Student Paper Competition Winners DFI and the DFI Educational Trust annually hold a Student Paper Competition in which the paper must be primarily concerned with the design and construc- tion of deep foundations/excavations. The students must be enrolled in an accredited college or university in an undergraduate or graduate program in engineering, construction or geological sciences. Lowlands. A database of driven piles was used as the basis for the interpreted reference capacity. When compared to the AASHTO (2014) recommended resistance factors that are based on a national database, the region-specific resistance factors based on WEAP at end-of-drive increased by 50%, and are associated with a bias of 0.99 and a coefficient of variation (COV) of 26%, indicating relatively good accuracy. The paper discusses the calibration framework implemented, which can be used as the basis for other regions, and demonstrates the benefit of using a high-quality, region-specific database on the resulting calibrated resistance factors and useable pile capacity. Paper competition winner Bougataya This year, the winner of the Student Paper Competition is Youssef Bougataya, EIT. Bougataya obtained his M.S. degree in geotechnical engineering from Oregon State University (OSU) in June 2016 and is presently a staff geotechnical engineer II at PBS Engineering and Environmental in Portland, Ore. He holds a B.S degree in civil engineering from “Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs”, in Rabat , Morocco. Bougataya was the recipient of the 2015 DFI Educ a t iona l Trus t At -La rge Scholarship supporting future leaders in the deep foundations industry. Bougataya’s paper is titled “Region Specific Calibration of Resistance Factors for Use with Static and Wave Equation Analyses of Driven Piles.” In it, resistance factors for use with Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) and the Wave Equation Analysis of Piles (WEAP) and a static analysis method are calibrated for use with piles driven in the Puget Sound The winning paper discusses the calibration framework implemented, which can be used as the basis for other regions, and demonstrates the benefit of using a high- quality, region-specific database on the resulting calibrated resistance factors and useable pile capacity. Shuihan Li, a current M.S. student at Ryerson University in Toronto, is the runner-up for the Student Paper Competi- tion. In 2013, Li completed a B.A.Sc at the University of Toronto in material science and engineering. After graduation, he began working for his family business, specializing in manufacturing rock bolts and hollow bars. At Ryerson University, Li’s research focuses on improving sensitive marine clay with ground improvement techniques such as cement stabilization as presented in his paper “Experimental Investigation of Cement Mixing to Improve Champlain Sea Clay.” The paper describes Champlain Sea clays as commonly found along the St. Lawrence River, which is problematic to infrastructure construction. Deep Soil Mixing (DSM), a ground improvement technique that mixes strengthening binder with soil in-situ, can be an effective technique to improve soil conditions in a timely and cost-efficient manner. In the study, the appl icat ion of DSM to Champlain Sea clay was investigated Runner-up Li through a laboratory testing program. Clays from different locations were collected and tested with different binder types, dosages and curing times. It was found that cement and slag/cement were both effective binders to efficiently treat Champlain Sea clay. Bougataya will attend the DFI Annual Conference in New York City, October 12- 15, to present his winning paper, and both he and Li will receive the competition award plaques at the conference banquet. They will also have their papers published in the DFI Journal, and receive a library of up to 20 DFI publications plus a gratis two- year individual membership in DFI. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2016 • 31
