopted the official hairstyle of DBA.  Coincidentally, being comfortable in a hard hat also means comfort when wearing your trials helmet!

Specialists in Deep Foundation Design, Construction, and Testing and Slope Stability Problems