THE CONSTRUCTION WEEKLY

April 7/14, 2008 � enr.com

EngineeringNews-Record

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TThe heavy job of predicting how far the world’s tallest buildings will sinkinto the soil falls upon the shoulders of Clyde N. Baker Jr., who carries himselfunder all that pressure with surprising agility. Engineers the world over credit Baker with an enter-prising pursuit of efficient foundations that result in lucrative savings for building developers,

Down-to-earth engineer takes lessonslearned at the birthplace of the skyscraperto put world skylines on firmer ground

while giving builders the confidence todeal with the most troublesome soils.Above ground, Baker’s down-to-earthstyle builds a relaxed atmosphere oftrust that puts people at ease from theconference room to the jobsite.

Baker is a strong foundation of expe-rience, having spent 54 years at VernonHills, Ill.-based STS/AECOM applyingsoil theory, in-the-ground testing, in-strumentation and careful observationto bring up the science of soils from acrying baby to a responsible adult.

When Baker left college in 1954, soilmechanics was still very young. Prior tothe early 20th century, engineers reliedon formulas developed in the 1700s as

well as their own pseudo-scientific gutfeelings to predict settlement. Mistakesand unknowns led civil engineers towarda conservatism that still prevails in manycities today. Baker isn’t afraid to ques-tion the status quo to learn more, andbecause of his work, building settlementdoesn’t keep structural engineers awakeat night.

For firming up the science of soil tosupport the skyscrapers of tomorrow,the editors of Engineering News-Recordhave selected Baker to receive this year’sAward of Excellence.

The bearings of deep foundationsare transcending the ultra-conservativesafety factors of yesterday to support the

extreme skyscrapers of tomorrow. Bak-er is engineering natural earth, withinherent cost savings, more in line withmanufactured materials, such as steeland concrete. For bored piles foundedon soil, Baker has pushed bearing pres-sures in Chicago 400%, while rock-socketed caissons have increased 50%.This track record has made Baker use-ful in cities building super tall. In designor peer review, Baker has worked onseven of the 20 tallest buildings in theworld. Many new tall structures, such asthe 2,000-ft Chicago Spire, are plannedor just getting in the ground thanks toBaker’s support. As skyscrapers growtaller, heavier and more slender, Baker’s

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tank…. We took everything we learned inChicago, including Clyde Baker, to KualaLumpur.” The spiraling Chicago Spire,shooting for a late-2011 finish date andpossibly the tallest building in the Amer-icas, is aiming for a reality unlike Miglin-Beitler. Appropriately, Thornton andBaker are on the executive design team.

Pushing the EnvelopeEarthwork contractors, who complain ofoverly-conservative geotechnical engi-neering worldwide, appreciate Bakerpushing the foundation envelope. “Hehas just upped and upped and upped,”says John O’Malley, president of Roselle,Ill.-based Case Foundation Co.

Baker also “breaks down the walls” onearthwork jobsites that have gone bad,O’Malley adds. “You could be a part ofthe problem, but you could be a part ofthe solution as well.” He rememberswhen Baker played a supporting role atthe site of the supertall John HancockCenter, serving as the geotechnical engi-neer alongside SOM structural superstarFazlur Khan. Their relationship cement-ed during an extensive probe of 20,000 ftof 2-in.-dia. cores of the building’s 239caissons (ENR 9/29/66 p. 15).

Part of the early steel work had sunk,prompting Khan to shut down the site.He ordered a thorough investigation andBaker and others went to work, discover-ing a 14-ft-long void in an 8-ft-dia.perimeter rock caisson and identifying

Some other engineersdid complicated com-puter models [and]got about the sameanswer.”

Clyde Baker callshimself “pre-comput-er” and prefers to dothings by hand beforefeeding data into aprogram. The Burj,which will weigh abouthalf a million tons onbored piles drilledunder slurry, has set-tled about 40 mm.Baker predicted about60 mm at its completion.

Baker’s precision has taken the mys-tery out of deep foundations. “I go tosleep at night because of Clyde Baker,”says Charles Thornton, founding princi-pal of New York City-based ThorntonTomasetti Inc. He hired Baker to solveone of the most difficult pier problemsfor the 1,483-ft-tall, twin Petronas Tow-ers, built in 1998. Baker describes the

subgrade as “a terriblesituation” that re-quired a major soil androck grouting pro-gram to get the jobmoving, where clam-shell-dug barrettepiers sit over a 200-m-deep, karstic lime-stone canyon (ENR1/15/96 p. 36).

For Baker, projectsare coming full circle.Thornton learnedabout Baker’s soil skillsin the late 1980s whiledesigning the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, a2,000-ft-tall footnotein Chicago’s supertallbuilding history.

“It is interestingbecause we really cutour teeth there,”Thornton says. “Thejob went down the

groundwork will continue to hold them up.Test methods that Baker implemented

in Chicago have helped prove what geo-techs have believed all along, that soil andbedrock can safely support big loads.Bearing pressures are advancing to thepoint where the limiting factor is not soiland rock but the strength of concrete,says Baker. Not all tall buildings requiresuper-high bearing pressures, such aswhen extra foundation stiffness is re-quired to keep wind loads under control.But extreme options, when needed, arenow available.

Baker has taken lessons learned onChicago buildings, tunnels and otherstructures and applied them overseas,having recently consulted on the supertallBurj Dubai. Engineers call Baker’s sup-port a boon to tall buildings. “That ca-pacity sometimes is the difference be-tween you can add that extra story or youcan’t,” says Bill Baker, Skidmore, Owingsand Merrill partner and the Burj’s struc-tural engineer.

Owners also understand the value ofan efficient foundation. “The key thing isleaving sufficient flex-ibility for the super-structure design butnot making it sorobust that there’s afactor of safety that’sunnecessary,” saysNiall Collins, projectdirector for Dublin-based ShelbourneDevelopment Group,Chicago Spire’s own-er.

It doesn’t hurt thatBaker’s settlementpredictions are usual-ly right on. “He’s avery practical guy,”says Bill Baker, whohired Clyde Baker toreview the MiddleEast behemoth. “Hiscalculations for theBurj Dubai were lessthan one page ofhand calculations. PH

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� Soil Problems. Barrettes bearing ongrouted subgrade support Petronas.

� Early Icons. Difficult caisson-defect investigation and remedia-tion at Hancock (left) led Baker to a higher calling at Sears (right).

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forward to support two moresupertall building booms.“He has helped make soilmechanics more of a science,”says R. Shankar Nair of Chi-cago-based Teng & Associ-ates. It retained Baker for the1,074-ft-tall Waterview Tow-er, now under constructionon Wacker Drive.

In all, Baker has consultedon seven of the 20 tallestbuildings as ranked by theChicago-based Council onTall Buildings and Urban

Habitat, including the top four—Taipei101, the two Petronas Towers and Sears.In Chicago alone, Baker has handledmore than 80% of the high-rise founda-tions built after 1955 and has been instru-mental in helping contractors developcost-effective measures, including foun-dations that bear on soil rather thandeeper rock. Rock caissons cost three tofive times more.

Hands-OnColleagues remark that Baker excels likeno other in tackling complex founda-tion problems in an easygoing way. Har-

ry Poulos, an Aus-tralia-based geo-tech professor andconsultant whoalso reviewed BurjDubai, calls Bakerthe most hands-onconstructibility ex-pert he knows.“People can comeup with smartdesigns, but Clydemight say, ‘Comeon, we won’t beable to build this.’He has sort of beenthere, done that,”Poulos says.

Baker also ispractically a brandname. AECOM,which acquiredSTS last spring,

riety. The two engineerswent on to tackle Sears Tow-er, the tallest building from1974 until 1998, when thePetronas Towers took therecord.

For stamping his high-profile name on a lowly

geotechnical paper, Bak-er credits Khan withjump-starting his careeras an internationalfoundation expert. Theinvestigation also re-sulted in major codechanges, as Chicago began encour-aging engineers to leave steel cais-son shells in the ground by allowingthem to be included in load calcula-tions. This lowered the risk of cre-

ating voids by pulling the steelcasings during construction.

Baker has pushed the field

other defects before remedi-ating the job. Pulling steelcasing to save costs was iden-tified as a probable cause.

Due to delays, the devel-oper fell into bankruptcy andthe anchor tenant took over.“Big John” eventually roseup to become a Chicago iconand a major case study fordeep foundations. Bakerand Khan authored anaward-winning paper pub-lished in 1971 titled “Cais-son ConstructionProblems and Cor-rection in Chicago.”It never specifiedHancock, due toongoing litigation,but its lessons a-ttracted global noto-

� Up, Down. Baker (clockwise)supported Petronas, Burj, Beitler,Spire, McCormick Place tunnel.

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competitive running in the 1970s to runBoston seven more times. His bestmarathon was in 1982 in Miami at 51years old, clocking in at two hours and 50minutes.

He still jogs nearly every day, except inwinter, when Baker hustles up and downhis Evanston, Ill., apartment building’sstaircase until he reaches the equivalentof an 80-story climb. Even after battlingcancer in 1994 and surviving treatment,Baker still runs a decent, 12-minute mile.

affirmation that youhad the final answer.”In pushing founda-tion bearing pres-sures, “somebodyhas to step out andsay, ‘Yes, we can dothis,’ and he hasdone that,” addsLukas.

Baker is a littlelike an absent-mind-ed professor attimes, says Wolf. Heonce stepped outside his house to find hiscar missing, and then headed down to adealership to buy a replacement. “He hadparked it at his church,” Wolf recalls.

On the MoveThe 45-time marathon runnerand state distance champion gets

around, with a globetrottingschedule at 77 years old thatwould put even an Olympianout of breath.

A college track star, Bak-er ran his first marathon in

Boston in 1953 and kept upwith pacesetters until he “hit

the wall,” or rather the Newtonhills, near the 15th mile. He

returned to

had been looking to add geo-techincal services to its port-folio and found Baker’s firm anatural fit. “Geotechincalengineering is the cornerstoneof the work that we do,” saysJohn M. Dionisio, presidentand chief executive ofAECOM. He calls Baker, STSsenior principal engineer, anicon. “I think people like thatin any organization just set thetone and the pace,” he says.

Even though Baker workedfor several years as president ofSTS, he says he never reallytook responsibility for man-agement. Baker understandsthe importance of revenue and incomebut hates pushing paper. “He did not liketo be involved in administration,”explains Robert G. Lukas, a former STSengineer who left to start up his own firmin the early 1990s.

That was a troubled time in STS his-tory. A series of managerial missteps tookSTS into a bleeding solid-waste businessthat pulled down profits. The engineer-ing side of the business remained prof-itable, but not enough to avoid bankrupt-cy, which came in 1994. Baker and 19other “five percenters” went out on alimb to borrow from their retirementsand took out loans to buy the firm and setit right. After that, STS was on agrowth path again. “They hadgotten their problems behindthem,” Dionisio says.

But Baker’s reputa-tion as engineer, histor-ian and mentor is ster-ling. Thomas W. Wolf,current president ofSTS, says that when hewas a young engineerwith STS in Wiscon-sin, Baker was the kindof person engineerssought “to either getthe answer orget the

� Grounded. Baker family (top, center) knowsall about soil, including son Mark, STS driller(above left). After college, Baker returned torunning (left). Gnaedinger recruited Baker(above). Baker, Walton on a mountain (below).

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sone treatment, Baker shifted into civilengineering and graduated with a mas-ter’s degree in 1954. He had been work-ing in MIT’s Soils Stabilization Labora-tory, taking classes offered by Terzaghi.

John Gnaedinger, who founded STSin 1948, discovered Baker in Washington,D.C., while giving a talk to the HighwayResearch Board on his thesis, whichdetailed an early use of radioactive iso-topes as a technique to investigate soils.Gnaedinger, who died in 2001, askedBaker to come to Chicago in 1954, eventhough the company couldn’t reallyafford to hire. “John was the kind of per-son who would give you all the experi-

of this magazine in the 1920s.Clyde Nelson Baker Jr. calls himself

an accidental engineer, and to somedegree, he is. Born in Flushing, N.Y., in1930, he suffered from rheumatoidarthritis as a young man. At the urging ofhis father—a surgeon who had wanted tobe an engineer—Baker tried several fieldsbefore settling on soils. He had a pilot’slicense at 16, before he could legally drive acar. He received a physics degree at TheCollege of William & Mary and went onto study electrical engineering at Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology. His ill-ness flared up, forcing him to drop outfor a semester. After experimental corti-

For Baker, regular exercise is not justabout physical release. It is also mentaland spiritual. “I have had a few out-of-body experiences running,” Baker says.“Some people may say that I’m halluci-nating,” he says, with an explosive laugh,adding, “I guess I’m a reflective person.”Baker even works while exercising. “I’llsolve problems on the run,” he says.

A practicing Quaker who converted in1957, Baker’s down-to-earth adventuresin the soil dovetail with his back-to-basicsspiritual journey. Not wanting to stepinto the limelight, Baker frequentlyunderplays his long list of accolades, nev-er letting the honors go to his head. Egois not his temperament, colleagues say,and that helps him see others’ points ofview. “The guy has an open mind,” saysManoher Chawla, a Chicago-based geo-tech engineer and the city’s foundationpermitter. “[Clyde] is a very upbeat guy.At his age, he is not slowing down.” Hedrives fast and with a purpose, in a littleToyota Prius with an “OBAMA ’08”sticker cockeyed on the rear bumper.

No StoppingRetirement doesn’t seem to be anywhereon the horizon. Baker promised himselfthat he would work 32 hours a week lastyear and 24 hours this year, but he still ishighly in demand. He gave a talk to geo-tech engineers in San Antonio in January,followed by supertall consulting work inSouth Korea and another talk in Dubai,with a few vacations in between. “I stilllike going to work,” Baker says. “Peoplesay to me, ‘Why aren’t you retired?’ I say,‘I am retired.’”

Baker is starting to feel uncomfortablewith all the attention he is getting. Haswas elected to the National Academies in2000. In 2006, the earth-savvy Molesbestowed Baker with its non-memberaward. Later this month, Baker will re-ceive the American Society of Civil Engi-neers’ Opal Award along with Dionisio,who started out as a geotechnical engi-neer. Next year, Baker will give ASCE’sTerzaghi Lecture, named after the fatherof soil mechanics, Karl Terzaghi, whocast the science’s manifestoes in the pagesIMAG

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Spiraling Loads. Bearing pressures in Chicagoare on the rise. More details are at enr.com.

Chicago’s Groundbreaking CaissonsBearing YearPressure Building Floors Built Test Method

Hardpan (Chicago Building Code = 12 ksf)

30 ksf Lake Point Tower 70 1963 Triaxial, hardpan core, in lab40 ksf Chicago Apparel Center 20 1977 Pressuremeter, in-situ40 ksf Chicago Mercantile 40 1987 Pressuremeter

Exchange Towers50 ksf Lake Shore Plaza 38 1986 Pressuremeter50 ksf AT&T Corporate Center 60 1989 Pressuremeter60 ksf Chicago Title & Trust 50 1992 Pressuremeter

Top of Rock (CBC = Not Addressed)50 tsf Vue20 Condominiums 19 2003 Pressuremeter75 tsf McCormick Place West — 2007 Pile load, Osterberg cell, in-situ90 tsf One Museum Park 62 2008 Osterberg cell

Rock Socketed (CBC = 200 tsf)200 tsf John Hancock Center 100 1969 —200 tsf AON Center 83 1973 —200 tsf Sears Tower 108 1974 —230 tsf UBS Tower 50 2001 Osterberg cell250 tsf Aqua at Lakeshore East 82 2009 (est.) Osterberg cell270 tsf Trump International 96 2009 (est.) Osterberg cell

Hotel & Tower300 tsf Chicago Spire 150 2011 (est.) Osterberg cell

SOURCE: STS/AECOM, EMPORIS, CITY OF CHICAGO DEPT. OF BUILDINGS, ENR

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ence you wanted,” Baker recalls.He married shortly afterward. Baker

was set up in 1949 on a blind date onLong Island, where he met his futurewife, Jeanette, a Quaker from Indianapo-lis who was visiting a girlfriend. “She’dhave a Tom Collins with nothing in it,”says Baker. “I’d have my Tom Collinswith something in it.” They dancedtogether, but the two lost contact.

When Baker packed up his car andmoved to Chicago, he looked her up fora Saturday-night date. She insisted on aSunday-afternoon walk. They married in1955, adopted three children, Mark,Lynn and Glenn. For his wife’s milestonebirthdays, Baker writes a poem. He oftenrefers to Jeanette as his “supportive part-ner” and “soul mate.”

Just about everyone in the Baker fam-ily has spent some time dishing the dirt inthe STS soils lab. Mark Baker is STS’schief driller, and Jeanette Baker calls her-self the “Hydrometer Queen” for con-ducting 38 concurrent tests in one day, acompany record that has lasted for years.

Pier PressuresBaker’s first major assignment in deepfoundations was at the Air Force Acade-my in Colorado. He has since worked onother infrastructure, but buildings be-came his speciality. As luck would have it,Baker came to the birthplace of the sky-scraper just in time for Chicago’s firstsupertall building boom. While Bakerlucked out in joining what was then asmall, 15-person consulting firm calledSoil Testing Services Inc., he later left lit-tle to chance in his marathon quest tounderstand the behavior of soils underthe pressure of heavy structures. STSnow employs about 600. PH

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Twenty years ago, deep foundation workwas forever transformed with the ad-vent of the Osterberg Cell. Named after

its inventor, Jorj O. Osterberg, this hydraulical-ly driven bi-directional sacrificial load cell wasthe first practical and economical method tomeasure the full bearing capacity of a shaft.

Comprised of a piston and pressure cham-ber, the O-cell is mounted between two bearingplates and cast into concrete at the bottom of ashaft. It is pressurized internally, creating equalupward and downward loads that can indepen-dently determine side-shear and end-bearingcapacity of bedrock and/or soil. Measurementsare logged and plotted by computer. MultipleO-cells between plates can increase testingcapacity and the O-cell can also be used ondriven piles, auger cast piles and barrettes.

“It was the right test at the right time,” saysJohn R. Roma, vice president of Raito Inc.,Woburn, Mass. “It came out just when greateruse of drilled shafts was pushing unchartedterritory in design values due to larger sizesand depths. The O-cell was the design engi-neer’s dream.”

“Prior to the O-cell, development of designparameters was derived from field and labora-tory tests or small-scale testing, which isn’tconsidered as reliable,” adds Mark X. Haley, sen-ior vice president of Haley & Aldrich, Boston.

Osterberg, former professor emeritus of civ-il engineering at Northwestern University, nowis retired and living in Denver. His doctoral dis-

sertationdiscussed

the use of diaphragmsand an interferometer fortesting of pressure orload. “When you look atconventional load testingand all the problems itpresented in terms ofspace, physical risk,logistics and measurement, there had been aneed for innovation,” says Osterberg. “The firstprototypes had walls that were made withaccordion-type bellows. These were difficult tomake and the theoretical loads were difficult toestimate. After finding reliable seals and theuse of good materials, the cell is now based ona piston within a cylinder.”

John H. Schmertmann, who studied underOsterberg 50 years ago, recalls that Osterberghad been working on the O-cell since 1984 andpatented the idea in 1987. He then startedworking with Charles L. Guild at his firm, Amer-ican Equipment & Fabricating Corp, East Prov-idence, R.I., to further develop the device.

“Jorj was having a hard time getting hisideas accepted by other engineers,” saysSchmertmann. “Then David K. Crapps and Iused the O-cell on a large bridge job nearDaytona, Fla. That was a bit of a breakthrough.It was a large drilled shaft on an important project and the results were relied upon."Osterberg, Guild, Crapps, Schmertmann and J.A. (Jack) Hayes then started Loadtest Inc., in1991 to exclusively market and distribute thecell and provide engineering services. The cellis manufactured by AEF.

Schmertmann notes the cur-rent O-cell test record is 63,000kips in 2005 on a 10-ft diameter,220-ft shaft for the IncheonBridge in South Korea. “Prior tothe O-cell, the maximum load Iever heard of was 9,000 kips,” hesays. “But the O-cell is essential-ly unlimited because it is encap-sulated in concrete. There are nosafety issues.” �

By William J. Angelo

Osterberg Cell Transformed Testing

OSTERBERG

Widespread use of Osterberg cells has helped to reducedesign uncertainty and foundation costs.

As more foundations have arrived inChicago—slurry-drilled caissons, steelpiles, micropiles and auger-cast piles—Baker has helped contractors prove themand push limits. He also pioneered reuseof old caissons, “another area where fewgeotechs tread,” says Robert E. Schock,Case vice president.

Spire is on a global sales “road show”while the foundations, a source of mildcontroversy from neighboring townhomeowners worried about settlement, arenearly complete. The project hasn’t sunkany nearby buildings.

The site’s collection of high-capacityrock caissons, belled piles, slurry wallsand secants are the culmination of oneman’s gradual quest to firm up the scienceof soil. Walton, who climbed a mountainin Vermont with Baker last summer, says,“You can follow the footsteps, but they’remighty big.” Baker thinks more groundwork has yet to be done. But his visioncomes with a warning: “Follow myadvice,” he says, “take small steps.” �

cally, as well. After Hancock, Bakertook careful settlement data and triednew test methods as they arrived. Hepushed the Chicago Building Code’smaximum bearing for rock caissonsfrom 200 tons per sq ft to 230 tsf in2001 at UBS Tower using the Oster-berg load cell (see sidebar, p. 7 andchart, p. 8). Rock changes “all started”at UBS tower, recalls William H.Walton, STS senior principal.

Walton, the official geotech for Spire,also worked on Chicago’s almost-com-pleted Trump International Hotel &Tower and was inclined to push its 270-tsf design to the next level. Baker provid-ed the “muscle” in design meetings, Wal-ton says. Spire’s 34, 10-ft-dia. rockcaissons set a new record, being designedto 300 tsf (ENR 12/10 p. 10).

Last summer,rock under the Spire,founded on 20 coreand 14 supercolumncaissons, was testedto 600 tsf for a safetyfactor of two. Thesite now has an 80-ft-deep cofferdam inthe center. It is thelargest domestic con-tract that KellerGroup, which ownsCase FoundationCo., has ever held.

Chicago foundations in the downtownLoop, where most of the skyscrapers aresited, use two primary systems: Drilled,concrete piers that bear on “hardpan”clay, located about 85 ft to 90 ft below thesurface, and piers that bear on dolomitebedrock, located more than 110 ft belowgrade. Hardpan caissons typically have aflared, “belled” bottom to increase bear-ing capacity, while the rock caissons aresocketed several feet deep into the lime-stone. Before the 1950s, deep founda-tions were dug by hand. Mechanizedcranes, Kelly-bar tools and clamshell dig-gers are now the norm.

Belled caissons were long held to anend-bearing capacity of 12 kips per sq ftuntil Baker drew from a little-known1919 load test, soil mechanics and triaxi-al lab testing at Lake Point Tower in 1963to raise bearings to 30ksf. Since then, Bakerhas used newer, in-situ methods, such asthe “pressuremeter,”a bladder device thatgoes into a boreholeand radially expands todetermine strength.That method has, bitby bit, brought up bellsto 60 ksf, an overallincrease of 400%.

Rock pressureshave risen dramati-RE

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� Slender. Spire’s 21 columns reduce toseven at grade. Each bears on twin piers.Skyline (below) from Spire site.

� Underground. Walton, Baker recommended foundation for Spire and surrounding garage.

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William R. KnockeVirginia Tech UniversityRebuilding bonds for staff and studentsafter mass murder shocked school, nation

Daniel H. NallFlack + KurtzDesigning first underfloor cooling systemin lobby of commercial U.S. high-rise

Cary KopczynskiCary Kopczynski & Co.Pioneering use of high-strength rebar withhigh-strength concrete in tall buildings

Bob NilssonTurner International Counseling military amputees and recruit-ing veterans into construction industry

Jeff DaileyIllinois State Toll Highway AuthorityAggressively building a $5.3-billion, 10-year overhaul that is on time and budget

David J. ShillingfordNational Equipment RegisterCreating database of equipment owner-ship records to impede and prevent theft

Bruce W. WilkinsonMcDermott InternationalLeading his firm from the brink of bank-ruptcy to solvency and more

Catherine StansburyNeill StansburyU.K. Anti-Corruption ForumAttorneys craft graft-fighting machine toraise corruption awareness and reactionamong international construction practi-cioners and provide standards to assessor develop graft-control measures

William A. LichtigMcDonough Holland & Allen PCCreating agreement where owner,designers, contractors share risk, rewards

Jon KhachaturianVersabarDesigning rig to lift topside of oil plat-forms from 400 ft to surface in an hour

Michael MarkusOrange County Water DistrictShepherding innovative dual-purposewater-reuse system to completion

Amy Jo McKeanSouthern Star Central Gas PipelineInstalling system that uses flowing prod-uct to warn of pipeline danger

Peter G. VigueCianbro Corp.Developing modular construction yard toretain skilled workers and create jobs

Soo-Hong KimAMEC KoreaChampioning international project man-agement to build Incheon bridge

C.C. MyersC.C. Myers Inc. Working fast to repair critical transportation links in California

José AbreuMiami International AirportStepping in to reform the troubled $1-bil-lion South Terminal expansion program

Mike AllegraUtah Transit AuthorityDriving Utah’s burgeoning transitconstruction program

Mike BuddPermastellisa Central-SouthCold-bending glass units to make a NewYork City building an icon

Ed ClaytonSouthern Co.Collaborating with owners and contrac-tors to project regional labor demands

Drew A. GangnesMagnusson Klemencic AssociatesProving that green roofs can reducestormwater runoff and treatment demand

William J. Gilbane Jr.Gilbane Building Co.Creating quality-driven systems to exceed customer expectations

Tim HorstBecon Construction Co.Leading one of the largest worker recruit-ment and training programs.

Ron JohnsonSkidmore, Owings & Merrill LLPPrescribing five-story A-frames to carrytower without reinforcing foundations

AWARD OF EXCELLENCEAWARD OF EXCELLENCE

25NewsmakersTheTop

For the 43rd time, ENR recognizes achievement inconstruction with the acknowledgement of our 24Newsmakers of 2007 and the selection of geotechni-cal engineer Clyde N. Baker Jr., as the Award of Excel-lence Winner. ENR and the construction industrycongratulate all of these achievers.

Posted from Engineering News-Record, March 17, 2008, copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. with all rights reserved. This reprint implies no endorsement, either tacit or expressed, of any company, product, service or investment opportunity.

#1-23791924 Managed by The YGS Group, 717.399.1900. For more information visit www.theYGSgroup.com/reprints.

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It’s

Editorials

It’s a dark, dirty world below the surface of the soil, but geotechnical engineers live there everyday, taking responsibility for below-ground infrastructure and keeping heavy structures fromsinking into the earth. It’s a high-pressure job that will only become more important as the

People Who Work Underground Deserve

Deeper Support

world’s building stock ages, structures gettaller and heavier and the global populationbecomes more crowded.

Almost all construction starts in the soil.Ironically, underground work was one of thelast civil-engineering fields to evolve from anart into a mechanistic science. Engineersused to rely on anecdotal experience, anti-quated theories and intuition to found struc-tures. Many mistakes were made.

Karl Terzaghi, the father of soil mechan-ics, observed that foundations are “a neces-sary evil” because buildings are rarely sitedon an outcropping of sound rock. Founda-tions have long been treated like stepchil-dren, Terzaghi wrote in 1951, “and theiracts of revenge for the lack of attentioncan be very embarrassing.”

Not much has changed except thatthe engineering of natural geology hasbecome far more of a science than an art.This year’s Award of Excellence winnerhas, through a series of small steps, takenimpressive leaps in bringing deep founda-tion engineering out of the fog. He hasgradually pushed for more efficient foun-dations, test procedures and quality con-trols (see p. 2). He also stands out as aconstruction industry leader because,above all else, Clyde N. Baker Jr. is anatural collaborator.

As engineers continue to workbelow grade, the geotechnical field isdigging into a new era with deeperproblems to solve. Construction is mov-

ing faster, designs are calling for taller, heav-ier structures, and cities are packing in morepeople. How they build down will be just asimportant as how they build up.

Existing buildings and public works areaging, so another critical role of the geotech-nical engineer is cataloguing infrastructurehidden below the surface and making sure itis maintained as well as the structures thatpeople can see. Earthwork remains underap-preciated. Yet as underground engineeringgrows more complex, more down-to-earthcollaborators like Baker will be needed. �

Hidden. Concrete cores in the “humid room” at STS/AECOM

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