Newsletter Volume 10, Issue 4 December 2025
Young Members
Updates Since Being Awarded the Early Career Engineer Award by the IPA in July 2024
Updates Since Being Awarded the Early Career Engineer Award by the IPA in July 2024
Benjamin Buensuceso III
Managing Director, BRB Solutions, Inc.
Managing Director, BRB Solutions, Inc.
In the one year since I was awarded the Early Career Engineer Award, I have remained active in both research and my practice as a deep foundation tester. I continue to refine my research on capacity predictions for precast jack piles installed in the Philippines. I proposed new lower-bound capacity prediction formulas best suited to the data, in particular for low-sleender piles (L/D < 10). This topic was part of my graduate thesis for my MS in Civil Engineering – Geotechnical Engineering program at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
I presented my research on this at the 10th Asian Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference (AYGEC) in Jakarta, Indonesia, held from November 11 to 13, 2024. I also presented this research at the 2nd National Conference 2024 of the Philippine Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (PSSMGE) in December 2024 at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
To validate these capacity predictions, I tested my alternative lower-bound predictions on a new set of data compiled from a different project site and area in the Philippines, though using relatively similar pile jacking equipment. I co-wrote a short paper with my colleague at BRB Solutions Inc., Engr. Charles Kevin Taran, on this case study for the 2025 Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) Midyear Conference held in Iloilo, Philippines, from June 25 to 27, 2025.
In March of 2025, I also attained the highest possible score of “Expert” in the Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA) and Pile Dynamics, Inc. (PDI) “Dynamic Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test”, a test designed to measure the knowledge and ability in high-strain dynamic testing. I am only one of eleven people outside North America to have achieved this ranking.
I’m currently conducting additional research on jacked and driven pile behavior and exploring the introduction of novel pile testing techniques into the Philippine piling industry with my firm, BRB Solutions Inc.
I presented my research on this at the 10th Asian Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference (AYGEC) in Jakarta, Indonesia, held from November 11 to 13, 2024. I also presented this research at the 2nd National Conference 2024 of the Philippine Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (PSSMGE) in December 2024 at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
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| Photo 1 At the AYGEC (left is the author) | Fig.1 The presentation material at the AYGEC |
To validate these capacity predictions, I tested my alternative lower-bound predictions on a new set of data compiled from a different project site and area in the Philippines, though using relatively similar pile jacking equipment. I co-wrote a short paper with my colleague at BRB Solutions Inc., Engr. Charles Kevin Taran, on this case study for the 2025 Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) Midyear Conference held in Iloilo, Philippines, from June 25 to 27, 2025.
Fig. 2 Paper for 2025 Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) Midyear Conference
In March of 2025, I also attained the highest possible score of “Expert” in the Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA) and Pile Dynamics, Inc. (PDI) “Dynamic Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test”, a test designed to measure the knowledge and ability in high-strain dynamic testing. I am only one of eleven people outside North America to have achieved this ranking.
I’m currently conducting additional research on jacked and driven pile behavior and exploring the introduction of novel pile testing techniques into the Philippine piling industry with my firm, BRB Solutions Inc.
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