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Geotechnical News •September 2015
THE GROUT LINE
Paolo Gazzarrini
Overture
40th episode of the Grout Line and
10th anniversary! So? HAPPY B-DAY
Grout Line!
And what is the best way to celebrate
if not with a dedicated article and a
piece of creative writing? The for-
mer, is an article from Jim Warner,
Grouting Consultant, Mariposa (CA)
(
), and the latter, a
poem, written by Michael J. Byle,
D.GE, F. ASCE, National Discipline
Lead, Civil/Geotechnical Engineering
- Tetra
Tech, Inc, Langhorne, PA- USA. Not
only an Engineer, but also a poet. Con-
gratulations Mike and thanks! Along
with Jim, the original instigator of the
Grout Line as you can read below,
Mike is a frequent contributor to this
department.
In addition to these two contribu-
tions, last but not least, this edition
concludes with a review of the annual
“Grouting Fundamentals & Current
Practice” short course by Scott Kief-
fer, Head of Institute & Professor of
Engineering Geology- Graz University
of Technology- Austria (kieffer@
tugraz.at), course director.
40th Episode
Jim Warner
It all started in January 2005, at the
ASCE Geo-Frontiers Conference in
Austin, Texas. The benefits of grouters
from different backgrounds sharing
experiences, was the subject of lively
discussion in the exhibit booth of
Bi-Tec Publishers. The International
Conference on Grouting occurred
only once, every 10 years; so how
could grouting industry participants
from around the world share their
experiences in a more timely manner?
Perhaps, an informal section in an
industry publication? The idea of The
Grout Line was kicked around, but…..
more importantly, Paolo Gazzarrini
agreed to head the effort, with Lynn
Pugh of BiTech, agreeing to publish it.
Ten years, and forty episodes later,
what has happened since it began?
The many facets of pressure grouting
have continued to develop, and be
better understood, not only by those
of us in the industry, but even more
importantly, by engineers and others
who can benefit by our offerings. We
have all become a little smarter!
Significant improvements in avail-
able materials and admixtures have
occurred, and the resulting benefits
for mix design, discussed. The article
“How Many Components in a Grout
Mix” by Marcelo Chaqui, in the
March, 2006 Grout Line provided
much to discuss, in this regard.
The enormous advances and improve-
ments in instrumentation technology
have benefitted us greatly. With help
of the frequent discussions in The
Grout Line, we can now safely per-
form work in formations, and around
structures, that was not conceivable,
even a short ten years ago.
Real time computer monitoring,
which at the time was in its infancy,
has become routine on all important
projects, and many smaller ones, as
well. The subject has been thoroughly
discussed and debated in The Grout
Line, with an especially comprehen-
sive article by 33 different authors,
“AMonitoring Ruckus”, appearing in
the June 2012 issue. Included was the
current state of practice, as well as the
