PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Evolution C hange is coming. Change has always been; change is occurring now; and change will continue going forward. As Darwin showed, it’s not the strongest of the species that survives, but the most adaptable. As such, DFI, too, must continue to change and adapt. One thing that will change very soon is that Matt Janes, M.B.A., P.Eng, of Isherwood Associates, will take over as your new president, and I will transition into the role of immediate past president. It’s been a fun two years for me to serve, and I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. However, I’m also looking forward to passing the torch and serving in a more relaxed role. We’ve seen a lot of growth in DFI activities and participation during the last two years, and it’s been very rewarding to me to see the enthusiasm in our technical committees and events, especially by new, f resh and younger member s and participants in our Women in Deep Foundations Committee. When I look back over my 30+ years of involvement in DFI, I see a tremendous change in the character of the organization, the membership and participation. I recall the early days of my career, back in the 1970s, when I was out on a Georgia Department of Transportation project climbing around on bridge girders, with no safety net and no safety harness, just told to be careful out there. My safety training was along the lines of this: “if a train comes under, don’t look at it.” The deep foundations were mostly driven steel piles, hammered in with whatever pile hammer the contractor had available and to a blow count from the Engineering News Record formula. Occasionally, maybe wooden piles were used instead of steel. In 1977, I spent my first Fourth of July holiday after college looking at dial gauges and a hydraulic pressure gage on the jack, doing a load test in Louisiana on a timber pile designed for 25 tons (222 kN). Recently, I was on a job where you could watch a pile being driven and get a blow-by-blow observation on your computer showing the computed axial resistance from pile measure- ments and whether the pile might be damaged. I observed CFA piles being installed using a sophisticated hydraulic drill rig and watched the torque, crowd force and rate of penetration on my smartphone using an app that received information wirelessly from the drill rig. Meanwhile, automated data collectors monitor surrounding areas for movements or vibrations and then upload the data to the internet. We can be overwhelmed with measurements and information from projects, and a major challenge is making sense of it all. From our relatively primitive begin- nings as mostly simple pile drivers, the industry represented by DFI has become a mature and sophisticated business with a broad range of complex technology and engineering; even the pile driving operations Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE. President [email protected] have become relatively scientific! Technology and new ways of project delivery promise to make our industry even more complex. Contractual relationships are changing and our individual roles (and risks!) within projects are evolving. Working as a part of a multifaceted team is an ever more important part of our work. These trends are likely to continue to present challenges and oppor- tunities for DFI members. I may be getting old, but I’m excited about the future and DFI’s role in it. I know that DFI will adapt as an organization and will help our members adapt so that our geo-species will continue to thrive as the heavy construction and engineering industry evolves. P.S. One last motorcycle photo as I prepare to ride off into the sunset. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2018 • 7
