Preface-Paper

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The Deep Foundations Institute’s 42nd Annual Conference was held October 24–27, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The city’s post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding provided a fitting setting to explore deep foundation construction, risk reduction, and the needs of critical infrastructure.<br /><br />The conference brought together contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, engineers, researchers, academics, and project owners to discuss industry challenges and advances. DFI technical committees and working groups met before and during the event. The program featured 46 technical presentations across 16 sessions, 10 technical posters, student activities, and three Expo sessions showcasing products and services.<br /><br />A special session examined how project risks should be identified and allocated during tendering, so they can be managed by the parties best equipped to do so and addressed fairly if they occur. Speakers also addressed dam safety, risk-informed decision-making, leadership and communication, multigenerational teams, engineering ethics, and the history of foundations in New Orleans.<br /><br />The peer-reviewed papers in the conference proceedings cover topics including critical infrastructure, soft-soil construction methods, laterally loaded piles, environmental impact mitigation, sheet piling and cofferdams, instrumentation and monitoring, safety factors, quality assurance, site characterization, and case histories.<br /><br />The organizers expressed gratitude to attendees, presenters, authors, reviewers, exhibitors, sponsors, volunteers, committee members, and DFI staff for making the conference possible.

Keywords

Deep Foundations Institute

annual conference

New Orleans

deep foundation construction

risk reduction

critical infrastructure

technical presentations

project risk allocation

geotechnical engineering

foundation case histories