Difficult-Access Rockfall Mitigation: Design and Construction Way Up High!
Rockfall mitigation projects frequently require work at elevated positions. This is not something that comes naturally for many engineers and geologists. Palms sweat, knees knock, and voices may start...
Remote Mapping in Alaska's Wilderness: Accessing Resources in the Last Frontier
The rich, natural resources of Alaska have long been the focus of many pioneers seeking fortune in the Last Frontier. As captured in historical images of dedicated Klondike Gold Rush miners seeking their...
What's New in Geo? The Future of Numerical Geo-Modeling: Is 3D Here to Stay?!
Application of soil mechanics in engineering practice has undergone remarkable changes over the past 50 years as a result of developments in computer technology. Each improvement in computing capability,...
Railroad Tunnel Clearance Improvement and Linear Replacement: What Happens with Unexpected Ground Conditions during Tunnel Construction?
To increase the capacity and efficiency of transporting waste by rail to an existing landfill, Enviro Solutions Inc., the landfill owner, and CSX Transportation (CSXT), the rail line owner, sought the...
What Does the Crystal Ball Say? Energy and Water Issues Are Too Great to Ignore!
Over the past 15 years, the Geoprofessional Business Association's (GBA) Emerging Issues and Trends Committee has held a series of Crystal Ball Workshops (Workshops) to identify long-term emerging issues...
The Wait Is Over…DIGGS Is Here!
The roll-out of Data Interchange for Geotechnical and GeoEnvironmental Specialists (DIGGS) has started, and the Ohio DOT (ODOT) has already announced that it will be required beginning January 2018. This...
Restoring Steinbeck's Carmel River: The Removal of San Clemente Dam
If you've read John Steinbeck's 1945 classic "Cannery Row," then you're already familiar with the Carmel River, which he described as "…a lovely little river. It isn't very long, but in its course it has...
Whose "Fault" Is This? Overcoming Faulting and Ancient Landslides in a Dam Abutment
The Calaveras Dam Replacement Project (CDRP) is the largest project in the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) $4.8 billion, multi-year Water System Improvement Program (WSIP). The program...
The Case for Tolerable Risk Guidelines to Manage Flood Risk: Nature Bats Last
Since ancient times, people have used levees to reduce flood risk. We have built over 30,000 miles of levees in the U.S., largely on the belief that levies will unconditionally protect people who live...
NSF Workshop on Geotechnical Fundamentals: How Researchers Can Contribute to Today's Real-World Challenges
A 2 ½ day National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored Workshop (Award No. CMMI-1248053) was held in July 2016 at the NSF headquarters in Arlington, VA. The Workshop focused on fundamental principles that...
Tailings Dam Engineer of Record (EoR): There's Nothing Conventional About It
Engineer of Record (EoR) is a simple and resolute concept that's applied throughout the western world for civil works construction. It's a term that fits in a nice neat box; it represents a single person...
Guidelines for Construction Vibrations: How Much Rattle is Too Much?
The study of construction/blast-related ground vibrations on structures, people, and objects is a surprisingly diverse field. Vibration sources vary from blasting, all types of construction equipment,...
Automated Vibration Monitoring for Construction Applications: A Retrospective and Current Practice or… Everything Is so Much Easier Now!
My career in vibration monitoring (VM) began in the late 1980s. At that time, the state of the practice was primarily focused on blasting operations, which was driven by a boom in highway construction...
Claims against Geotechnical Engineers: Getting it Right in the Midst of Uncertainty
Geotechnical engineering is one of engineering's riskiest professions, prone to litigation due to the inherent uncertainty associated with characterizing the subsurface. Site investigations rarely provide...
The Uselessness of Elephants in Compacting Fill
This article is based on an article that was originally published in the August 1967 Canadian Geotechnical Journal (Vol. IV, Number 3)....
Connecting Faculty in Geotechnical Engineering: Thriving in a Networked World
A robust social network, defined as a group of individuals and organizations with career-related and/or personal relationships with one another, is essential for operating successfully in today's business...
Railway Geotechnical Asset Management in Great Britain: How Modern-Day Techniques Help Monitor Railway Infrastructure Dating to the 1800s
This article discusses asset management, risk management, and earthworks failures as experienced by Network Rail (NR), the owner, operator, and asset manager of the majority of the rail network of Great...
Dam Safety Management Using Risk-Informed Decision-Making Methods: A Powerful Tool or an Unnecessary Venture?
This article discusses design standards, safety methods, and risk-informed decision-making methods for dams....
Tailings Impoundment Closure: It's All in the Eye of the Beholder
Since the early 1900s, the mining and power-generation industries have disposed of tailings and other waste products using impoundments. The term "tailings" typically refers to the fine-grained waste product...
Seismic Data from Smartphones: MyShake: Building a Global Smartphone Seismic Network
Increasing the density of earthquake-monitoring instruments at a fast rate and at a low cost is a dream for many researchers who study earthquakes. MyShake, a smartphone application developed by the Berkeley...
Return to search