The MD Section & Geo-Institute present:

Foundation Repair and Reuse for Transportation Structures - A Geotechnical Perspective

Silas Nichols, FHWA

Office of Infrastructure

Over the last several years, the combination of complex bridge replacement projects (primarily in urban areas), and rapid repair of failed bridge foundations have presented new challenges to structure foundation designers. It has become relatively common for geotechnical engineers to need to find resilient and sustainable solutions for these difficult situations while meeting accelerated time schedules and tight budgets. The best-case scenario outlined here would be to evaluate foundations for reuse without any additional work. However, this is often not a feasible option. Especially in the case of a failed foundation where the load path is no longer reliable. This results in approaches that identify foundation types that that can be used in replacement applications in limited right-of-way and for replacement of failed foundations, and methods for considering structural enhancement or supplement to existing foundations that may be reused for continued structural support.

About The Speaker: 

Silas Nichols is the Principal Geotechnical Engineer for the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Infrastructure. Silas is responsible for providing leadership and direction for the FHWA National Geotechnical Team through policy support, technical developments, and coordination with industry and professional groups.  Silas’ experience is in both public and private sector engineering work. Professional experience includes design and construction services for numerous routine and complex or unusual projects throughout the United States; development and delivery of instructor led and web-based training for continued education of transportation engineers; development and delivery of university courses; invited and keynote presentations; authoring technical articles and editorial columns; and various levels of participation on technical and steering committees. Silas is a Certified Instructor and a Master Trainer for the National Highway Institute (NHI) and teaches classes part-time at the University of Delaware. Silas has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Syracuse University, and a master’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Tuft’s University.