Presentation - INFORMATION

ISM is a consortium of international representatives involved in the research and development, design, and construction of micropiles.

Mission

ISM aims to be respected internationally as the preeminent center of knowledge for the development, advancement and promotion of micropile technology. 

Description

The International Society for Micropiles (ISM) is a consortium of international representatives involved in the design, construction, research/development and instruction/promotion of micropile technology. ISM seeks to provide an international forum for debate, advice, problem-solving and support to micropile specialists and non-specialists throughout the world. Delegates of the Society can actively seek advice and experience from other delegates within this international group. In between formal society workshops, ISM delegates (and non-delegates) correspond on an ad-hoc basis, either one-to-one, or through the auspices of the ISM, to share problems, provide advice, discuss matters at issue, and generally provide a forum of all things micropile.

General Information

In 1994, U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) initiated a state of practice review into the use of small diameter drilled micropiles. At that time the use of such structural elements was regarded as innovative and, perhaps, “unproven” in many sections of the U.S. engineering community. The emphasis of this review was targeted upon drilled micropiles, i.e., those micropiles that were installed using geotechnical drilling techniques and rigs similar to those used for ground anchoring, soil nailing, grouting and similar processes. The study was conducted by Principal Investigators Dr. Donald Bruce of Nicholson Construction Company (at that time) and Prof. Ilan Juran of the Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York.
As part of this research program, the investigators commissioned an international peer review group to advise the state of practice research team. This peer review group consisted of Dr. Fernando Lizzi (Italy); Dr. Thomas Herbst (Germany); Drs. Francois Schlosser and Roger Frank (France), who at that time were engaged on the “Clouterre” and “FOREVER” research projects into the behavior and design of soil nails and micropiles, respectively; Mike Turner (UK); and Drs. Fred Kulhawy and James Mason (US).
The 4-volume FHWA State of Practice document (FHWA Publication Nos. FHWA-RD-96-016 to FHWA-RD-96-019 “Drilled and Grouted Micropiles: States of Practice Review”) was published in 1997, and is perceived to have had a major influence upon the development and growth of micropiling in the U.S. and Canada. The micropiling market was recorded as doubling in size in the 5 years after the publication of the report. Many elements of the FHWA State of Practice have also found their way into the BSEN14199 micropiling standard.