The Committee is presenting a seminar in Washington DC on cutoff and reinforced slurry walls in infrastructure projects. This event will be presented just ahead of the Rapid Excavation and Tunnel Conference (RETC) scheduled for June 23-26, 2013 in Washington.
The Committee was pleased that our proposal to the 2012 DFI Committee Project Fund was approved. This project involves the development of consensus guidelines for design and detailing of reinforced concrete diaphragm walls used as permanent basement walls in regions of high seismicity. The final report will include practical and economical design recommendations and proposals for influencing relevant building code provisions. This work is being led by Mike Walker of GEI Consultants.
Material from Committee-led short courses in 2012 boosted the content for our educational "Slurry Walls 101" PowerPoint presentation. We will finalize this slide show on all aspects of diaphragm wall design, construction and QC/QA and make it available to the public through DFI's website in 2013. We will then concentrate on a similar presentation for cutoff walls and trenches.
The Committee also completed a Spanish version of the 2005 guideline for structural slurry wall and it will be edited to include Latin American terms and make it readable in all Spanish-speaking countries. This work parallels an ongoing revision of this guideline that will include the latest technical trends in equipment, wall repairs and panel joint construction as well as an updated list of diaphragm walls completed since 2005. Our goal is to have this work completed in the coming months and have this revised guideline available under DFI publications catalog next year.
Sustainability is a topic that has been present in our discussions in the last year, and the Committee unanimously agreed to be proactive in identifying sustainability and environmental concerns. We launched task forces on mud disposal and carbon footprint calculations as our focuses in 2013, and we will be working hand-in-hand with the Sustainability Committee.