Editorial Note - Vol. 12, No. 2, 2018-Article

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DFI’s 2018 Issue 2 brings together research papers, award-winning work, and case studies on foundation engineering, testing, quality assurance, and in-situ investigations.<br /><br />The issue opens with an evaluation of the Texas Cone Penetration (TCP) foundation design method using 60 full-scale load-test datasets. The authors find that, although the method may appear to overestimate soil strength, its designs perform well against serviceability criteria and may be conservative.<br /><br />A case study documents the underwater repair of Wanapum Dam after severe cracking. It describes the design review, investigation of possible causes, post-tension anchoring strategy, and repair construction.<br /><br />The winner of DFI’s 2018 Young Professor Paper Competition, Alessandro F. Rotta Loria, proposes a performance-based design framework for energy piles. His findings indicate that thermal effects can generally be neglected at ultimate limit states but must be considered in serviceability design.<br /><br />Joseph Coe reviews advances in stress-wave non-destructive testing for assessing foundation integrity and drilled-shaft construction. The paper describes a laboratory-developed borehole system intended to produce high-resolution images of deep-foundation defects and discusses its potential for quality assurance and quality control.<br /><br />Finally, Emily Reed and her advisor compare finite element analyses with an analytical bearing-capacity method for mechanically stabilized earth walls supported by rammed aggregate piers. The methods agree well for factors of safety around 1 to 1.5; at higher values, sliding becomes the critical failure mode and results diverge. The analytical method may provide designers with a quicker, less costly check of global stability.

Keywords

foundation engineering

Texas Cone Penetration

load-test datasets

Wanapum Dam

underwater repair

energy piles

thermal effects

stress-wave non-destructive testing

quality assurance

mechanically stabilized earth walls