Reliability and Resilience — Essential Ingredients of Sustainable Geotechnics
Sustainability of a system is its ability to survive and retain its functionality over time. In very simple terms, sustainability deals with the capacities (resistances) and demands (loads)...
Enhanced Detection and Mapping of Buried Utilities—A Sustainability Perspective
The social and environmental impacts and benefits of projects make up the triple bottom line that represents a modern view of sustainable project development. Rather than considering only...
Strategies for Building and Sustaining a Successful Engineering and Consulting Company
This third article in the Business of Geotechnics series addresses stragegies for building and sustaining an engineering and consulting (E&C) company that employs geoprofessionals....
Managing Geotechnical Assets to Improve Highway System Performance
As geoprofessionals, we have a great opportunity to look at our work in new ways and to show its value to others. Highway agencies are looking to get the most from their assets and with...
Condition Indices, Performance Measures, and Managing Performance Data for Geotechnical Asset Management – Don't Get Buried!
Why don't transportation agency assets like pavements, bridges, and earthwork have a Check Engine light? Why can't you simply pull up the complete history and...
Multi-scale Health Assessment for Effective Levee Management
Researchers are working on developing a new health assessment framework with the potential to modernize our ability to monitor, manage, and ensure the safety of levees and other systems...
Asset Management of Earth Retaining Structures: Design through Design Life
Regarding new earth retaining structures (ERS) construction, the message is clear: plan for asset management. New construction is certainly not immune to performance issues, and the time...
Beer's Secret Ingredient: geology
As anyone in the beer business should know, water -- and what's in the water, courtesy of the geology through which it percolates -- can make all the difference in an end...
Risk-based Methods for Geotechnical Features in Transportation Asset Management
The purpose of asset management is to meet life cycle performance goals through the management of assets in the most cost-effective manner. In developing risk-based, asset management plans...
So, Why Do You Want to Write a GBR?
Since 1974, scores of papers, articles, conferences, and legal documents have been dedicated to explaining how to write and/or how to use a Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR). But the...
Good Clients, Good Procurements, and the Importance of Quality Work
This fourth article in the Business of Geotechnics series addresses a number of topics related to engineering and consulting (E&C) firm clients and obtaining work from them. The...
The Transbay Transit Center: Breaking New Ground in Urban Geotechnics
A building boom centered around the construction of the new Transbay Transit Center (TTC) is transforming the South of Market neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, newly dubbed the Transbay...
Ground Freezing in a Congested Urban Area
Artificial ground freezing is a method of providing temporary earth support and ground water control for deep excavations and tunnels. The technique has been used for over 100 years in...
Underpinning and Shoring of the Historic Howard Theatre in Washington, DC
The Howard Theatre was constructed in 1910 at 620 T Street, NW in Washington, DC. In 2010, a group of sponsoring organizations and developers put together a $17.1 million plan to revitalize...
Challenges and Risks of Jet Grouting in a Congested Urban Environment
In the heart of London, one of Europe's largest jet grouting contracts is nearing completion. The jet grouting is part of the overall 7-year-long upgrade project to London...
Support of Excavation Challenges and Solutions at a Manhattan Excavation Site
This article discusses the challenges and alternate solutions encountered in 2012 during support of excavation operations at a medical center project site in Manhattan, NY. The project...
People Matters – Building Careers and Developing Leadership
This fifth article in the Business of Geotechnics series addresses personnel matters in private-sector engineering and consulting (E&C) firms. I'll be discussing the...
A Truly Rewarding Experience
A list of award winners who were honored at the 2014 Geo-Congress in Atlanta, GA....
2014 Geo-Congress Wrap-Up
A recap of the 2014 Geo-Congress in Atlanta, GA....
Geotechnical Reliability – Ten Unresolved Problems
Geotechnical engineering deals with a world in which assured solutions seldom apply, and in which the famed early practitioners spoke proudly of accommodating uncertainty and judgment....
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