D F I A C T I V I T I E S Focus on Infrastructure Development at DFI-India 2019 DFI and NAC organizing team (DFII) held its 9 Annual Conference on Deep Foundation Technologies for Infrastructure Development in India. This year, the conference was held in partnership with the National Academy of Construction (NAC) at its facility in Hyderabad, Telangana, with cooperation from the local Indian Geotechnical Society chapter. This conference was the first collaboration between DFI and NAC following their respective signing of a Memo of Understanding to work together to develop and deliver training programs related to geo-foundation construction. The two-day conference was preceded On November 15-16, 2019, DFI of India th on November 14 by a workshop on design, construction and applications of con- tinuous flight auger (CFA) piles. The topic of this workshop was chosen because it supports the efforts of the DFII CFA Technology Implementation Committee to conduct installation and testing trials. The goal of the committee is to introduce to the local industry CFA technology that can be performed with slight modifications to the contractors’ rotary piling rigs, thereby providing another potential solution to the deep foundation needs of the region. The trials were made possible through support by the DFI Committee Project Fund in addition to the generous donations of time, equipment, materials and funds from 17 different companies. Sunil S. Basarkar, Ph.D., of AFCONS, coordinator of the field trials, moderated the informa t i v e workshop wi th informat ion provided by Soi lmec representatives, one of the top sponsors, in addition to other companies, including Bauer Equipment , Geodynamics , Geotechnial Solutions, ITD Cementation and Langan. The workshop concluded with a lively discussion on the purpose of the implementation of new technology, such as CFA piles, and how to start utilizing CFA piles on upcoming projects. DFI of India’s Executive Committee met on November 14 to discuss the regional chapter’s financial status, future activities to be pursued, how to engage current members and how to attract new members to participate in committee projects. During the inauguration ceremony on the first day of the conference, Srilakshmi (Lucky) Nagarajan of Giken America provided a welcome address introducing Shri Shailendra Kumar Joshi, IAS, chief secretary of Hyderabad; Bikshapathi Kondai, director general of NAC; Theresa Engler, DFI executive director, Dr. K.S. Ramakrishna, DFI of India chair; and Rhadakrishna K., principal consultant (tech) of NAC. Following the opening ceremony, the exhibition hall was officially opened, where nearly 20 companies displayed innovative products and services to the more than 175 attendees. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JAN/FEB 2020 • 23 Keynote speakers Howard Perko (above) and Chandrasekhar Khokhar (below)
