Soil Nailing Seminar

The tiebacks and soil nailing committee of the Deep Foundations Institute presents "Soil Nailing Seminar: Industry Trends and Developments." The event takes place Thursday, Feb. 12 at the Hilton Charlotte University Place in Charlotte, N.C., and presents design, construction and quality control concerns associated with soil nail earth retention structures. The program will include keynote lectures by experts in the field in the morning, with presentation of in-depth case histories in the afternoon. Attendee and exhibit space still is available. For all the details, go to www.dfi.org.

Gould Joins Dan Brown's Group

Dan Brown and Associates LLC (DBA), headquartered in Sequatchie, Tenn., announces the newest addition to its team - Jon Gould. Gould has more than 38 years of experience as a geotechnical engineer, which includes geotechnical exploration and evaluation of sites for major industrial and commercial projects throughout the United States, deep foundations, ground improvement and dam inspection. DBA specializes in deep foundation design, construction and testing, and slope-stability projects.

On the Job

Anchor Group Is
A Triple Threat

The Anchor Group, headquartered in Toronto, was awarded the contract for the shoring, caisson walls and structural caissons for the Durham Regional Cancer Centre and Central Utilities Plant located in Oshawa, Ontario. The scope of work included more than 15,000 square feet of lagged shoring, 35,000 square feet of caisson walls, and 170 structural caissons.

The excavation was up to 50 feet in depth, and the water table was located at a depth of 10 feet above the base of the proposed excavation. As a result, it was necessary to extend the caisson wall piles and fillers 20 feet below the proposed excavation level to seal off the site from water recharge.

Liners were required for installation of the caisson walls below the water table. Casings were advanced using a vibratory hammer mounted on a service crane. The casings were drilled out using a crane mounted drill rig. There were 550 36-inch drill holes installed for the caisson and lagging walls. The walls were braced with regroutable soil anchors drilled by Crown Drilling Ltd., a member of the Anchor Group. Also, 13,000 feet of regroutable tiebacks were installed at this site.

The proposed structure was to be supported on 180 end-bearing caissons founded on rock. Drill lengths up to 80 feet were required with diameters ranging from 30 inches to 90 inches in diameter. Nearly 125,000 cubic feet of concrete, and 100 tons of rebar were placed in the caissons. The soil conditions at the site presented many challenges to the installation of the caissons. The sand was extremely dense, which made installation of liners through these layers with a vibratory hammer very difficult. The Anchor Group elected to high mount a Haine drill on a link belt crane to allow the drill to reach up over the liners. A vibratory hammer mounted on a service crane was used to place and remove the liners.

Founded in 1968, The Anchor Group offers more than 40 years of construction experience in the design and installation of soil retention and engineered foundation systems. In order to provide a full range of services, the original company of Anchor Shoring has evolved into several divisions and companies that form the Anchor Group - Anchor Shoring & Caissons Ltd., Banner Piling & Excavating Limited, and Crown Drilling Limited.

Northeast ADSC Meeting Next Month

The Northeast chapter of ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling is having a meeting Feb.11. The meeting runs 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Homewood Suites, located at 216 Wolf Road in Albany, N.Y. (518-438-4300). For further details, e-mail mmcdermott@mckinneydrilling.com.

Vibratory Pile Drivers Offered

Hercules Machinery Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind., is the licensed manufacturer for Movax-Sonic SideGrip vibratory pile drivers in North America. The excavator-mounted attachment with an articulating side grip is designed to speed the pile driving process on any job site. The Movax-Sonic SideGrip uses an excavator's hydraulics to pick up, unload, place, drive and extract piling. It is designed to overcome obstacles such as low overhead clearance and narrow passageways, as well as eliminate the need for peripheral equipment to be used in the piling operation. It can handle sheet pile up to 50-feet long, I-beams, H-beams, pipe pile and wood pile. For more information, visit www.hmc-us.com.

Frankfurt Hosts International Conference

The technical committee on deep foundations for the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) invites you to participate in the "International Conference on Deep Foundations - CPRF and Energy Piles," which takes place May 15 at the Airport Conference Center in Frankfurt, Germany. Topics to be covered include combined pile-raft foundations (CPRF), energy piles - geothermal use of deep foundations, bearing capacity and geothermal capacity, and modeling of heat conduction. Organizing the conference is Technische Universität Darmstadt's Institute and Laboratory of Geotechnics. For complete details, visit www.issmge.org.

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.