Regional Report: DFI Europe As new president of DFI Europe, I am grateful to Sikko Doornbos, and the board, who have done a marvelous job in the past years to develop DFI Europe to its standing in the ground engineering world. Sikko will stay on the board and head the organization committee for the DFI/EFFC Conference 2014 in Stockholm. The difficult economic environment challenges our part of the industry at present, but we also will be the first to see the light at the end of the tunnel. DFI Europe will use this time to continuously work on creative solutions with all our members and partners. Future Plans The plan for the DFI/EFFC Conference 2014 in Stockholm (Sweden) began a few months ago. Many of you have already had positive experiences in London (2010), Amsterdam, Nice and elsewhere. Excellent speakers, a highly professional organization and well chosen venues around the conference guarantee success. Stockholm is another wonderful, well known city with a fast growing demand for all transportation systems. One task for DFI Europe in the near future will be to support the newly founded Monitoring and Instrumentation Committee. The committee hopes to identify the status of standards or guidelines throughout Europe and to develop a DFI Guideline, guided by risk assessment and safety issues. The draft shall be presented during the DFI/EFFC Conference in 2014. The Sustainability Committee will now work in cooperation with the EFFC to develop a “Carbon Calculator,” to support the industry as a fair tool to compare different construction materials and methods. During the DFI Winter Planning Meeting in Florida, the proposal to financially support the development of the Carbon Calculator was highly appreciated. In Europe, some public clients already demand verifications as to how much the carbon footprint of the construction will be and give credits for reduced levels in construction and lifetime cycles of the project. Sustainability is also renewable energy, the driving market factor for the future in Europe and the world. Geothermal power plants, offshore wind parks, hydropower plants, solar energy parks, etc., will create a high demand on construction activities. Our industry will be involved in all fields of renewable energy, especially in offshore wind farm foundations. The development and the demand from the energy suppliers for still increasing sizes of wind turbines (up to 10 MW) and the locations in deep waters, is challenging the design and foundation systems. Monopiles, jacket construction, gravity foundations, tripods, etc., are the systems we have to construct in a rough environment in the North and Baltic Seas. The design lifetime is 25 years. AUTHOR: Frank Haehnig President, DFI Europe The use of geothermal energy is highly developed in Scandinavia. Deep drilling and an effective use of the temperature differences in the ground are already standard for normal housing units. But the development for industrial use is enormous and supported by the governments through different programs. Geothermal power plants are still in an early stage of their development as technical issues for the very deep drillings and the rock fracturing have to be better controlled. Research and development for renewable energies and sustainable construction methods is supported by the governments and the European Union. DFI Europe is actively supporting new developments in standards and safety regulations as well as machinery codes. Due to the member structure within our board we cover a wide range of the industry and will attract more members to join the DFI. Large Scale Infrastructure Projects In Europe many large-scale infrastructure projects are in construction or planned. Here are a few examples: Femern Belt Crossing is a 21 km (13 mi) submersed tunnel between Denmark and Germany. The tunnel will be a mixed-use connection for rail and road. It was originally designed as a bridge, but after a design competition, and under the evaluation of all safety aspects, a submersed tunnel, (one of the longest in the world) will be built. Both countries have to provide all access links to the Plan of Crossrail London crossing, which will involve bridges, roads and other infrastructure developments. An extra port will be built on the Danish side to produce the immersed tunnel elements. Crossrail London is a commuter train in London (U.K.). The scheme, partly under construction, is a twin tube system with many underground stations (mainly excavated with the mining method in very congested areas). The ground engineering works are an integral part of the stations. Due to logistic challenges in difficult ground conditions and a tight time schedule, a high demand for monitoring systems is necessary. Metro Copenhagen is a new Metro Line in Copenhagen (Denmark). This is the second line for Copenhagen, designed as a circle line with twin tubes and 17 stations, which are mainly DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAY/JUNE 2012 • 23
