ADOT put together a great little video embedded below that shows the construction of a drilled shaft foundation, or caisson as they are also known, for a bridge on the Loop 303 project in Surprise, AZ. The foundations shown are 88-feet deep and the rebar cage weighs in at about 20,000 pounds. The hole takes around 80 cubic yards of concrete to fill (that’s 8 concrete trucks). The video shows the fabrication of the cage, drilling the hole, and picking up and lowering the cage. My favorite part is the perspective of the video taken from the top of the cage as it is picked up and lowered, very cool. [Source: ADOT Blog]
Miscellaneous
Dr. Jorj O. Osterberg – In Memorium
Dr. Jorj O. Osterberg, inventor of the Osterberg Cell or "O-Cell" used for drilled shaft load tests has passed away at the age of 93. According to the Association of Drilled Shaft Contractors or ADSC, he died peacefully in his sleep on June 1, 2008. The geotechnical community has lost a truly legendary figure in our field.
Osterberg held degrees from Columbia, Harvard and Cornell Universities. He was a Professor Emeritus from Northwestern University. He was a former Chairman of the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division of the ASCE, an Honorary Member of ASCE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He delivered the Terzaghi Lecture in 1985, and later received the Terzaghi Award. He was one of the last surviving founding members of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Deep Foundations Institute and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Drilled Shaft Contractors. (Adapted from a bio for the 2001 Burmister Lecture, Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University). Read on for more.
Geoarchaeology
Geotechnical Contractor DBM Digs Up 13,000+ Year Old Mammoth Tusk in Drilled Shaft Excavation
Specialty Geotechnical Contractor DBM was excavating a drilled shaft for the I-5 interchange in Ridgefield, Washington when they dug up something unusual at a depth of 30-ft. At first the WSDOT inspector thought it looked […]
Geologic Hazards
U.S. 89 Landslide Exploration
Specialty drilling contractor Crux Subsurface recently completed geotechnical drilling for Kleinfelder at the site of a large landslide near Page, Arizona. Crux completed 17 holes to depths up to 250 feet using a combination of […]