DFI Helical Foundations & Tiebacks Committee 10/07 - Helical Pier World

^{DFI Helical Foundation and Tieback Committee}

Subject:  Helical Foundation & Tieback Committee Meeting at the Annual DFI Conference.

Location:  The Broadmoor.  Colorado Springs, CO

Date:  10/11/2007

• Chairman Bob Hoyt opened up the meeting with an approval of the minutes from the previous committee meeting at the last World of Concrete Trade Show.  The minutes were approved without incident.

   

• DFI Vice President Rudy Frizzi took the time to speak to the committee.  He discussed the following three issues:

   

  • Rudy wanted to know how the Q&A section of the DFI website was working as he noted that participation has been declining over the last year.
  • He then requested some really good technical papers from the Helical Committee for potential inclusion in a referred journal published by the DFI.
  • Rudy was asked about the DFI research fund and the availability thereof.  The Helical Committee has been talking about the potential to fund certain research projects and maybe the DFI’s fund would be available.  Rudy informed the group the fund was still in its infancy and essentially not available at this time.

     

    Next up was the upcoming November Helical Seminar in New Orleans.  A review of the schedule was reviewed and looked good to everyone, although the preparations were a bit behind.  This was considered standard operating procedure.

     

    Frank Scobbo took his turn in reporting on the progress of the Helical Tension Anchor Specification as it goes through the review process of the DFI Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).   The TAC did have some questions, and a framework for responding to questions should be in place by the New Orleans Seminar.

• The Academic PowerPoint Presentation for college professors was on the table yet again.  There was discussion about adding talking notes/comments on the slides to aid the professors with their lectures.  Although this was widely considered a good idea, the general consensus was to send out what we have now and add the comments in a second version.

   

• With the Helical Tension specification already in the review process, next up was the Helical Pile specification.  Phil Slemmons was responsible for preparing a draft spec, and he mailed out to committee members previous to the meeting.  Committee members will e-mail comments to Phil and he’ll proceed from there.

   

• More Specifications.  Gary Seider prepared and delivered a spec for Helical Soil Nails.  Again the committee will review and provide comments as it moves towards a final spec to submit for review.

   

• Funding for Helical related research.  Bob Hoyt asked the committee about potentially funding some research projects.  Currently there is a project regarding helicals for seismic applications in need of funding.  The group was open to trying to raise money for this as well as other projects.  The big question was where is the dough going to come from?  A number of manufacturers shelled out some serious monies to get the AC358 approval.  Many companies will have to do some soul searching and determine if funding research is in their best interests.

   

• This meeting was so much, fun we’re going to do it again.  As per the 2006 decision, the second DFI Helical Foundation and Tieback Committee meeting will take place at the World of Concrete, January 23^rd at 10:00 AM.  Location TBD.

   

• Adjournment.  

   

  Helical Pier World