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DVGI May 2023 Dinner Meeting - DFI Traveling Lecturer - Dan Brown, Ph.D, PE, D.GE
Drilled Foundation Construction in the 21st Century, or the Art & Science of Hole Digging
Since the pioneering work of Dr. Lymon Reese in the early 1970s, the equipment and techniques used to construct drilled shafts and other types of drilled foundations have made substantial advancements and opened new opportunities for engineers to employ these types of foundations. Machines for construction of drilled foundations provide capabilities to extend these foundations to depths and diameters never before considered. It is critical to understand construction techniques and soil behavior during construction in order to facilitate continued advancements in construction and to design and employ drilled foundations effectively and reliably. This presentation describes modern techniques for construction of both drilled shafts and continuous flight auger piles, with an emphasis on a fundamental understanding of stability through the process of excavation and concrete placement. The discussion also describes factors affecting the influence of construction techniques on the axial resistance of the completed drilled foundation.
Dan A. Brown, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, is recognized as one of America’s leading authorities on the construction and design of deep foundations. After completing his education and his early engineering career in Louisiana, Brown spent 22 years on the faculty at Auburn University, where he taught and conducted research on deep foundations. He remains active in deep foundation practice through his consulting firm, Dan Brown and Associates. His consulting work includes the foundation design of numerous large bridge projects as well as commercial structures. He remains active in teaching through short courses, including the National Highway Institute course on drilled shafts, and in organizing the ADSC Professor Training Workshops in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Brown has authored numerous technical papers and was lead author of the recently released 2018 FHWA manual on design and construction of drilled shafts. He has been recognized with the Golden Beaver Award from the Beavers, the ASCE Huber Prize for research, the ASCE Martin Kapp Foundation Engineering Award, the DFI Distinguished Service Award and the ADSC Outstanding Service Award. He is a past-president of DFI, a member of The Moles, honorary member of the Beavers, past chair of the Geo-Institute Deep Foundations Committee, and an honorary technical affiliate of both the ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling and the Pile Driving Contractors Association.