TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES MARY ELLEN BRUCE LARGE, P.E., D.GE, DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES Technical Activities Update New Seepage Control Working Group Chair DFI’s Seepage Control Working Group (SCWG) welcomes Michael Kynett, P.E., levee safety program manager for the Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Sacramento District as the new chair. Kynett succeeds David Paul, special assistant on dam safety for USACE, who transitioned to the DFI Board of Trustees in January 2017. Many thanks to Paul for all his years of support and commitment to DFI. Under Paul’s guidance, the SCWG was established so that a group consisting of government engineers and construction representatives and DFI members could network to advance the state of the practice of seepage control design, construction and quality assurance. Kynett earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Sacramento State University. At the USACE Sacramento District, he is responsible for coordinating, assigning, scheduling and overseeing teamwork to achieve the levee safety program and the inspection of completed works program. He is currently a member of the engineering flood response team and the infrastructure assessment planning and response team (IA-PRT). Kynett was deployed for emergency operations to the Corps’ headquarters for Superstorm Sandy response and relief efforts. He is also a California Office of Emergency Services Safety Assessment Program (SAP) coordinator. He has authored and co-authored several published technical papers on levee evaluations and seepage cutoff wall design and construction. NAVFAC Specification Updates Through DFI’s SCWG network, the USACE recommended DFI to the National Institute of Building Sciences to help update Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS), commonly referred to as NAVFAC specifications. DFI Technical Committees on Augered Cast-in-Place Piles, Driven Piles, Ground Improvement, Helical Piles and Tiebacks, and Tiebacks and Soil Nailing, and the ASCE Grouting Committee are involved in the effort to update the following UFGS documents: • Densified Aggregate Piers (31 62 50) • Pressure Injected Footings (31 62 13.26) • Soil and Rock Anchors (31 68 13) • Tunnel and Shaft Grouting (31 73 00) • Foundation Drilling and Grouting (31 32 23) • Steel Pipe Piles (31 62 16.13) • Timber Piles (31 62 19) • Piling: Composite, Wood, CIP (31 68 21) • Metal Sheet Piling (31 41 16) • Precast / Prestressed Concrete Piles (31 62 13.20) • Steel H Piles (31 62 16.16) • Concrete Cylinder Piles (31 62 13.24) • Helical Piles (31 63 26.60) • Auger Cast Grout Piles (31 63 16) In late fall 2016, DFI committee chairs attended a kick-off meeting with NAVFAC officials and representatives from AECOM, who is serving as the government’s consultant. Deadlines for the first specification review submissions are scheduled for spring 2017. For more information contact Mary Ellen Bruce Large, DFI director of technical activities, at [email protected]. TRB Update The Transportation Research Board (TRB) held its 96 Annual Meeting in January 2017 at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center. Nearly 14,000 attendees participated in the weeklong conference of podium and poster sessions and committee meetings. Some of the items specific to foundations are summarized below. th FHWA Update: Silas Nichols, P.E., principal bridge engineer-geotechnical for FHWA provided a summary of the ongoing FHWA research and educational efforts (see page 95 for Nichols’ article outlining the FHWA geotechnical program for 2017). The FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act was passed in 2016, which provides funding for the FHWA research and program offices to execute multiyear roadmaps through and beyond 2020. The plans are informed through input from the FHWA National Geotechnical Team (NGT), and feedback from state departments of transportation (DOTs), FHWA division offices, industry and academia. Significant work is ongoing to update FHWA Geotechnical Engineering Circulars (GECs). GEC 12 – Design and Construction of Driven Piles and GEC 14 – Assuring Quality in Geotechnical Reporting Documents were recently completed. GEC 5 – Geotechnical Site Characterization, GEC 9 – Design Lateral Load on Deep Foundations and GEC 13 – Ground Modification Methods will be released in the near future. Published GECs are available for download at https:// www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotech/library_listing.cfm DFI partners with the National Highway Institute (NHI), FHWA’s training arm, to deliver foundation and geotechnical courses. Future NHI courses will feature more delivery platforms, including web-based applications, more self-paced learning and DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAR/APR 2017 • 101
