Editors' Note

Abstract

This first issue of 2016 contains several papers that may be directly implemented into practice. Bradshaw et al. introduce a Borehole Plug Test that is verified in a test boring in very dense silty fine sand at a bridge site in Rhode Island. Test objectives include the derivation of engineering parameters to assess side shear and t-z behavior, and to provide a small scale simulation of the expected drilled shaft performance. With the intent to supplement static load test data, the results from a Borehole Plug Test can be directly applied to a number of early design stages when assessing concrete-to-soil or concrete-to-rock interface behavior. Coe and Kermani present the results on a study on methods to evaluate the length of in-place bridge foundations. The evaluation of existing foundations is important for two reasons. First, our profession is in need of practical methods to determine whether existing foundations can meet code requirements as they are updated. Second, the greater emphasis our society has placed on the re-use of foundations will only be realized if engineers and designers can reliably evaluate existing foundations. This paper won the 2014 DFI Young Professor paper award. The interpretation of the non-destructive test known as Thermal Integrity Profiling or TIP is the subject of a paper by Johnson. TIP is gaining wide acceptance for its credibility and simplicity, and the technical information presented by Johnson, who is part of the research team involved with its development, will help DFI members with real world projects. Johnson was recognized for this work as the student paper award winner of 2015. Another paper by Bradshaw describes a mathematical model for back-fitting the load-deflection data of a conventional top-down pile loading test to characterize the distribution of mobilized side and toe resistance. This model can be implemented where strain gages were not included in the test or where the strain gages were damaged. The proposed process uses nonlinear t-z modeling along with a genetic algorithm to perform the inversion. This procedure was verified with full scale pile load tests documented in literature and good agreement was found between the proposed methodology and measured test data. Bradshaw was recognized in October 2015 at the DFI annual conference in Oakland, CA, with the Young Professor Paper award for his contribution. Researchers from Virginia Tech present another pioneering paper on the application of energy piles. Olgun and Bowers investigate the use of energy piles for bridge deck de-icing without the aid of heat pumps. Field deicing and thermal recharge experiments are presented and a new parameter, called the thermal modulus was introduced. This modulus can be used to characterize the development of thermally induced axial stresses in energy piles. Olgun received the runnerup award for the Young Professor paper competition in 2015. We would like to thank the writers for their effort and willingness to present their works in this issue of theDFI Journal. Our role is to facilitate the transfer of technology to the DFI members and our focus when considering manuscripts for publication is whether it presents information useful to potential readers. We want to encourage anyone to submit their manuscript for consideration and we look forward to working with you to prepare it for this publication.