The Florida Department of Transportation named the Marco Island Executive Airport Parallel Taxiway and Northwest Apron Expansion project the winner of the 2012 General Aviation Airport Project of the Year Award. The award was announced in July at the Florida Airports Council’s Annual Conference & Expo, which attracted nearly 700 participants. Hayward Baker performed extensive ground modification work for the Marco Island project, employing mass mixing stabilization techniques. The subsurface soil profile included a layer of peat and organic silt extending to a maximum depth of 20 ft (6 m) below the ground surface, which, if left untreated, would have resulted in excessive settlement. Conventional soil replacement and deep foundation solutions were considered, but rejected due to the significant technical challenges and high costs associated with these options. Instead, Hayward Baker improved the existing subgrade soils by means of mass mixing stabilization, the mechanical blending of the in-situ soils with dry, cementitious materials. In this method, the binder reacted with the natural groundwater within the peat layer, hardening to form a stable mass with increased shear strength and decreased compressibility—suitable for support of the taxiway and apron. Jacobs Associates announced promotions to lead associate level for four engineers. Renée Fippin, P.E., G.E., has 14 years of experience and has specialized in geotechnical and struc- tural excavation support design. She is based in the San Francisco office and has managed and designed several excavation shoring, temporary structural support and tun- neling projects. Jeremy Johnson, P.E., has 15 years of experience in geotechnical, civil and environmental engineer- ing. He is currently work- ing on several projects as a member of the design staff in Jacobs Associates’ Seattle office. Johnson has performed both geotechnical and structural engineering analyses for numerous projects. Bhaskar Thapa, Ph.D., P.E., has 14 years of exper- ience in the design and construction of under- ground structures for highways, subways, water supply and sewer systems, and hydroelectric generation. Based in the San Francisco office, he currently serves as the project manager on Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s proposed Next Generation Light Source facility. The scope of Hayward Baker’s work on the Marco Airport Island project included pre-construction testing, design and value engineering analysis, mass stabilization and subsequent soil testing. Hayward Baker’s work was completed within five months. The project was funded under the FDOT’s Aviation Grants Program. Sarah Wilson, P.E., has 13 years of experience in the design and con- struction of underground structures, primarily for water supply and rail transit projects. Based in the San Francisco office, she is a resident engineer on San Francisco’s Central Subway Tunneling Project, responsible for administration of the $233 million construction contract for 1.6 mile (2.5 km) long twin tunnels, launch and retrieval structures, and station headwall. The ADSC annual Safety Award winners for the 2011-2012 year included the following Category 1 winners: Berkel & Company Contractors, Inc., Richmond, Texas; Case Atlantic Company, Clearwater, Fla.; Condon-Johnson & Associates, Oakland, Calif.; DBM Contractors, Inc., Federal Way, Wash.; Longfellow Drilling Co., Clearfield, Iowa; Malcolm Drilling Company, Hayward, Calif.; McKinney Drilling Company, Buda, Texas.; Richard Goettle, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio. Category 3 winners were: Cajun Deep Foundations, LLC, Baton Rouge, La., and Allied Drilling Company, Fort Worth, Texas. Re-Evaluation of the Beta Method to Determine Pile Damage During the 9th International Conference on Testing and Design Methods for Deep Foundations, which was held in Kanazawa, Japan, in September of this year, Gerald Verbeek (VMS) and George Goble (Goble Pile Test) presented a paper in which the method to determine pile damage using the Beta Method was re-evaluated. In 1979, a paper was published by Rausche and Goble describing a method to determine damage in driven piles: the so- called Beta Method. Over the years this has become the standard for pile damage assessment in many parts of the world, often without an understanding of that method by those that apply it. Instead the numerical outcome is seen as a reliable indicator of damage in driven piles. Recently developed technologies have begun to shed a different light on the reliability of this method, suggesting that a thorough assessment of the method derivation would be appropriate. The re-evaluation of the Beta Method to assess whether it is a reliable indicator of pile damage, covered both the theory behind the method as well as the review of Pile Driving Analysis data collected from a large number of concrete piles. Taken together the results of this re-evaluation clearly demonstrate that this widely applied method cannot be considered a reliable indicator and should therefore be used with extreme care. For details, contact Gerald Verbeek at [email protected] 92 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2012
