PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Understanding the Big Picture T he DFI Educational Trust held its 8th Annual Gala Fundraising Dinner in New Jersey in early November 2013, and Ted Zoli, chief engineer with HNTB, was the keynote speaker. His talk centered on a topic dear to my heart and important to the bridge industry: if you want to design an efficient and economical bridge, you need to understand the construction process all along the path from the fabrication site, transport to site, to final erection. Zoli’s talk focused on the superstructure, but from my experience as a construction engineer working on the design and construction of marine foundations and bridge foundations in particular, I find it doubly true. Zoli described a bridge project he had worked on where the client stated a fixed budget and asked the competing design teams to provide the best possible bridge within the stated limited budget. This forced him and his team to seek out a design that was structurally efficient, esthetically attractive, and more economical than those of their competitors. To do this, the designer needs to fully understand the construction process, to know when you can use more material, when the end result can be lower assembly and erection cost, to know when and how to minimize field erection and how to accomplish this while improving on the quality and long-term durability of the finished bridge. A lower cost bridge does not necessarily mean a lower quality or less durable bridge. It is possible that the optimally designed bridge is the most structurally efficient bridge in terms of material usage and end cost while still being the most beautiful. The best example of this Robert B. Bittner, P.E. President [email protected] approach, from my experi- ence in working on bridge foundation design teams, is the potential of reducing pile cap mass for in-water bridge foundations in areas of high seismic activity. Marine foundations typi- cally require massive concrete seals to tempor- arily resist hydrostatic uplift during pile cap construc- tion. Once the pile cap is poured and the pier shaft is completed through the water-line, these seals serve no DFI 2014 Awards: Call for Entries DFI annually showcases and celebrates the achievements and contributions of individuals, teams and companies in the deep foundations industry. We encourage you to submit your work and nominate your colleagues for recognition. The Outstanding Project Award recognizes the superior work of DFI members. Each year, a project is chosen from several geotechnical projects submitted for consideration by DFI members. The Distinguished Service Award recognizes individuals who have made exceptionally valuable contributions to the advancement of the deep foundations industry. C. William Bermingham Innovation Award encourages and recognizes innovative contributions to deep foundation technology. The award pays tribute to the innovative spirit of Bill Bermingham, DFI past president, and his contributions to DFI and the deep foundations industry. Ben C. Gerwick Award for Innovation in Design and Construction of Marine Foundations recognizes excellence in marine engineering. The award is a tribute to Ben Gerwick, and recognizes his exceptional achievements and contributions to the design and construction of marine foundations. For more information visit www.dfi.org/awardslectures.asp Submissions for the 2014 Awards due by April 15, 2014 DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JAN/FEB 2014 • 7 It is possible that the optimally designed bridge is the most structurally efficient bridge in terms of material usage and end cost while still being the most beautiful. purpose and only add unnec- essary mass to the bridge foundation. By eliminating this mass through the use of alternate construction methods, the lateral seismic loading on the foundation piles can be reduced by 30 to 40%. When seismic loading is the critical load case, this reduction can mean a 30 to 40% in the number of foundation piles and a corresponding 30 to 40% reduction in the bridge foundation cost. In this world of tight budgets, shrinking re- sources, and concern with carbon emissions, we should all be concerned that we are designing and constructing efficient structures that provide more with fewer resources.
