pile project at their greenfield project site in Gorakhpur, in the state of Haryana, about 165 km (103 mi) from Delhi. Mobilization of equipment and materials began the first week of May. To observe the commissioning of the equip- ment, fabrication of the reinforcement cage and installation of the test piles, about 30 representatives from more than 10 organi- zations were present, including NPCIL, Power Grid Corporation of India, L&T Construction, ITD Cementation, Soilmec, AECOM, Bauer, Radise International (USA), Radise India Pvt Ltd., Ultratech Cement, Schwing Stetter, Keller and IIT Delhi. Two trial piles and six test piles with a diameter of 600 mm (23.6 in) and a length of 11 m (36 ft) were installed at the site, which took less than 15 min/each to auger, concrete and insert the reinforcement cage. DFII plans to complete the testing of the trial piles, including pile integrity testing, and vertical compression, pull out and lateral load testing. The field testing will be followed up with the development of a design manual and guidelines for CFA pile implementation for the deployment of this technology across India for infrastructure works. DFII also plans to host seminars and workshops to disseminate the information and guidelines. Dr. Suni l S. Basarkar, head of engineering at Afcons and coordinator of the DFII CFA pile committee, and Dr. B. Sivarama Sarma, head of R&D at L&T Construction, were some of the senior professionals from the industry who spent considerable time onsite to oversee and ensure the success of the program. Two experts from Soilmec, Italy were flown in specifically for this project, and one expert from the U.S. was on hand to handle the instrumentation during installation. The project implementation and fund mobiliza- tion were achieved under the leadership of G. Venkata Prasad, DFII director of operations, with the assistance of Mohd Athif and Chandrasekhar, both DFII staff. In addition to whole heartedly thanking the above participants and all those involved in this project, I would like to state that credit for success of this technology demon- stration project goes to the entire Indian construction industry. The continuous follow up, coordination and involvement of DFI and DFII teams is greatly appreciated. 60 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2019 DFI – CMRL Initiative Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Tamilnadu, was created to build and operate a rapid transit system in the city of Chennai. Toward the end of Phase I of two metro corridors (Corridors 1 and 2) covering about 45 km (28 mi) with both underground and elevated stations, CMRL began Phase II with three metro corridors covering an addi- tional 120 km (75 mi), where 52 km (32 mi) of the first stage will be covered with funds from Japan International Cooperation Agency. The first stage will extend the metro rail connectivity between Madhavaram and Sholinganallur (Corridor 3 at 35.7 km [22.2 mi]) and from Madhavaram to Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (Corridor 5 at 16.4 km [10.2 mi]), which is 60 percent underground. Considering the complex geotechnical stratum of Chennai and in view of highly buzzing activities of a very populous city, execution of the under- ground structures and foundation scope will likely pose significant challenges during project planning and execution. With the goal to improve the Indian deep foundation industry, DFII approached the CMRL project leadership during early 2018 to explore possible areas of collaboration where DFII along with subject matter experts from the DFI membership could offer value-based solutions to CMRL that could be implemented in Phase II. After multiple rounds of discussions during the past 1.5 years, the efforts culminated in a signing of a 5-year MOU between DFII and CMRL and the formation of the DFI-CMRL International Geoengineering, Contractual, Construction Working Group. On June 3-4, DFII met with CMRL to discuss the role of DFI/DFII in the CMRL project and to explore the possibility of con- ducting a two- or a three-day workshop for CMRL in September 2019. The workshop will include presentations from represen- tatives of the owner, detailed design consultant and general consultant on different aspects of the project, such as detailed design, contract, construction, plant and equipment. Subject matter experts from the DFI working group will present a few case studies of infrastructure projects executed in the U.S. In addition, DFII is exploring the possibility of developing an appropriate platform for CMRL for providing skills training programs for various foundation equipment operators and engineers, which would be used to identify potential risks associated with the geotechnical, founda- tion and underground construction por- tions of the scope of the project and to find measures to mitigate such risks for a smooth and successful implementation of this megaproject. We are especially thankful to David Paul, P.E., DFI trustee and managing director of Paul GeoTek Engineering, Jack Mulvoy, P.E., chief engineer of DSI Tunnelling, and Satyajit Vaidya, P.E., Langan, who speci- fically travelled from the U.S. to Chennai for the two-day meeting with CMRL. While in Chennai, Dave Paul delivered a lecture to the Indian Geotechnical Society - Chennai Chapter at the IIT Madras campus titled “Repairs to Wolf Creek (U.S.) and Mosul Dams (Iraq) to Mitigate Dam Safety Issues." Other Activities and Events The latest edition of the DFI of India News Quarterly was released in April (vol. 5, no. 2). A technical article by Antonio Marinucci, Ph.D., MBA, P.E., V2C Strategists, titled, “Single Bore Multiple Anchor Systems (SBMAs)” along with reports from Mary Ellen Large, P.E., D.GE, technical director of DFI, and G. Venkata Prasad, director operations of DFII are included. A DFI-NAC workshop on the Chal- lenges in Foundation Construction – Way Forward was held on July 20 at the NAC Auditorium in Hyderabad. The primary aim of this seminar was to disseminate knowledge of latest foundation tech- nologies among the engineers of various government organisations in the state of Telangana. The 9 International Conference on th Deep Foundation Technologies for Infra- structure Development in India is being held at the NAC Auditorium in Hyderabad from November 15-16 (see p. 41). There will be a one-day preconference workshop on November 14. Conference preparations are currently in an advanced stage, with full papers being received from authors. Registration details and more information can be found at www.dfi.org/India2019.
