DFI’s Testing and Evaluation Committee
announces a new video
Static Load Testing of Deep Foundations Elements
The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and the Testing and
Evaluation Committee recently announced the release of a
video on Static Load Testing of Deep Foundations Elements:
Top-Down and Bi-Directional Static Load Testing.
The 24-minute tutorial presentation provides a brief summary
of the current state of the practice for axial static load
testing. It shows how static load tests for various deep foundation
elements are set up and run. It also shows how the test
data are analyzed and how the deep foundation design might
change as a result of the testing.
“The video is intended to provide nonpractitioners a
better understanding of this foundation testing method,”
said Gerald Verbeek of Allnamics Pile Testing Experts and
chair of the DFI Testing and Evaluation Committee. “This is
the first video in what the committee plans to be a series of
introductory videos on foundation testing methods and data
analysis.”
The video can be viewed at www.dfi.org/staticloadtesting.
Information on the DFI Testing and Evaluation Committee
can be found at www.dfi.org, under “Groups.”
GRL Engineers author Geotechnical
Engineering Circular No. 12 – Design and
Construction of Driven Pile Foundations
The recently released Geotechnical Engineering Circular No.
12 – Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations is
the US Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) primary
guidance and reference document on driven pile foundations.
GEC 12 updates and replaces the previous Design
and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations documents
published in 2006. It reflects changes in the practice of
designing, constructing and inspecting driven pile foundations
that occurred in the industry in the past 10 years. Most
notably, the Circular incorporates load and resistance factor
design methods, following current American Association
of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
specifications.
The two-volume compendium covers a range of topics
from subsurface exploration and laboratory testing to static,
dynamic and rapid load tests; pile driving equipment and
technical specifications are also included, along with a companion
third volume of examples.
GRL is proud to have contributed the expertise of its president
Patrick J. Hannigan, P.E., its founders Frank Rausche,
Ph.D., P.E. and Garland E. Likins, P.E., and its engineers Brent
R. Robinson, P.E., and Matthew L. Becker to this effort. Under
the auspices of Ryan R. Berg & Associates, Inc. and in cooperation
with the FHWA Technical Working Group composed
of Naser Abu-Hejleh, Ph.D., P.E., Scott Anderson, Ph.D., P.E.,
and Silas Nichols, P.E., they authored this trove of information
on the analysis, design and construction of driven pile
foundations for highway structures.
Although there is a cost to purchase the document in hard
copy from www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov, FHWA has made GEC 12
available for free download in PDF format. Simply follow the
link GRL placed on its home page – www.grlengineers.com –
to reach the download site.
Foundations for a Dubai Culture Village hotel
gets underway with Liebherr rotary drilling rig
A Liebherr LB 20 rig is being used by UAE-based Delta
Foundations Co. to drill 200 piles in four months. The task
for the company’s first Liebherr rotary drilling rig is to install
the piling for a four-star hotel at Dubai’s Culture Village
development.
Culture Village is a mixed development that is being
built alongside Dubai Creek, where a six-km boardwalk and
a marina have been constructed. Plots of land have been
allocated to a number of developers for the construction of
apartment buildings, hotels, retail space, offices, a mosque
and a museum.
The basement excavation for the four-star hotel has
already been completed, and a diaphragm wall constructed
around the perimeter. Delta Foundations was awarded a
contract for the driving of 200 bored piles underneath the
basement level. Delta’s project engineer, Mohamed Osama,
says this is the first project on which the highly mobile and
compact Liebherr LB 20 has been used. The rig was supplied
to Delta by Liebherr Middle East FZE, which is based at Jebel
Ali Free Zone in Dubai.
“We have been using other brands of rotary drilling rigs,
but we needed to invest in a new machine and were impressed
by the specifications of the LB 20,” he said. “This contract is
therefore very much a learning process for us.”
The machine is being used in a rotary kelly configuration,
with a casing oscillator. Delta is driving two depths of pile,
one to 24 m and the other to 29 m, depending on the needs
of the structure. There are two diameters of pile, one at 70 cm
and the other at 100 cm.
INDUSTRY NEWS
LIEBHERR
CONTINUED ON PAGE 76
74 Q1 2017 www.pilingcanada.ca
/staticloadtesting
/www.dfi.org
/www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov
/www.grlengineers.com
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