GULF COAST CHAPTER
The PDCA of the Gulf Coast Chapter held their third
quarter dinner meeting at Patio 44 in Biloxi, Miss. on
Thursday, August 17. The meeting in Biloxi was a departure
from the chapter’s traditional meeting location at Messina’s
Restaurant in Kenner, La., on the western side of New Orleans.
The Gulf Coast Chapter includes the states of Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama. Since Biloxi is just west of the Mississippi/
Alabama border, it was chosen as the dinner site in an effort to
accommodate chapter members from those two eastern-most states
of the chapter.
The effort was well received with approximately 60 making
reservations and more than 45 in attendance.
Brian Deschamp of Eustis Engineering updated the group
on the ongoing pile research being conducted by Louisiana State
University, with support from Eustis Engineering, Boh Brothers,
Cajun Deep Foundations and other PDCA of the Gulf Coast
Chapter members. The research project is titled, “An Integrated
Computational and Experimental Study of Driven Pile Set-Up
in Soft Clays.” Deschamp indicated a test pile installation schedule
is set for late September or early October in Cajun Deep
Foundation’s yard. Dynamic and static load testing will occur in
October and November. A preliminary summary will be provided
at the next chapter dinner meeting. The pile driving schedule for
Boh Brothers’ yard is being completed. Pile installation at this site
is also scheduled for this year, but timetables have not been completed
at this time.
PDCA executive director, Stevan A. Hall, provided an update
on previous and upcoming association events.
Andrew Levins, P.E., with Gulf Coast Pre-Stress Partners,
was the guest speaker for the evening. Levins’ presentation was
titled, “Pile Design,” and included information on pile-to-pile cap
connections, terminology when dealing with an owner, pile design
capacity vs. actual pile capacity vs. geotechnical report pile capacity.
The PDCA of the Gulf Coast Chapter would like to
acknowledge Gulf Coast Pre-Stress Partners for sponsoring the
evening dinner, and Group Deep Foundations for sponsoring the
hosted bar.
The chapter leadership discussed the advantages of moving
the dinner meeting to various locations within the chapter’s geographical
jurisdiction. The chapter members strongly endorsed the
idea, so the next dinner meeting will be held in Baton Rouge. It was
suggested to keep the meeting on the eastern side of Baton Rouge
to make the location more accessible for those traveling in from
Mississippi and Alabama. t
46 | ISSUE 5 2017