Drilled Shafts Seminar

The Deep Foundations Institute is presenting a drilled shafts specialty seminar June 24 at the Hilton Oakland Airport Hotel. The program will give attendees the opportunity to learn from experts on the latest developments in drilled shaft design and construction, including load and resistance factor design, and seismic designing dealing with anomalies and obstruction. Exhibit space also is available. For complete details, visit www.dfi.org or telephone 973-423-4030.

Congratulations to Nicholson Construction!

Nicholson Construction Co., headquartered in Cuddy, Pa., has been named the 2008 Quality Contractor of the Year by ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling. The award, which recognizes companies that demonstrate the highest level of quality control in their work, is based upon "measured adherence to contract standards and specifications as well as documented conformance with internally-prepared quality control plans."

Since 1955, Nicholson Construction has been an industry leader in performance and technical innovation in geotechnical construction. As the North American business unit of the Soletanche Bachy Group, Nicholson is part of a global network of geotechnical resources and expertise, specializing in deep foundations, earth retention, ground treatment and ground improvement.

On the Job

Augered Cast-in-place Piles

This past March, Malcolm Drilling Co. was contracted to install augered cast-in-place piles for the new West Elm store in Emeryville, Calif. The project required 51 piles, each 64 feet deep with a design capacity of 115 tons per pile. Soil conditions at the site consisted of 7 feet of fill over 33 feet of soft bay mud over bearing soils, which are stiff silty clays and gravel.

Existing structures in the vicinity are supported on driven pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete piles, however, because the noise and vibration involved in pile driving would disturb the projects neighbors, augered cast-in-place piles were selected for the foundation. After the initial test pile program was completed, the production piles were completed two days ahead of schedule.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Malcolm Drilling has for decades been an innovator and leader in the deep foundation industry. The firm's core services include drilled shafts, micropiles, auger-cast piles, excavation support systems, cutoff and secant pile walls, slope stabilization, jet grouting, deep soil mixing, underpinning, dewatering, and omega displacement piles.

Geotechnical Book Honors Schmertmann

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently From Research to Practice in Geotechnical Engineering. This book honors John Schmertmann for his contributions to civil engineering. It begins with his biography, a list of his students and writings, followed by reprints of his selection of 16 representative papers from his career. Twenty-eight new, mostly invited papers follow on a great variety of subjects, including the installation and testing of piles; pile-structure interaction; liquefaction and its mitigation; case histories of settlement and landslide mitigation and capping a superfund landfill; and computer modeling. The authors include six members of the National Academy of Engineering. This GSP concludes with a paper by one of these, Schmertmann, which itself concludes with a suggestion for improving your technical writing. Everyone working in the geotechnical profession will find something interesting and useful herein. The book is available through ASCE's bookstore; visit www.asce.org.

Featured Product of the Month

Excavator-mounted Drill

The EM-27 Drill Mast from International Construction Equipment LLC features easy boom attachment, optional stroke of 40 feet, 30-degree dual tilt, and options for auger cast piles. It attaches to your crane boom and power supply, and fits CAT 330 and larger excavators. The EM-27 offers 27,000 foot-pounds of torque, and will drill up to 30 feet in diameter. For more information, visit www.iceusa.com.

A Parting Shot

Our kiwi friend Mr. Ingolfson contributes this photo of an auger-type drilling rig drilling holes for foundation piles on a construction site in Auckland City, New Zealand.

Check out Site Prep, a sister publication of The Foundations Report. Site Prep focuses on the challenges and opportunities of site preparation, including site clearing, earth moving, utilities and environmental activities. Go to www.siteprepmag.com, where you can subscribe to the magazine as well as its monthly newsletter, Industry Dirt.

AEC Store Corner: NEWEST ADDITION!
Siting, Drilling, and Construction of Water Supply Wells

You get professional and expert guidance in all aspects of water-well siting and drilling. A wealth of engineering data for design and construction, plus dozens of photographs and drawings, are included. The book describes and illustrates all common drilling methods, geophysical logging, and field testing. Well development is covered in detail.

The book is designed to be a practical reference. Well operation and maintenance, including pump and motor maintenance, record-keeping, water quality monitoring, and common operational problems, are explained thoroughly. 

Retail Price: $ 187.00 USD  CLICK HERE to purchase!
To view all of our drilling resources, visit AECstore.com. Call Stephanie at 248-244-1275.