Volume 5, Issue 1 March 2020

Reports

From IPA’s US Regional Office
Tsunenobu Nozaki
General ManagerGiken America Corporation

The IPA’s regional offices were established in Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore and here in the USA in March 2019 inline with the worldwide expansion of IPA activities. The US office was established within the New York office of Giken
America Corporation. The New York office is the 2nd regional office of Giken America Corporation in the USA, which wasalso established in March 2019. The activities of the IPA in the USA are being carried out by our senior advisor Mr Takefumi
Takuma and myself. We are backed by one of the IPA directors, Mr Kenichi Soga who is Chancellor's Professor at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. The IPA regional office covers the North and South America markets, although we are
currently focusing on the US market. Our activities are mostly participating in seminars/conferences, submitting technicalpapers and introducing the global trend of the Press-in Method to people in the construction industry. In the USA, there
are a number of construction seminars, conferences and exhibitions held throughout the country all year round bynumerous organizers. Some of the organizations are leading figures in the US construction industry and even have aninfluence globally. Some of the major organizations are DFI (Deep Foundations Institute), ASCE (American Society of CivilEngineers) and PDCA (Pile Driving Contractors Association). We at IPA are also committee members of these organizationsand often disseminate the Press-in Method information via their events.
The US geo-structural industry is quite different from that in Japan and also quite unique. There are various kinds of geostructural design standards in the industries published by the federal government. As well, there are many other designstandards published by states and private organizations, which complement the federal standards. Therefore, it is very
important for the IPA, in this country, to publish more comprehensive and robust technical practices and information sothat they can be correlated and infused with these local design standards. Also, I feel that there is a lot of room to improve
technical specifications of the Press-in Method. As well as the design standards, there are various technical specifications
available in this country. However, none of these specifications cover specific technical aspects of the Press-in Method.
Therefore, it is often a source of concern for engineers how to specify the Press-in Method on their projects. In order toovercome this concern, we are trying to provide comprehensive specifications of the Press-in Method.
In the USA, as well as in other countries, steel sheet piles are commonly used in construction foundations. Compared toJapan, the US market volume is approximately half, in terms of annual sheet pile consumption. Also, surprisingly in theUSA, almost 100% of steel sheet piles are Z sheet piles which are installed in pairs. The reason is that steel sheet piles arenormally left in place, even if they are used as a temporary structure. As for steel pipe piles, they are seldomly used asretaining walls. The general consensus is that steel pipe pile installation is associated with unbearable noise and vibration,
therefore, cast in-situ concrete retaining walls are conventionally utilized. I see a huge potential here for the Press-inMethod, utilizing steel pipe piles, to be used as a practical alternative to the range of heavy retaining walls.
In comparison to the Japanese market, the Press-in Method is still new in some areas of the USA. In order to disseminate
Press-in Method information more effectively, we will be participating in more events in the future as well as providing
information through our newsletters more often.
Below shows a typical presentation and technical document in the USA.

Fig. 1. Presentation in GeoCongress Seminar

Fig. 2. Technical Report17