David Derks Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Provide design, rehabilitation, inspection, and/or load ratings for Class I, short line, Amtrak, and transit railways, and DOT's in the Midwest and East Coast for fixed and movable structures.

West Lafayette, Indiana, United States

Co-student lead on a research team experimentally investigating internal and external tendons in post-tensioned concrete bridge girders subjected to various loading patterns. Different mechanical variables, congruent with the project overview (NCHRP 12-118), were the analytical focus. The objective of the project was to propose revisions to (1) the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Spec. procedures for post-tensioned concrete bridge elements with unbonded tendons or a combination of bonded (pretensioned or post-tensioned) and unbonded tendons, and (2) the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Construction Spec. as needed.Developed and successfully implemented the construction means and methods for the experimental research at the height of the construction industry's supply chain disruption of 2020 and 2021. Responsibilities as construction lead/foreman included: scheduling and estimating, procurement of all equipment and material, developing relations with industry suppliers, manufacturers, and designers (domestic and international) for material design and supply shipments, in-depth material testing of high strength concrete and mild and prestress steel, development of versatile test setups capable of testing all mechanical variations in the girder schedule, successful design of safe Pre-T, PT, and detensioning methods under unique lab conditions, lab-certified machinist and 60-ton overhead crane remote operator, and project coordinator within facility. Also recruited, trained, and managed a team of undergraduate assistants.Other responsibilities included: co-writer of preliminary literature review and routine project status reports to owner, structural designs to support means and methods, and provided constructability and design input to facilitate revisions to girder designs and adapt to owner-requested modifications.For more info, see: "The Design, Construction, and Testing of Scaled Post-Tensioned Concrete Bridge Girders with Bonded and Unbonded Tendons." A Purdue thesis.

West Lafayette, In

Assisted on an experimental research project focused on in-service bridge beam rehabilitation. The objective was to analyze the proposed repair process and resulting strength enhancement of degredated end sections. Repair methods consisted of cold-joint application of mortar and/or self-consolidating concrete (SCC), and then constraining the region with adhered fiber reinforced polymers (FRP). Material testing included SCC cylinders, mortar cubes, and steel tensile testing.

Kansas City, Kansas

Developed a standardized Culvert Guideline for the structures division, reviewed in-house bridge designs for the southwest rail region, gained a hands-on understanding for AREMA, FRA, and BNSF EI regulations and guidelines, traced rail inventory, and checked bridge curve designs.Gained a confident understanding of the intricacies of management operations in the structures, signal and track departments, observed the importance of effective communication between departments, contractors and government agencies, and how to build mutually-beneficial, professional connections.

West Lafayette, In

Continued work on the experimental prestress box girder research project. Responsibilities expanded to include assisting in test setup (load frame, strain gauging, displacement transducer), crack mapping and load-to-failure testing, and the extraction of strand from broken girders for material testing in an industrial automatic tensile testing machine.

West Lafayette, Indiana

I assisted on an experimental RC research project focused on reinforcement variations in splice regions. The objective was to force inelastic rupture of the beams in order to quantitatively support the analytical benefits of high-grade steel within the splice region of beams as an effective and applicable means to strengthening a reinforced concrete beam in regards to industry design standards. Additionally assisted on a experimental research project focused on analyzing the corrosive decay of prestress strands in retired precast, bridge box girders that had reached their expected design life. The objective was to determine the proficiency of proposed NDT methods as means for determining the in-service performance and holding stresses of prestress steel in bridge girders. Performed half-cell electromagnetic testing, as well as rebound hammer testing, to determine the corrosive resistance of pretensioned strands in an array of box girders. Conducted rebound hammer testing to determine a reliable strength of critical concrete sections and identify locations of internal delaminations. Assisted in proceeding load-to-failure experimental testing of the prestress girders to determine there ultimate capacity as means to accurately correlating the half-cell NDT results for industry application.Lab side-project: Assisted in developing and implementing a gravity-based tank filtration system for purifying the water runoff from the lab's automatic concrete cylinder end grinding machine for safe drainage.

West Lafayette, Indiana

Gained invaluable knowledge and experience of structural concrete by observing, listening, and asking questions while assisting in the hands-on construction of three experimental research projects. These projects focused on the splice regions of reinforced concrete beams, effects of different bend radii of longitudinal steel in reinforced concrete frame corners, and high-strength grade steel at cold-joint, shear connections in reinforced concrete. All three projects sought to improve industry standards.

West Lafayette, Indiana

Kansas City, Missouri Area

Developed a 4th order polynomial program for a new model PEAK OEM airflow controller for air-control dampers. The device required a block coding program (CCT) applicable to Johnson Controls controller designs in order to operate. Project manager of a decorative aluminum louver project based out of the Miami-Dade area, responsible for overseeing the scheduling of the project, as well as helping to coordinate between the drafters, technicians, production plant representatives, and the company spokesperson involved. Assisted engineers and drafters perform various calculations on product designs and edit corresponding analytical reports.

Grandview, Mo

Assisted lab technicians in performing root cause analysis and research development of company products to meet industry and safety standards (AMCA and OSHA).

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Civil Engineering

Activities and Societies: ASCE Student Member (2015 - 2019) ASCE Concrete Canoe Team (2018-2019) Adopt-A-State Ambassador (2018) Habitat.

Master'S Of Civil Engineering, Civil Engineering

Activities and Societies: Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) | Masters Research Thesis Undergraduate Research Student Mentor.