Trenchless Goes Hybrid: Old Tricks Are Finding New Applications
The International Society for Trenchless Technology defines trenchless technology as "Underground construction methods of utility installation, rehabilitation, inspection, location and leak detection,...
The Best Laid Plans: Capitol Crossing Restores L?Enfant?s Vision of "Federal City"
In 1791, President Washington appointed French engineer Pierre Charles L?Enfant to plan Federal City ? today?s District of Columbia. L?Enfant?s methodical design called for the center of the city to be...
Advanced Data Analytics In Geotechnics: Adapting to the Big Data Era
Everyone is talking about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the future of work. In one camp are people like the industrialist Elon Musk who fear the potential evils of AI and its possible impact...
Risk in Geotechnical Practice: Geotechnical Judgment
People use judgment in every aspect of their lives. We rely on our judgments to make decisions that can have consequences from small to large on ourselves and on others, sometimes with life-threatening...
Avoid Negativity Bias
You are, or imagine you are, retired and reflecting. You recall unfulfilled personal and professional dreams, some held for decades. You might have wanted to walk the Appalachian Trail. Perhaps you longed...
Donald T. Goldberg, PE
Poison Oak, Mistakes, and Lessons
When things go wrong in geotechnicalengineering ? like ground movements andearthwork construction delays ? failureinvestigations are often performed. In a typical geotechnical project, the path is relatively...
The San Jacinto Monument: Over a Foot of Settlement, but Level
On March 6, 1836, General Santa Anna and his Mexican troops killed all those defending the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, TX. The Texans wished to be independent from Mexico and regrouped after this severe...
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...
GeoTechTools � Your Ground Modification Website: Solutions for Improved Decision Making and Risk Mitigation
An immense web-based toolbox for the engineering and construction of earthworks is now available at
A Light in the Deep: The Future of Offshore Site Investigations
For deep-water energy developments, hazard identification and risk assessments (that is, assessing the probability of occurrence along with the consequences of failure) are more important...
Making Big Data Work for You and Your Project: A 3-D Geotechnical Model is a Smart Way to Work
Modeling the stratigraphy beneath a site and assigning soil and rock properties are important steps in geotechnical engineering. Geotechnical engineers often need to model ground conditions...
BIM in Geotechnics: The Benefits of Including Geotechnical Data in Building Information Modelling
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is becoming increasingly common around the world on building and civil engineering projects, but what are the benefits to geotechnical engineers and...
Becoming Greener with Green Sand: An Iron Castings Company Devises an Environmentally Friendly Liner System Reusing Foundry Byproduct
Metalcasting is one of the oldest methods of recycling�humans have a few millennia worth of experience with the technique�but today's industry still battles public preconceptions...
Geotextile Tube Dewatering
Geotextile tubes are made of high-strength, permeable geotextile that, when filled with a slurry, allow water to drain from the tubes while retaining the solids. They can be prefabricated...
National Usage of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil to Support Bridges
The Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System (GRS IBS) was developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) almost 20 years ago to help meet the demand for the next...
Very Long-Term Care of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Berms: Limiting the Liability of Future Stakeholders
Since their development over 50 years ago, civil engineering applications of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) berms have significantly increased. When used as a component of an asset...
Geosynthetic Materials Help Build Optimized Infrastructure
In recent years, the world has begun to realize the negative impacts that limited infrastructure can have on economic growth and the well-being of humankind. Our infrastructure challenges...
Long-Term Performance Monitoring of a Hillside Retaining Wall
To accommodate expansion of the West Point Treatment Plant in Seattle, WA, a 3,000-ft-long soldier pile, tieback-anchored retaining wall was constructed from May 1991 to May 1992. An oblique...
Filling The Bay: Deepening the Oakland Inner and Outer Harbors
The project to deepen the Oakland Inner and Outer Harbors from elevation -42 to -50 ft was federally authorized in 1999 to accommodate the next generation of post-Panamax container ships....
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