Electric Power Systems Foundations
Identifying common goals, guidelines and aligning standards of practice for transmission structure foundations to improve their overall design and construction in North America. The committee provides an industry-wide forum to address issues related to deep foundation design, construction, economy, risk, safety, and quality in the electric power industry. This collaboration connects electric power industry professionals with contractors, consultants, researchers/academics, and manufacturers/suppliers.
Committee Co-chair
Peter Kandaris, P.E.
DiGioia Gray
pkandaris@digioiagray.com
Peter is Senior Consultant at DiGioia Gray. He has managed and led geotechnical engineering investigation and foundation design efforts for 38 years for major electric system projects from California to Florida. His work includes the design of thousands of drilled shaft foundations for hundreds of miles of electric transmission lines incorporating state of the practice reliability-based investigation and foundation design methods. He is an active member of ASCE Geo‐Institute, ASCE Design of Overhead Line and Substation Foundations Subcommittee of ETS, and Geo‐Institute’s Deep Foundations Committee. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from Arizona State University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in five states.
Committee Co-chair
Steve Davidow, P.E., S.E., P.Eng.
Quanta Subsurface
sdavidow@quantasubsurface.com
Steve serves as Senior Vice President of Engineering for Quanta Subsurface, a fully integrated engineering and construction firm. With over 19 years’ experience managing large scale infrastructure and commercial building projects, he has earned a reputation for providing innovative and cost-efficient project solutions. He is a licensed Structural Engineer in the United States and Canada, with international experience extending to South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Australia.
Initiatives
Suggested Best Practices for Deep Foundation used to Support Electric System Transmission Lines – White Paper
A ten-chapter white paper in the final draft stage that gives a comprehensive summary of the types of foundations used in the electric power industry, their design methods, best practice investigation and construction approaches, and a summary of industry shortcomings to aid in outlining future research needs.
In Situ Long-Term Foundation Testing
A new committee initiative to establish load and performance monitoring in working transmission line structure foundations. The goal is to perform long-term monitoring of loads and reactions within foundations too large to test by expensive full-scale methods.
ASCE Manual of Practice for the Design of Overhead Line and Substation Foundations
ASCE, under SEI’s Electrical Transmission and Substation Structures Committee, formed a new subcommittee in December 2019 to address issues similar to the DFI white paper and develop a manual of practice. Five members from the DFI Electric Power System Foundations Committee are on this ASCE subcommittee, helping to guide this important industry document.
Committee Technical Papers and Publications
- Study of Electric Transmission Line Deep Foundation Design, industry survey paper presented at the 2015 Electrical Transmission and Substation Structures conference
- Framework for Risk-Based Electric System Deep Foundation Design, DFI Annual Conference, 2017
- Standardizing Foundation Design for Electric Transmission Structures, Deep Foundations, July/August 2018
Fundamentals
IEEE Standard 691-2000, IEEE Guide for Transmission Structure Foundation Design and Testing
ASCE Substation Structure Design Guide, 2008
EPRI: Reliability-Based Design of Foundations for Transmission Line Structures, 1995
EPRI: Transmission Structure Foundation Design Guide, 2012 (available to EPRI members)
CEATI: Guide for Transmission Line Foundations with Least Impact to the Environment