Emergency Retaining Wall Replacement: The East 26th Street Slide Repair in Baltimore, MD
During a record rainfall on April 30, 2014, a century-old, stone retaining wall between a dense urban roadway (26th Street) and the CSXT railroad track in Baltimore, MD, failed. The stone retaining wall...
Stabilizing Variable and Sloping Ground: Achieving Innovation Through Adaptation
We all know the high price of land development these days, so it's more important than ever for owners and their designers to maximize available land area. Occasionally, this demand is constrained by topography...
Highway Retaining Walls are Assets: A Risk-Based Approach for Managing Them
Throughout history, retaining walls (RWs) have served a vital role in supporting civil infrastructure. The ruins of dry stone walls that purportedly supported the hills and slopes of ancient Rome can be...
Deep Mixing Grows Up: The Evolution of Deep-Mixing Technology in the U.S. Market over the Last Decade
Over the last decade, deep mixing in the U.S. market has grown from being something of a mystery into a reliable ground modification technology that can be designed rationally, implemented with capable...
Optimized Drilled Shaft Design through Post-Grouting: Shorten That Shaft for Better Performance
Tip post-grouting is a technique used to inject, under pressure, a neat cement grout beneath the base of a drilled shaft. This method enhances or improves axial load-displacement performance by increasing...
Geotechnical Aspects of Pavements: There's More to Roads than Asphalt and Concrete!
When you jump on the highway to make that commute to work, do you think much about what's under the surface you ride on? Pavements are layered systems designed to provide a strong structure to support...
Foundation Reuse and Enhancement: A Viable Option for Bridge Widening and Replacement Projects
The transportation system in the U.S. includes over 607,000 bridges for grade separations, interchange configurations, and stream crossings. As governmental entities embark on the rehabilitation and rebuilding...
What Does the Case Law Say? Geotechnical Risk on Design-Build Projects
The growth of design-build (DB) contracting, particularly on public-sector civil projects, has generated a great deal of industry discussion over the age-old question of who should bear the risk of unforeseen...
Geotechnical Delivery on Mega Transportation Projects: Challenges of Accelerated Delivery
Transportation projects have traditionally been delivered through the design-bid-build (DBB) delivery model, which continues to be the preferred method of delivering the majority of smaller and more traditional...
Improving Cost and Schedule Performance on Municipal Pipeline Projects: Realizing the Benefits of the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) Alternative Project Delivery Method
The water and wastewater infrastructure in the United States is failing. In its 2013
The Evolution of Launched Soil Nails: A 30-Year Retrospective
Launched soil nails are a unique remedial technology in the geotechnical construction toolbox. These 20-ft-long, 1.5-in.-diameter nails are installed in a single shot using a compressed air "cannon" at...
A History of Deep Vibratory Methods for Ground Improvement: A Cost-Effective Foundation Solution for 80+ Years
Deep vibratory ground improvement methods, collectively referred to as vibro systems, have been utilized by the construction community in one form or another for the past 80 years. Development of the equipment,...
Ground Improvement for Underground Construction: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Underground construction is "special" because the work may be performed at great depths and under high groundwater pressures. All too often, it seems to take place in urban areas where there is limited...
The Rise of UAVs Signals a New Era in Geotechnics: Big Data in Geotechnics is Coming from Above
If you have been following the news, browsing the internet, or even gazing up in the sky, it is likely that you have seen an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also commonly known as Unmanned Aircraft System...
Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering: What Can It Do for You?
There's been a lot of talk, and some confusion, lately about performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE). Many geotechnical engineers wonder -- what is it, how does it differ from what I've been doing,...
Post-Earthquake Reconnaissance Using Digital Imagery: A Bird's-Eye View
Over the last decade, remote sensing has played an increasing role in geotechnical earthquake reconnaissance through the use of satellite imagery, LIDAR, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These techniques...
The 2010-2011 Canterbury, New Zealand, Earthquake Sequence: Impetus for Rethinking the Way We Evaluate and Mitigate Liquefaction
Liquefaction is a common cause of ground failure during earthquakes and is directly responsible for tremendous damage to infrastructure. Evidence of the impact of liquefaction includes failure of bridge...
You Designed It for the Big One, Right? Illustrating and Communicating Uncertainty in a Deterministic Seismic Hazard Analysis
In seismic regions of the U.S. and worldwide, engineers design structures to withstand seismic ground motions resulting from a large, rare earthquake. But definitions of "large" and "rare" depend on who...
Biogeotechnical Mitigation of Earthquake-Induced Soil Liquefaction
Three biogeotechnologies currently under development show promise for cost-effective remediation of liquefaction under existing facilities....
Spread Footings Revisited: Geotechnical Advances Lead to Expanded Use for Bridge Abutments
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has historically used steel shell piles to support highway bridge structures, probably due to a blend of familiarity and efficiency among...
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