Articles

Technical Sessions - October 2016

MORNING SESSION - Hosted by Construction Institute @ 11:00 AM 

Topic: Geologic and Foundation Conditions for 29-Story High-rise

Speaker: Ronald F. Reed, PE - Reed Engineering Group

Unique geologic conditions, consisting of an ancient landslide with relatively unweathered boulders of the Austin Chalk and brecciated Eagle Ford Shale, were encountered during an investigation for a 29-story high-rise apartment structure in Dallas, Texas.  The discussion will include resistivity and seismic methods used to define the extent, size and depth of boulders and their impact on foundation conditions.

Considering the geologic environment and structure, auger-cast piles with working design loads of 150 and 200 tons were chosen for the foundation system.  The results of two load tests will be presented as well as observations on installation and production.  

Mr. Reed has over 40 years of experience in Geotechnical Engineering, predominately within the North Texas region.  He received his B.S. from Syracuse University and M.S. from UT at Arlington and has been President of Reed Engineering Group since founding the company in 1988.

Projects of note include Corporate Headquarters for Fleur and Verizon, distribution centers for Restoration Hardware, L’Oréal, and Amazon, and the Sage Villas Apartments (29-story) and 3225 Turtle Creek Apartments (20-story).     

AFTERNOON TECHNICAL SESSION - Hosted by SEI @ 1:10 PM

Topic: IH 345 – Overview of Feasibility Study, Finite Element Modeling and Plans for Retrofitting

Speaker: Robert M. (Bob) Brown, PE, DBIA and Samir Bougacha, PhD, PE - WSP-Parsons Brinckerhoff

Bob Brown and Samir Bougacha will be following up the main luncheon presentation with more details on the feasiblity study, FEM, and retrofitting plans for the IH 345 project.

Robert M. (“Bob”) Brown has 34 Years of Experience and received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1982.  Robert Brown serves as the area manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Dallas office, having served in that role since 2011. He manages business development activities and project operations and serves as Project Manager on numerous projects.

Beginning his engineering career with TxDOT, Mr. Brown advanced from assistant engineer to area engineer in north Dallas supervising reconstruction of North Central Expressway N1, N2, and M projects. Later, as a consultant, Mr. Brown served as a project manager responsible for preparation of demolition contracts, as well as design of parking, streets and utilities for the American Airlines Center and Victory development.

He returned to TxDOT as deputy district engineer, and successfully led Comprehensive Development Agreement Procurement and Program Management for the following projects: I-635 Managed Lanes, North Tarrant Express Concession Agreement (I-820/SH 183), and the DFW Connector.

Samir Bougacha is a senior supervising engineer with WSP-Parsons Brinckerhoff, with over 2 decades of diverse experience in designing structural systems for bridge and facility structures.  Samir has a PhD in Structures from UT Austin (1990).  Since 2010 he has served as Adjunct Professor in Structures at Southern Methodist University.

Prior 2009, he worked with engineering consultant companies on building design that included residential, retail, commercial, hospitality, educational, healthcare, and industrial facilities.

Samir joined Parsons Brinkerhoff in 2009. His bridge experience includes new bridge design, widening of existing bridges, and rehabilitation of steel bridges. Samir serves as the Project Manager of the IH 345 Bridge Rehabilitation project. His responsibilities include supervising and working with engineers, design, quality control, project scheduling and preparation of final contract documents and construction cost estimate.