March/April 2023 - 65

Jeffrey Reid, P.G., and Robert
Garfield, P.G., owners of Hager-Richter
Geoscience, are leading a task force to
update the website " Application of
Geophysical Methods to Highway
Related Problems, " which was turned
over to DFI by the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) in 2022. This
site was originally developed in the
early 2000s as an in-depth resource on
a variety of geophysical methods and
applications. It was recently updated by
FHWA to a modern platform, but much
work remains to be done to bring the
content up to date with current
practice. The task force includes
experts on a range of geophysics
techniques and includes members who
were involved in the site's original
development, providing valuable
insight on its structure and intent.
Though the site is a work in progress,
you can view and use it now at
www.dfi-geophysics-tool.org.
The committee's Geotechnical
Baseline Reports (GBR) Task Force, led
by Mary Ellen Large, P.E., D.GE,
Nicholson Construction, and Committee
Chair Mary Nodine, P.E., FHWA,
hosted a successful internal workshop
for the USACE focused on raising
awareness of best practices for risk
sharing between contractors and
owners, and the use of GBRs on projects
outside of the tunnelling realm. The
task force is currently developing
resources for DFI members on GBRs,
wi th the goal of draft ing a DFI
consensus document on the topic for
member comment in 2024.
CO-CHAIRS: MEEOK KIM, PH.D., P.E., AND AMR RAGY
Structural Slurry Wall and Seepage Control
Early this year, the Slurry Wall and
Seepage Control committees merged
into the Structural Slurry Wall and
Seepage Control Committee. As cochairs
for the combined committees,
we still have a bit of unpacking to do but
have mostly settled in. Past chairs of
both committees and DFI Trustee
liaisons have provided valuable help
during the transition. We would like to
say a big thank you to Gregg Batchelder
Adams, P.E., USACE, and Mike Kynett,
P.E., MBK Engineers, the past co-chairs
of the Seepage Control Committee, and
to Giovanni Bonita, Ph.D., P.E., P.Eng.,
P.G., GEI Consultants, the past chair of
the Slurry Wall Committee.
Our newly formed committee
welcomes Amshu Chappa, P.E., Brierly
Associates, as the new committee
secretary; Mary Ellen Large, P.E., D.GE,
Nicholson Construction Company, and
Matt Marks, Forgen, who are leading
the committee's collaboration with the
USACE; and Jewels Stover, Bauer
Equipment , who is leading the
committee's efforts to update the
Practice Guidelines for Structural Slurry
Walls that was last published in 2005.
We are very pleased with the
approach the working group is taking to
update this publication. Each of the
seven sections has a leader with at least
two other contributing authors creating
and reviewing the content. It is a real
collaborative team effort that has
brought in technical experts from
outside of DFI to fill in any gaps.
The committee recently finished the
Guidelines for Selecting Cutoff Wall Systems
and is developing a framework to
introduce the guidelines to owners and
practitioners. Working to wrap up the
2016 workshop with USACE, the
committee is drafting a synthesis
document for the outcomes. Lastly, but
cer tainly not l eas t , commi t tee
leadership and members are actively
Kim
Ragy
engaged in planning and contributing
to the Slopes, Support and Stabilization
(S3) Conference being held in Boston on
August 8-10, and DFI's 48th Annual
Conference on Deep Foundations in
Seattle from October 31 - November 3.
The committee meets bimonthly on
the third Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET, and
our next meeting is in April. Contact the
co-chairs for instructions for joining
the call (see p. 66). In the meeting, we
will not only talk about committee
business, such as working group and
initiative reports, but also plan to bring
in guest speakers from USACE and
other owners such a DOTs and FHWA.
These accomplishments just scratch
the surface of the work the committee is
doing. Check out our webpage for more
information on the task forces discussed
above, as well as links to subsurface
exploration resources including
webinars hosted by FHWA as part of
their A-GaME (Advanced Geotechnical
Methods in Exploration) initiative. You
will also find information about the GeoIndustry
Technology Users Groups,
where you can learn more about Cone
Penetration Testing, Geo-physics and
Measurement While Drilling. These
groups are a collaboration among
FHWA, Geo-Institute, DOTs, DFI and the
Transportat ion Research Board
Committee AKG20 - Soil and Rock
Properties and Site Characterization,
and are open to all.
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAR/APR 2023 * 65
http://www.dfi-geophysics-tool.org
March/April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March/April 2023
