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FERNANDO LIZZI’S OUT OF PRINT MICROPILE CLASSIC NOW AVAILABLE

The ADSC in conjunction with the International Society for Micropiles is pleased to announce that under special agreement with the original publisher the ADSC and ISM have just re-published Dr. Fernando Lizzi’s “Static Restoration of Monuments: basic criteria-case histories - strengthening of buildings damaged by earthquakes”. This high quality reproduction is true to the original in every graphic detail. Lizzi is known internationally as the founder of the pali radice (root piles) technology, which has been used since 1952 for the restoration of historical monuments and underpinning of other delicate structures. His technique of designing and installing three-dimensional reticulated networks of micropiles for stabilization has been used worldwide for stabilization of important structures. This generously illustrated, 146 page, fundamental classic text describes the use of the technology on numerous historical monuments and structures throughout the world.

The Static Restoration of Monuments is available only through the ADSC’s Technical Library Service. ADSC and ISM member price is $60, non-members $78 (U.S. $), plus shipping. To order, contact the ADSC Technical Librarian at: klichtenstern@adsc-iafd.com, or phone (214) 343-2091.

HIGHLIGHTS OF PREVIOUS OF PREVIOUS IWM CONFERENCES

IWM 2004
The 6^th International Workshop on Micropiles (IWM) was held at the Musashi Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan from August 24-27, 2004. This year’s IWM was organized locally by the Japanese Group, headed by Prof. Hoshiya, Mr. Otani, and Mr. Yamane, all prominent contributors in past IWMs and in particular last year’s meeting in Seattle.  ADSC Technical Affiliate, Mary Ellen Bruce, President of geotechnica, s.a., Inc. was responsible for organizing the technical program and is, as always, undertaking the task of compiling the proceedings on CD, which had been available to all ADSC members. Family commitments prevented her from participating in Tokyo, a disappointment shared by all IWM members as much as by herself.  Technical affiliate, Gary Weinstein of the Polytechnic University of Brooklyn, NY served most efficiently as the Meeting Secretary, and distinguished himself further with several valuable presentations and contributions during the breakout sessions.

Other ADSC Technical Affiliate and Contractor members who attended and were greatly appreciated by the Japanese engineering community – both professionally and socially – were Nadir Ansari (Isherwood Associates), Tom Armour (DBM Contractors, Inc.), Jim Bruce (GeoFoundations), Donald Bruce (Geosystems, L.P.), Allen Cadden (Schnabel Engineering), Gary Kast (Dwyidag Systems, Inc.), Erik Loehr (University of Missouri, Columbia), and John Wolosick (Hayward Baker).  Old friends from Europe included François Schlosser and Roger Frank (ENPC-CERMES, France), Mike Turner (Applied Geotechnical Engineering Ltd., U.K.), Norbert Vogt (Technical University of Munich, Germany), Ernst Ischebeck (Friedr. Ischebeck Gmbh, Germany), Paul Woodfield (Branlow Ltd., U.K.), and Jouko Lehtonen (Turku Polytechnic University, Finland).  There were many apologies from regular IWM members who were unable, for various reasons, to travel to Japan at this time, including Al DiMillio, Thomas Herbst, James Mason, and Bob Traylor. Their loss was, to some extent, offset by the presence of the families (or parts of families) of Ansari, Armour, Ischebeck, Vogt, and Turner.

The technical program, as requested by the Japanese organizing committee, was similar in structure to the excellent IWM held in Seattle last year:

Day 1: State of Practice (Design, Construction, and Research)

Day 2: Quality Assurance and Monitoring

Day 3: Case Histories, and Strategies for Database Construction

 Special features of the IWM included:

• An opening greeting by Prof. Kiyoshi Horikawa, the President of Musashi Institute of Technology (Japan’s version of MIT).
• The second Lizzi Lecture “Research and Practice on Micropile Groups and Networks”, brilliantly delivered by Prof. Schlosser.
• The award of the first Lizzi Scholarship to a young Japanese graduate student from the Toyohashi University of Technology (with a great smile) called Shingo Morimasa.  Due to the heroic efforts of Mary Ellen Bruce (and Federal Express), this delightful young man was awarded free registration for the workshop, and a package containing key micropile references, including:
• Dr. Lizzi’s book The Static Restoration of Monuments, Basic Criteria-Case Histories Strengthening of Buildings Damaged by Earthquakes.
• ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling – Deep Foundations Institute, “Guide to Drafting a Specification for Micropiles” (2004) (courtesy of ADSC).
• Federal Highway Administration’s “Drilled and Grouted Micropiles: State-of-Practice Review”, Volumes I-V, and “Micropile Design and Construction Guidelines” Implementation Manual.
• “Synthesis of the Results of the National Project on Micropiles” (1993-2001) Operation of the Civil Engineering and Urban Network (2002) (FOREVER Report)
• IWM – International Workshop on Micropiles Proceedings (1997-2003) (The 1997 Proceedings were provided courtesy of DFI.)

This 2004 IWM was of particularly crucial importance, being the first without U.S. Government financial support (as always, thanks a million, Al), and the first largely under the “new” ADSC regime and mandate.  The traditional “Steering Committee” meeting took on special significance from a strategic viewpoint and after very thorough and careful consideration, the Committee agreed to change the name of the organization to “International Society for Micropiles: ISM.”

No description of a visit to Japan can conclude without reference to the social side.  Our hosts were wonderful, and beautifully organized. The food was fabulous – especially the dishes that the ADSC contingent could recognize (or dared to ask what they were).  The liquid refreshments spanned the whole spectrum of sources – from rice, through hops and barley, to grape, oh, and tea also.

For most of us, the highlight was the closing banquet, held at the Sukkien Garden in Yokohama: a restored oasis of tranquility and antiquity set in over 100 acres of garden, but yet a two-base Ichiro drive from the wharfs of Yokohoma harbor. The group was entertained imperially.  Almost surrealistically, the senior Japanese group provided an amateur magician show which was wildly applauded by an enthralled group of incredulous micropile specialists: themselves no strangers to (imperfect) sleight of hand on certain occasions it has been rumored.

Dr. Donald Bruce, the IWM Chairman personally thanked all who participated in the funding, organization, and implementation of IWM Tokyo 2004.  This group – now a society – had participated in an extraordinary phenomenon: a truly unique international collaboration on a single specific technology.  It has established a model which is being studied seriously by professional and trade societies both in North America and overseas. Its success owes everything to its members and its sponsors.

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IWM 2003

The 5^th International Workshop on Micropiles was held at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers in Seattle, WA from September 24 to 27, 2003. This workshop included a total of 53 delegates and 14 companions from the U.S., Canada, England, Finland, Germany, France, and Japan.  The delegation comprised micropile contractors, designers, researchers, suppliers, manufacturers, and owners, who contributed to an intense 3-day workshop on all aspects of micropile design, construction, testing, and research.  The IWM has developed from its early days as an 8-member international review panel assembled in 1994 for the 4-volume FHWA funded “State of Practice Review on Drilled and Grouted Micropiles” prepared by Dr. Donald Bruce (Geosystems, L.P.) and Prof. Ilan Juran (Polytechnic University) to a delegation of over 60 members from 12 member countries committed to the advancement of micropile technology and use throughout the world.  In 2002, ADSC assumed the role of organizer and administrator of the activities of the IWM, and the Seattle meeting was the first workshop to benefit from ADSC’s skilled and thoughtful organizational efforts.

The workshop kicked-off with an evening welcoming reception, which was followed by three days of plenary presentations and break-out discussion sessions. Welcoming and introductory remarks were offered on the first day of the workshop by Scot Litke (Executive Director, ADSC) and Al Dimillio (Geotechnical Research Manager, FHWA), Dr. Donald Bruce (IWM Chairman, Geosystems, L.P.), and Tom Armour (local organizer and ADSC Micropile Committee Chairman, DBM Contractors, Inc.).  Spokespersons from other member countries included old friends Dr. Roger Frank (France), Dr. Thomas Herbst (Germany), Prof. Masaru Hoshiya (Japan), and Dr. Jouko Lehtonen (Finland).

The IWM delegation observed a moment of silence in memory of Dr. Fernando Lizzi, the visionary leader of the IWM and inventor of the “pali radice” or “root pile” foundation system, who passed away on August 28, 2003. 

The highlight of the first plenary session was the presentation of the 2^nd Lizzi Lecture “Lizzi’s Philosphy: Concepts to Practice” by James Mason. (The 1^st Lizzi Lecture was presented by Dr. Lizzi’s son, Prof. Fedele Lizzi, at IWM 2002 in Venice, Italy, which celebrated the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Lizzi’s development of the root pile technology). Mason is currently completing his doctoral dissertation at Cornell University under the guidance of his thesis advisor and ADSC Technical Affiliate Member, Prof. Tom O’Rourke.  Mason conducted full-scale instrumented experiments of the internal retrofit method “reticulo cementato” of unreinforced masonry walls while at Cornell, and is developing rational design methods for both the superstructure and foundation systems utilizing this technology with the “pali radice” system.

The technical program was organized by ADSC Technical Affiliate Members Donald Bruce, and Mary Ellen Bruce of geotechnica, s.a., Inc. Workshop presentations were made generally by the four geographical regions of North America, Western Europe, Nordic Countries, and Japan during the morning workshop sessions, and small group breakout discussion sessions were held in the afternoons.  Each day’s presentations and discussions centered around the following themes: Day 1 – State of International Knowledge (Design, Construction, Research, QA/QC, and Performance Monitoring); Day 2 – Research and Development, and Future Research Needs Assessment; and Day 3 – Education and Knowledge Dissemination.

Topics of presentations included overviews of international micropile practice, codes and specifications, new drilling techniques, and innovative case histories where micropiles have been used to solve particularly challenging problems.  Research presentations covered industry and academic views on research needs; the value of dynamic pile testing; full-scale loading testing; pile-footing connection testing; ultra high capacity micropile testing to 1000 tons, and an opportunity to study short and long term micropile performance on a large scale. Ongoing micropile educational initiatives by industry and academia were also presented, along with details of the ADSC-FHWA micropile teaching module and tools for teaching reticulation concepts.  Dr. Thomas Herbst presented a micropile publication database that he has compiled including titles, authors’ names, and number of pages for some existing micropile publications.  His efforts were met with great enthusiasm by the delegation. To complete this database, one member from each country will be nominated to organize titles of documents originating in their respective countries for inclusion in the database.  The database as compiled to date with over 140 entries will be included in the workshop Proceedings.  The Japanese delegates provided another significant contribution in their presentation of “Design and Execution Manual for Seismic Retrofitting of Existing Pile Foundations with High Capacity Micropiles” developed by the Public Works Research Institute in Japan.

ADSC members making presentations included Dean Abbonndanza (LB Foster), Nadir Ansari (Isherwood Associates), Tom Armour, Horst Aschenbroich (Con-Tech Systems Ltd.), Dr. Donald Bruce, Jim Bruce (Geo-Foundations Contractors, Inc.), Allen Cadden (Schnabel Engineering, Inc.), Mike Hadzariga (AGRA Foundations, Inc.), Ernst Ischebeck (Friedr. Ischebeck Gmbh), Dr. Erik Loehr (University of Missouri), Tom Richards, Jr. (Nicholson Construction Company), Dr. Adrian Rodriguez-Marek (Washington State University), Greg Samchek (BelPacific Shoring & Foundations), Graham Smith (Structural Preservation Systems), Bob Traylor (Traylor LLC), Walt Vanderpool (Terracon Engineering), Gary Weinstein (Polytechnic University), and John Wolosick (Hayward Baker, Inc.).

The breakout sessions were designed to encourage information sharing and frank discussion in the spirit of a true workshop setting.  Delegates were divided into three teams, and session leaders facilitated discussions and listed the proceedings for the entire delegation.

The IWM Steering Committee met to discuss the future of IWM including the next workshop venue, the invitation of the 3^rd Lizzi Lecturer, and a proposed Lizzi Scholarship. The Japanese delegation has generously offered to host the 2004 IWM meeting possibly at Musashi Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan in September 2004. An invitation to deliver the 3^rd Lizzi Lecture at the 2004 workshop was extended to France in recognition of their outstanding National Research Project on Micropiles – FOREVER. ADSC has proposed to establish a yearly scholarship in the name of Dr. Lizzi to provide for financial means for one graduate student studying in the field of micropiles to attend an IWM meeting. Scholarship advertisement, recipient selection criteria, and award procedures are yet to be defined.

Social events organized by ADSC, including a one-hour boat trip to Tillicum Village for a salmon bake and Native American dancing exhibition, and a Seattle Mariners baseball game were enjoyed by all. The companions’ program also included a Grand City Tour of Seattle on the first day of the workshop. The Mariners gave the Japanese delegates a much appreciated victory highlighted by an impressive exhibition from their national hero, Ichiro Suzuki.  The event was sponsored generously by DBM Contractors, Inc. and Hayward Baker, Inc. The delegation presented Al Dimillio with an award of a bronzed cutting shoe in recognition of his years of unfailing support of the IWM and micropile technology.

In addition to ADSC and FHWA, the following companies also graciously provided financial contributions to the workshop:  Boart Longyear Company; Con-Tech Systems Ltd.; DBM Contractors, Inc.; Geo-Foundations Contractors, Inc.; Geosystems, L.P.; Hayward Baker, Inc.; and LB Foster Company. IWM backpacks were provided to all delegates by Dywidag Systems International USA, Inc.

IWM had truly come full circle from its roots in Seattle in 1997.

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