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Articles
April Technical Speaker 2
Design of Foundations for Dynamic Loads

This presentation aims to cover basics and principles of the dynamic response of foundations subjected to machine-type loading. Although the design methodology for foundations supporting vibrating machines has evolved to account for the key of the dynamic nature of soils, many practical engineers are less familiar with the concepts and basics of soil dynamics and how to approach related issues in a view of soils.
This presentation covers basic definitions and concepts needed to understand soil dynamics. Also, the methods of soil dynamic approach such as lumped mass model (e.g., L-pile), rigid body model (e.g., Dyna), and FEM and those applications are briefly discussed. One case study will be presented to show how the geotechnical engineers provide our recommendations for the design of foundations under dynamic loads.
It is assumed that the participants are engineers who want to listen to fundamentals of the soil dynamics rather than details of design procedure of foundations under dynamic loads. This presentation will provide the opportunity to review basic fundamentals of soil dynamics.
Hobi Kim is a project manager for Fugro Consultants, Inc., Houston, Texas, where he works on projects nationwide, mainly oil and gas industry sector.
He holds a Ph.D. degree from Purdue University and an M.E & B.E from Kyung Hee University, Korea.
Hobi is a registered professional engineer in Texas and Alberta in Canada and has more than 10 years of experience in geotechnical engineering, from research to practice of design and construction.
His career initially focused on transportation projects including airports, bridges, and highways. Later, his Ph.D. study “Dynamic analysis of dynamic cone penetration tests for soil compaction quality assessment” led Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) amend the specification for subgrade compaction QA/QC. Nowadays, he carries out several projects involving foundation recommendations and stability & compatibility of earth structures. For research, he is particularly interested in soil-structure interaction and Geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring.
He is the author of about 30 technical papers and the inventor of six patents. He is also the recipient of several awards including the 2010 Practical Paper Award by ASTM and Nellie Munson Teaching Assistant Award by Purdue University.
He is a member of the ASCE and Geo-Institute.