ISM held its 13th International Workshop on Micropiles in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on March 29-April 1, 2017. The event exceeded past workshop records with over 150 delegates from 13 countries attending the 2-1/2 days of technical paper sessions and discussion. This year’s workshop marked the 20th anniversary of the first ISM workshop held in Seattle, Washington, in 1997 under the auspices of DFI and FHWA.

Crux Subsurface, Inc. of Spokane, Washington served as the host company, led by Nick Salisbury. Dan MacLean, P.Eng., of Geo-Foundations Contractors, Inc., served as the program chair.

The technical program included delegate presentations covering all aspects of micropile technology, and highlighting innovations, new design techniques, construction advances, and case histories. The theme of the workshop was Micropiles: Resisting and Remediating the Effects of Mother Nature. Related presentations covered micropile applications in challenging conditions including karst, wetlands, and seismic, wind and water loading.

For the first time, the technical program also featured a live webinar of the ISM Experts of the World panel discussion on international practices, including grout testing, corrosion protection and design and construction issues. Eighty five attendees registered for the webinar, which was broadcast around the U.S.

The Workshop featured the 9th Lizzi Lecture by John Wolosick, P.E., D.GE, of Hayward Baker, Inc., covering bending moments on battered micropiles.

The 7th Lizzi Scholarship recipient Maged Abdlrahem, Ph.D. candidate from Western University, delivered a presentation about his research on the lateral performance of hollow bar micropiles in cohesionless soils. Adblrahem presented the results of a full-scale lateral load test on a hollow bar micropile and numerical analyses, and he compared these results with software predictions.

The second World Cup was a highlight of the event. Workshop delegates selected PCA Contracting representing Australasia as winners of the coveted World Cup for its project, Life Extension of 132kV Lattice Tower Foundations in Townsville, Australia. The project involved retrofitting 26 transmission tower foundations, many of which were originally installed either just before or just after World War II.

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