DFI Magazine January/February 2020 - 23

DFI

ACTIVITIES

Focus on Infrastructure Development at DFI-India 2019

DFI and NAC organizing team

On November 15-16, 2019, DFI of India
(DFII) held its 9th Annual Conference on
Deep Foundation Technologies for
Infrastructure Development in India. This
y e a r, t h e c o n f e re n c e w a s h e l d i n
partnership with the National Academy of
Construction (NAC) at its facility in
Hyderabad, Telangana, with cooperation
from the local Indian Geotechnical Society
chapter. This conference was the first
collaboration between DFI and NAC
following their respective signing of a
Memo of Understanding to work together
to develop and deliver training programs
related to geo-foundation construction.
The two-day conference was preceded
on November 14 by a workshop on design,
construction and applications of continuous flight auger (CFA) piles. The topic
of this workshop was chosen because it
supports the efforts of the DFII CFA
Technology Implementation Committee to
conduct installation and testing trials. The
goal of the committee is to introduce to the
local industry CFA technology that can be
performed with slight modifications to the
contractors' rotary piling rigs, thereby
providing another potential solution to the
deep foundation needs of the region. The
trials were made possible through support
by the DFI Committee Project Fund in
addition to the generous donations of time,
equipment, materials and funds from 17
different companies.

Sunil S. Basarkar, Ph.D., of AFCONS,
coordinator of the field trials, moderated
the informative workshop with
i n f o r m a t i o n p ro v i d e d b y S o i l m e c
representatives, one of the top sponsors, in
addition to other companies, including
Bauer Equipment, Geodynamics,
Geotechnial Solutions, ITD Cementation
and Langan. The workshop concluded
with a lively discussion on the purpose of
the implementation of new technology,
such as CFA piles, and how to start utilizing
CFA piles on upcoming projects.
DFI of India's Executive Committee met
on November 14 to discuss the regional
chapter's financial status, future activities to
be pursued, how to engage current
members and how to attract new members
to participate in committee projects.
During the inauguration ceremony on
the first day of the conference, Srilakshmi
(Lucky) Nagarajan of Giken America
provided a welcome address introducing
Shri Shailendra Kumar Joshi, IAS, chief
secretary of Hyderabad; Bikshapathi
Kondai, director general of NAC; Theresa
Engler, DFI executive director, Dr. K.S.
Ramakrishna, DFI of India chair; and
Rhadakrishna K., principal consultant
(tech) of NAC. Following the opening
ceremony, the exhibition hall was officially
opened, where nearly 20 companies
displayed innovative products and services
to the more than 175 attendees.

Keynote speakers Howard Perko (above)
and Chandrasekhar Khokhar (below)

DEEP FOUNDATIONS * JAN/FEB 2020 * 23
DFI Magazine January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DFI Magazine January/February 2020
