My colleage Robert Thompson at Dan Brown and Associates has posted about the World Record O-Cell test they were involved in on the new Mississippi River Bridge for I-70 in St. Louis, Missouri. The new record load is 36,000 tons, eclipsing the previous record of 32,000 tons set in Korea in 2005. This test was recently featured in ENR Magazine as well, and Civil Engineering Magazine before that. [Source: Dan Brown and Associates, PLLC. Image: ENR]
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FHWA NHI Manual: Drilled Shafts Construction Procedures and LRFD Design Methods
The FHWA has released for download a comprehensive update to the 1999 O’Neil and Reese manual “Drilled Shafts: Construction Procedures and Design Methods”, lovingly referred to in the industry as the “Brown Book” or the “Drilled Shaft Bible”. This 2010 manual from the National Highway Institute (NHI) of the FHWA is entitled “Drilled Shafts: Construction Procedures Procedures and LRFD Design Methods” and was authored by Dan A. Brown, Ph.D, P.E. of Dan Brown and Associates, John P. Turner, Ph.D, P.E. of the University of Wyoming, and Raymond J. Castelli, P.E. From an FHWA Memo on the manual:
Distributed with this memorandum is the publication entitled "Drilled Shafts: Construction Procedures and LRFD Design Methods" (FHWA-NHI-10-016). This manual is the reference text used for the National Highway Institute (NHI) course numbered 132014 on Drilled Shafts. The publication will become the tenth in the series of geotechnical engineering guidelines called "Geotechnical Engineering Circulars." Geotechnical Engineering Circular (GEC) No. 10 is prepared as a significant revision and update to "Drilled Shafts: Construction Procedures and Design Methods" (FHWA IF-99-025), and reflects the standard of practice for the design, construction and inspection of these features. The guidance is developed following Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) procedures and will enable engineers to identify and evaluate technical feasibility and potential applications. The text is developed with a sufficiently broad scope to be of value to a wide range of transportation specialists responsible for assisting with selection, design, development of materials specifications, construction monitoring, and contracting methods for Drilled Shafts.
Click through for the download link and some preliminary comments on what has been updated in this significant new publication in the drilled shaft construction industry as well as the geotechnical engineering profession.
Evaluation of Bridge Scour Research: Geomorphic Processes and Predictions
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 177: Evaluation of Bridge Scour Research: Geomorphic Processes and Predictions explores the impact of long-term aggradation and degradation, and lateral river channel migration, on highway structures. […]
Hoover Dam Celebrates 75th Anniversary
On September 30, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Hoover Dam, telling the 10,000 people gathered at the ceremony that it was a “great feat of mankind” destined to reshape “the geography of a whole region.” The American Society of Civil Engineers calls it one of the “Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders.” In honor of this significant milestone for this fantastic structure, I’ve collected some facts and figures, news articles, information on the bypass bridge, and some concerning news about the future of the dam’s ability to supply power. Click through for more.