The video below is from a test on 170-foot long, 32-inch outside diameter steel pipe pile with 0.75"-inch wall thickness.  The pile was filled with concrete that included an instrumented rebar cage.

Enjoy!

Here is an interesting story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune about the bridge project explaining how they are widening the bridge.

Dan, Paul and Erik were at the 34th Deep Foundations Institute Annual Conference in Kansas City last month.  Dan was one of the keynote speakers where he presented our paper on the drilled shafts for the Missouri River Bridge on the kcICON project in Kansas City.   Paul was also able to receive the Special Recognition Award (honorable mention) in the annual project awards for the pile foundations at the Biloxi Bay Bridge project.

More photos from the conference are at this link.

The shaft construction was concluded with one last O-cell test on Shaft 3W South.  Dan was present for the last load test which went fabulously well.

If you are going to the Geo-Institute congress GeoForida 2010 next February in West Palm Beach, you can hear Steve present the paper he and Dan wrote on the tip grouting and load test program.

The bridge is still under construction, of course, and will be an awesome structure when completed.  It was an exciting project for us to be a part of the team.  We’ll have a project summary posted in the near future to highlight the details of the foundations.  For now, you will have to be satisfied with the slideshows below (in reverse chronological order) from some of our visits this summer and fall.

Load Test at Shaft 3W South – October 2009

Excavation of Shaft 3W South – September 2009

Shaft Grouting and other Construction – June 2009

Shaft Excavation, Pile Driving, and Cofferdams – May 2009

I have added the paper that we wrote and Dan presented at the Deep Foundations Institute 34th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations that was held in Kansas City, MO late last month.  The paper highlights how the design-build process was successful in the design and construction of the large diameter drilled shafts supporting the bridge.  We discuss the installation methods used, the load test program, and how we evaluated the durability of the shale rock sockets under drilling fluid.

You can check out the progress of the bridge at the project website.

Axtell, P.J., Thompson, W.R., and Brown, D.A., 2009. “Drilled Shaft Foundations for the kcICON Missouri River Bridge”, Deep Foundations Institute 34th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations, Conference Proceedings 2009, October 21-23, 2009, Kansas City, Missouri, pp. 3-12.

Aaron Hudson has joined DBA as a staff engineer.  Aaron earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  He was Dan’s last graduate student at Auburn, or will be as soon as he gets his thesis finished!  He will complete the M.S. degree from Auburn in 2010.  Aaron has worked as a soil technician, lab technician, and occasional drill hand for his father’s firm The Summit Group of Louisiana in Sulpher, Louisiana.  Immediately prior to joining DBA, he worked for almost a year as a staff engineer for TTL, Inc. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  Aaron will work as a staff engineer and will get to spend a good deal of time in the field.  Welcome aboard, Aaron!

If you read the above, you may have noticed I wrote “last graduate student”.  Yes, in case you had not heard, Dan “retired” from Auburn University.  I used the quotes to indicate that Dan didn’t really retire, he really made a career change back into full time consulting, where he began after finishing his M.S. at Georgia Tech way back when.  Actually, it was 1977, so it wasn’t really all that long ago, right?

For those that are familiar with the hectic travel schedule Dan kept while having two full time jobs as professor and consultant, it hasn’t changed a bit.  As our business continues to grow, Dan seems to be always somewhere besides the office!

Robert spent a good part of the summer in New Orleans doing a variety of geotechnical engineering tasks to support the construction efforts of GIC.  The main thing he worked on was the test pile program.  The project included a massive test pile program with 24 test piles spread among 5 test sites with various combinations of dynamic, static axial, static tension, and static lateral tests.  The piles were mostly open-ended steel pipe piles varying from 18” to 54” in diameter.  A few 18” x 18” pre-stressed precast concrete piles were also thrown in for good measure.   In addition to performing drivability studies and evaluating tests data, Robert got to spend some time in the wonderful June and July weather in southern Louisiana on the site observing pile installation and testing.  And as always, he came back with a lot of pictures.  Here are a few to enjoy.

Garden State Parkway Mullica River Bridge, New Jersey – Test Shaft Installation

Paul took a trip to lovely New Jersey to observe a large diameter test shaft on the Mullica River Bridge.  DBA worked as a consultant for Parsons Brinckerhoff on an 8-foot diameter, 220-foot deep test shaft.  CASE was the drilled shaft contractor and Agate was the general contractor.  DBA consulted on the design of the test shaft program, as well as the use of Self Consolidating Concrete (SCC).

Drilled Shaft Lateral Load Test Research with the University of Kansas

Paul took a ride out west to Kansas City, Kansas (close to home!) to observe a drilled shaft lateral load test in Wyandotte County, near the Cabela’s store on I-435.  The test is part of ongoing research by the University of Kansas for the Kansas DOT.   DBA was involved in previous research concerning laterally loaded shafts behind MSE walls (see previous post, click here for more information on the project).  This research continues on the same theme of investigating the behavior of laterally loaded shafts socketed into the sedimentary rocks in eastern Kansas.  DBA does not have an active role in this project, just an academic interest. 

Huey P. Long Bridge Improvements, New Orleans, Louisiana – Test Shaft Installation

The Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans (built in the 1930s) is undergoing a major rehab and expansion.  The vehicle traffic will increase from 2 9-foot lanes in each direction to 3 11-foot lanes in each direction.  This is a very interesting combined highway and railroad bridge with a fascinating history.  The bridge is actually a private bridge owned by the New Orleans Public Belt Railway (click the link to see some cool photos from the construction of the bridge in the 1930s). The project website is here. 

DBA was consulting with the joint venture building the bridge for the base-grouted drilled shafts under one new pier.  A test-shaft was built and tested with O-cells.  Robert was on site while they excavated the test shaft.  Steve was on site during grouting.

Photograph From the World Wide Web of Geotechnical Engineering Hall of Fame (http://www.ejge.com/People/Terzaghi/Terzaghi.htm)

Yes, my geotechnical friends, another year has passed and it is again that special date in geotechnical engineering history: Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday!

Each year we pause to recognize the birth of the Father of Modern Soil Mechanics. For those of you that this is the first year you have received this message, let me welcome you to my annual tribute to Professor Terzaghi and the geotechnical engineering profession. (If you do not want this annual greeting, please let me know and I will drop you from my list!).

For this year’s reflection, I thought I would share a story from Professor Terzaghi’s biography: “Karl Terzaghi – The Engineer as Artist” by Richard E. Goodman (quotes in italics). Terzaghi was in the U.S. in the fall of 1938 working on securing an appointment at Harvard. He received a lot of invitations to speak once word spread he was in the U.S. He organized them into something like a tour. “But he did not defer the invitation from Dean Grinter, of the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago, because Karl knew that construction of new subway tunnels through soft clay was about to start under the heart of Chicago. At Armour Institute, he wisely chose to speak about the dangers of tunneling in soft clay beneath cities.” The lecture was on December 1, 1938. Representatives of the property owners along the subway right-of-way as well as the chief engineer of the subway department were in attendance. Both parties sought out Terzaghi as consultant and made offers. He eventually chose the offer to work for the city after requiring several conditions that including hiring Professor Ralph Peck, “beginning a job that propelled the young field of soils engineering.” The rest, as they say, is history. This story illustrates how the right words (a lecture, a presentation, etc.) at the right time in front of the right audience can pay huge dividends, both professionally and financially.

Remember that every day is a great day to be in the field of geotechnical engineering and construction! Have a great Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday!

Drilled Shaft Foundation Industry Giant

Dr. Lymon C. Reese Passes

       Drilled Shaft Foundation Industry Giant  Dr. Lymon C. Reese Passes

We are sad to report that Dr. Lymon C. Reese, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin, and one of the world’s leading drilled foundation experts, passed away on Monday, September 13, 2009. Dr. Reese was an ADSC Honorary Technical Affiliate Member and a great friend to the ADSC and to the drilled foundation industry. His seminal drilled shaft foundation research conducted for the Texas Department of Transportation and his subsequent writings are among the most important work ever conducted in the field. His graduate students have achieved international acclaim in their own right, and include: Dr. Michael W. O’Neill (deceased), Dr. Dan A. Brown, Larry Olson, Dr. Magued Iskander, Dr. James Long, and many others, all of whom have had a major impact on the advancement of the drilled shaft foundation industry. Dr. Reese was one of the last surviving early “giants” of our industry. At age 92, he remained a vibrant contributor to the profession. To say he will be sorely missed is an understatement. We have lost a most beloved friend.

Further details regarding a Memorial Service will be posted on the ADSC website as they become available.