{"data":{"news":{"items":[{"title":"Scott Webster appointed as president of GRL Engineers ","date":"2022-07-17 21:52:17","id":3896,"author":"","blurb":"","blurb_image_uid":"https://dxfpracgmlczp.cloudfront.net/2022/07/1657539969502_Scott-Webster.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"\n\t\n\n\n

GRL Engineers has appointed Scott Webster as president, effective 8 July 2022. A 30-year GRL veteran executive and principal engineer, he will succeed Patrick Hannigan.

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Mr Webster, previously the GRL vice president managing the company’s global offshore and North Carolina-based regional operations, will oversee GRL’s 14 offices, leading the GRL’s management team, engineers and staff in providing a wide array of deep foundation testing services both in the US and globally.

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Mr Webster has a vast experience in providing testing and engineering analyses of deep foundations for structures worldwide. He has also written and presented dozens of technical papers on deep foundations at various industry events throughout his tenure.

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In 2019, Mr Webster was elected treasurer of the Pile Drivers Contractor’s Association (PDCA), the same year he received the Professional Engineer’s Service Award. He is also a member of the ADSC, ASCE, DFI and National Society of Engineers and will continue to provide GRL leadership within the industry.

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“It is an honour to be selected as the next president of GRL Engineers,” said Mr Webster. “I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to work closely with both former GRL presidents, Frank Rausche and Pat Hannigan throughout my career, and look forward to the future of the organisation.”

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Mr Hannigan is stepping down after having been GRL president for the past 11 years. During his tenure, he was able to guide GRL into new areas of deep foundations testing and analysis while maintaining GRL’s position as the world leader of dynamic testing and analysis of driven piles. His expertise and leadership have resulted in significant growth of GRL’s technical capabilities, areas of practice, industry influence and branch locations.

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Mr Hannigan was instrumental in GRL’s bi-directional static load testing (BDSLT) and top-load bi-directional testing (TLBT) initiatives and development. During his 45-year-long career, he has authored numerous technical papers covering all aspects of deep foundations testing and analyses.

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Mr Hannigan is the lead author of the 1997, 2006 and 2016 editions of the FHWA manual for ‘Design and Construction of Driven Pile Foundations.’ He will continue with GRL as a senior consultant providing his expertise on BDSLT/TLBT projects, workshop/training seminars and numerous other activities.

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Headquartered in the US, GRL Engineers is a professional engineering company established to provide specialised testing, analysis and consulting services to the deep foundation industry. Its services range from specialised testing jobs (such as evaluating unknown foundations) to large-scale major projects requiring the monitoring, testing and analysis of all types of deep foundations nationwide and worldwide.

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US-based company GRL Engineers offers the Standard Penetration Testing (SPT) for analysing soil strength and conditions. This method uses an SPT hammer to drive a drill string with a split-barrel sampler attached at the bottom of the string. The split-barrel sampler recovers soil samples and the bottom of the borehole, after the borehole has been advanced to the required sampling depth. Such a test provides clarity to the engineers and is essential to understanding foundation conditions.

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SPT hammer efficiencies vary, which influences the resulting N-values, said GRL Engineers. For this reason, many authorities, such as the US Federal Highway Administration require SPT hammer calibration. In addition, period calibration is required by many US Departments of Transportation. ASTM D1586 recommends that a measured N-value be normalised to 60% drill rod energy, N₆₀ by multiplying it by the ratio between the measured energy transferred to the rod and 60% of the theoretical potential energy. This compensates for the variability in efficiency, and therefore, improves the reliability of soil strength estimates used in geotechnical designs.

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To perform the SPT calibration, GRL Engineers attaches an SPT rod, instrumented with strain gages and accelerometers, to the SPT drill string rod. As the drill string is driven into the ground, the strain gages and accelerometers obtain force and velocity signals with each hammer blow. The signals are transmitted to a Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) that displays the force, velocity and energy transmitted to the drill string, calculates and displays the maximum transferred energy value, and stores the complete time record of force and velocity for all SPT hammer blows. GRL Engineers typically acquires several SPT energy measurements per hammer at a given test location, in accordance with ASTM.

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With this testing, GRL Engineers can provide a quantitative calibration report presenting transferred energies, energy transferred ratios and the SPT N₆₀ value for each sample interval tested.

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www.grlengineers.com

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