Codes and Standards Committee

Thomas M. Gurtowski P.E., Chairman

The Codes and Standards Committee was formed in late 2007 with the goal of concentrating on the International Building Code for deep foundations. First priority will be to monitor IBC code changes proposed by others. Committee will form alliances and attend public hearings to express DFI's opinions. Secondarily, the committee will propose, on behalf of DFI, Code changes developed by DFI technical committees. Thirdly, committee will work toward having DFI technical guidelines approved by ICC as reference documents for the Code, similar to ACI 318 and ASCE 7-10.

Committee Notes

The Codes and Standards Committee is leading an industry-wide effort under umbrella of GeoCoaliton Codes and Standards Committee to review and prepare proposals to revise the 2015 International Building Code (IBC) Chapter 18 “Foundations” (to be implemented in 2018 IBC).  Committee members are collaborating with representatives from the Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA), GeoInstitute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), ASFE: The GeoProfessional Business Association, and ADSC: The International Association for Foundation Drilling to provide industry-agreed proposed changes to the building codes.  Traditionally, this code has been written by structural engineers.  The geotechnical community is working together to affect change that reflects the expertise and knowledge of geoprofessionals.  The group is paying particular attention to the following sections of Chapter 18 (societies taking the lead are shown in parentheses):

 

1802    Definitions (ASFE)

1803      Geotechnical Investigations (ASCE/GI, ASFE, DFI)

1804      Excavation, Grading and Fill (ASCE/GI, ASFE, DFI)

1806      Presumptive Load-Bearing Values of Soils (DFI, ASCE/GI, ASFE)

1807      Foundation Walls, Retaining Walls and Embedded Posts, and Poles (DFI, ASCE/GI; ASFE)

1808      Foundations (DFI, ASCE/GI, ASFE, ADSC) Expansive and collapsible soils (ASCE/GI, ASFE), Concrete foundations (DFI)

1809      Shallow Foundations (ASCE/GI, ASFE)

1810      Deep Foundations (PDCA, DFI, ASCE/GI, ADSC)

 

New sections and additions to Chapter 18 sections being considered include integrity deep foundation testing, expansive and collapsible fills and ground improvement.

 

 

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