In 2013, the Committee will focus on reestablishing interest and activity in working with the committee and undertake projects that advance the understanding and use of testing and evaluation methods for deep foundations. We are committed to holding quarterly conference calls and engaging current and new members. The Committee will liaise closely with representatives from the European Instrumentation Committee to understand their goals and projects and relay relevant information between our groups.
In the U.S., we will assess the extent and consistency of use of deep foundations monitoring and testing methods by State DOTs. This project is a continuation of a previous committee project to collect DOT specifications for monitoring and instrumentation. A small task force will be established to conduct a review of the methods for evaluating deep foundations that are posted on the Federal Highway Administration's website for the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2). The SHRP2 program outlines methods and tools for accelerated highway construction (www.GeoTechTools.org). The task force will prepare a summary of the methods identified for each deep foundation technique outlined by FHWA for the Committee's review. The Committee will then determine the next steps, which could include an assessment of the appropriateness and comprehensiveness of the recommended methods, a summary paper outlining the state-of-the-practice of testing and evaluation in the DOTs, a compilation of existing specifications, a plan to introduce the DOTs to new methods to replace and/or enhance current practices, etc.
With the goal of being objective and unbiased, we will identify generic nonproprietary terms to be used in the testing and evaluation industry in preference to terms that reference proprietary equipment.
We will identify other societies and technical committees (ACI, ASTM, etc.) that address testing and evaluation issues that the Committee should be following and/or in which the Committee should be participating. The Committee will make active efforts to gather and share information from these entities with DFI members.