The FHWA’s Advanced Geotechnical Methods in Exploration (A-GaME) series of webinars is part of their Every Day Counts Initiative. For the past year and a half or so, they have been organizing these excellent webinars on the state of the art and practice in geotechnical investigations. Now, those webinars are on YouTube courtesy of the Deep Foundations Institute. There are currently 10 A-GaME webinars posted, including one of my favorites on Measure While Drilling or MWD technology (see below). For more information and to subscribe to their mailing list, visit the FHWA’s A-GaME page.
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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.
FHWA Releases GEC 12 – Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations
The FHWA recently released ‘GEC 12 – Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations’ (FHWA-NHI-16-009 and FHWA-NHI-16-010). A companion publication ‘Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations – Comprehensive Design Examples’ (FHWA-NHI-16-064) is also available. […]
ADSC Joins with FHWA to Conduct Hollow Core Soil Nail Research
The ADSC [Editor] (Association of Drilled Shaft Contractors) [/Editor] will join the FHWA as co-sponsors of a research project to develop a database of the available grout-to-ground bond stress of Hollow Core Anchors (HCAs) and to determine if correlations exist with traditional solid bar, drill and grout soil nails. The FHWA and the ADSC are interested in documenting the performance of HCAs in soil nail wall type construction and identifying methods of quality assurance so that HCAs can be specified with confidence in appropriate applications, both temporary and permanent. [Editor] Photo of hollow core nail installation underneath an existing bridge abutment, courtesy of NCS Consultants, LLC. Read on for the rest of the release. [/Editor]