BCD Expands Gulf Coast Operations

rahlrich@bcdgeo.com                                         

Randolph (Randy) C. Ahlrich, Ph.D., P.E.

EDUCATION

Auburn University, Ph.D., 1995 - Civil Engineering
Mississippi State University, M.S., 1990 - Civil Engineering
Mississippi State University, B.S., 1983 - Civil Engineering 

REGISTRATIONS

Professional Engineer:  Mississippi

AFFILIATIONS, HONORS AND AWARDS

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
Mississippi Engineering Society (MES)
American Concrete Institute (ACI)
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (AAPT)
Chi Epsilon
Phi Kappa Phi
Young Engineer of the Year, MES, 1992
K. B. Woods Award, Transportation Research Record, 1996

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

Burns Cooley Dennis, Inc., Senior Geotechnical/Pavement Engineer, 1996 -Present
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1983-1996

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Background.  Dr. Ahlrich has over 20 years experience in the civil engineering profession.  He has worked on a variety of projects that include unsurfaced roads, streets, highways, airfields and commercial and industrial facilities.  Dr. Ahlrich has provided technical assistance to the Army, Air Force, Navy, U.S. Forest Service, Federal Highway Administration, Mississippi Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration on numerous military, state and federal pavement systems.  These projects varied from grass airstrips, graveled surfaced tank trails and range roads, parking lots, highways, concrete aprons, and asphalt paved airfields.  He has been responsible for planning, developing and coordinating all phases of pavement investigations, inspections, evaluations and designs.

Dr. Ahlrich has experience as a consultant and research engineer in materials testing, asphalt and concrete mix designs, pavement structural design, construction and evaluation.  As a consultant, he has been responsible for conducting subsurface investigations, forensic pavement and materials investigations, SUPERPAVE asphalt mix designs, concrete mix designs, pavement inspections and evaluations, structural pavement designs, and trouble-shooting construction and material problems.

Dr. Ahlrich served for 13 years as senior pavements engineer in the Airfield and Pavement Division, USAE Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Major duties included planning and execution of research projects for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Forest Service, preparation of proposals and technical reports, coordination and management of a materials laboratory, and field consulting.  He has vast experience in all aspects of pavement engineering involving pavement design, construction, evaluation, inspection, materials testing, quality control and assurance, and forensic analysis, with construction experience in over 30 states and locations around the world including Germany, Greenland, Egypt, Portugal, the Marshall Islands and Korea.

Dr. Ahlrich has worked on numerous road and airfield pavement construction projects involving hot mix asphalt, Portland cement concrete, chemical stabilization, base course placement and subgrade preparation where he served as project engineer and the representative responsible for quality control.  He served as the Corps/DOD expert for pavement construction and materials testing and was recognized as a DOD expert witness for pavement litigation.

Pavement Geotechnical Investigations.  Dr. Ahlrich has coordinated the investigation for and developed subgrade profiles for several highway, state roads, streets and airport projects.  These projects have included State Route 611 in Jackson County, Mississippi, the Metro Parkway in Jackson, Mississippi, Monterey Road extension in Rankin County and several urban and residential developments in the State of Mississippi.  The results of the subgrade profiles have been used to estimate CBR values that have been utilized to conduct structural pavement designs.  Dr. Ahlrich has also been responsible for evaluating potential borrow sources for a variety of projects for new roadway embankments and airport pavements.  Borrow investigations involve selection of boring locations and laboratory testing that includes Atterberg limits, sieve analyses, compaction tests, and soil classifications.  Typical projects have included new Tunica County Airport facility, expansion of Philadelphia and Olive Branch Airports, apron and taxiway expansion at University-Oxford Airport and Air Cargo and GA Fuel Aprons at Thompson Field, Jackson International Airport.

Laboratory Testing.  Dr. Ahlrich serves as Construction Materials Department manager at Burns Cooley Dennis and served as laboratory manager of the Materials Research Center as WES which was responsible for materials testing and pavement research. Burns Cooley Dennis maintains a well-equipped and technically advanced soils, earthwork, concrete and asphalt laboratories. BCD laboratory facilities have been certified by the Corps of Engineers (COE), American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO),  Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT),  and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ).  BCD also participates in AMRL’s and CCRL’s soils, aggregates, asphalt and concrete proficiency programs.

Research.  Dr. Ahlrich served as senior engineer for research studies focused on materials characterization and prediction of permanent deformation of heavy duty asphalt pavements.  Laboratory investigations involved development and evaluation of aggregate particle shape and texture tests, and evaluation of rutting potential of hot mix asphalt mixtures using the confined dynamic creep test and wheel tracking device.  Guidance and limiting criteria were developed to insure high quality rut resistant hot mix asphalt pavements.  Dr. Ahlrich was recognized by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) for his outstanding research accomplishments in the field of pavement materials testing and evaluation.  He received the 1997 K.B. Woods Award in recognition of his paper entitled, "Influence of Aggregate Properties on Performance of Heavy Duty HMA Pavements."

Dr. Ahlrich has provided technical assistance to the Army, Air Force, Navy, U.S. Forest Service, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, industry organizations, and A-E firms.  This support involved conducting laboratory and field research on various pavement materials and construction techniques.  These projects included implementation of new innovative materials such as stone mastic asphalt (SMA), resin modified pavement (RMP), and concrete paving blocks.  Dr. Ahlrich has also provided technical assistance for several pavement rehabilitation techniques, including hot and cold mix recycling, cracking and seating PCC pavements prior to AC overlay, installation of geotextile and SAMI interlayers to prevent reflective cracking and microsurfacing.

Technology Transfer.  Dr. Ahlrich has also been active in technology transfer.  He has served as an instructor and speaker on numerous seminars and workshops on pavement design, construction, rehabilitation, maintenance and repair.  Dr. Ahlrich has developed technical guidance and guide specifications for several pavement applications including surface treatments, cold mix recycling, geotextile interlayers, and asphalt mix designs.  Dr. Ahlrich is currently the instructor for the MDOT asphalt technician certification program.

Dr. Ahlrich has published over fifty (50) technical reports, papers and articles on various subjects relating to pavement materials, design, construction, evaluation, inspection, rehabilitation, and performance.  These publications include professional papers in proceedings and journals for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), 8th International Conference on Asphalt Pavements, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Defense (DOD), and a variety of national technical conferences.  Paper topics have included forensic investigations, evaluations of AC and PCC rehabilitation techniques, implementation of new innovative materials and construction procedures, material and mixture characterization techniques, and influence of aggregates and mixture properties on pavement performance.