Dr. Daryl Armentrout, PhD, P.E. receives the Daniel B. Barge, Jr. Award for Distinguished Service. 

 

Dr. Armentrout has forty five years of experience in engineering and management at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and two years of experience in deep well drilling and oil and gas recovery with Humble Oil and Refining Company (now named ExxonMobil).  Dr. Armentrout is involved in many different engineering organizations, and has made significant contributions to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and other engineering organizations throughout his career.  Specific memberships and accomplishments include:

 

• Fellow and Life Member of ASCE

• Past-President, Tennessee Valley Section, ASCE, 1979

• Past-President, Knoxville Branch, ASCE 1973

• Life Member, National Society of Professional Engineers

• Past-President, Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, 1985-1986

• Member of the United States Society on Dams

• ASCE appointed Senior Program Evaluator for ABET, Inc.

• Mentor for ABET Program Evaluators Candidates.

• Member of ASCE Committee on Accreditation Operations

• Member of the Board of Advisors for the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee

• Past-Chairman, Local Federal Coordination Committee, Greater Chattanooga Area Combined Federal Campaign, raising over $1 million annually

• Past-President and current Advisor, Great Smoky Mountains Alumnus Chapter, Tau Beta Pi

• Corresponding Member of ASCE Technical Committee on Practices to Reduce Failures and ASCE Committee on Accreditation Operations;

• Member of the Technical Society of Knoxville and the Chattanooga Engineers Club

• Author of several publications in professional and engineering journals.

• Currently serves as an elder at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville and teaches small group Bible studies.

 

Dr. Armentrout’s career with TVA spanned 45 years, and encompassed many different projects as both a structural engineer and a manager.  A summary of his work experience is attached. One of Dr. Armentrout’s most important accomplishments was developing a new design approach to the nuclear reactor containment building. This new design approach included use of a post-tension concrete structure and a steel liner anchored to the concrete inside.  He worked in conjunction with other engineers and Dr. Edwin Burdette of the University of Tennessee to complete an extensive testing program.  Dr. Armentrout eventually took that research and developed a finite element model which he used to complete his doctorate program in civil engineering at the University of Tennessee.   This design was implemented at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama.  In contrast, the Sequoyah and Watts Bar Nuclear plants in Tennessee have a reinforced concrete containment building with a self-supporting steel liner inside.

Dr. Armentrout’s contributions to ASCE have included serving at the Branch and Section levels.  He has served in officer positions, achieving the office of President of both the Knoxville Branch and the Tennessee Valley Section.  He has continued to teach classes in engineering licensure and ethics in the University of Tennessee.  The Work experience attachment also summarizes the awards Dr. Armentrout has won.  A summary of over 18 publications Dr. Armentrout has written, and presentations that he has made is not included in order to be brief.   

Dr. Armentrout is truly a worthy candidate for the 2015 Daniel B. Barge, Jr. Award for Distinguished Service.  In fact, Dr. Armentrout was a friend and colleague of Daniel B. Barge Jr., and exhibits the same level of service and dedication.  When in Nashville, he would regularly visit with Mr. Barge.  It was largely through Mr. Barge’s efforts that the Tennessee Section of ASCE was formed from the three sections that formerly comprised Tennessee ASCE members. Dr. Armentrout has also served ASCE and the profession of engineering in a remarkable and award-worthy way.