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...
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)....
Value Engineering Shaves Years and $1.8 Billion from Ohio River Bridges Project (part of "Attractive Alternative")
A value engineering process for the Ohio River Bridges Project, of which the Lewis and Clark Bridge is just one part, saved more than $1.8 billion and shaved nine years from earlier estimates....
Canals, Cutoffs, and the Vicksburg Campaign
During the American Civil War, the term “Union” was used to refer to the United States of America, and specifically to the national government and the 20 free states and five border slave states that supported...
Military Geotechnics in the Ancient World: Geo-Innovating the Hard Way
The technical expertise that is now part of geotechnical engineering was of paramount importance in the ancient worlds. This is because before, but also after, the invention of siege equipment, nearly...
Cracking the Nuclear Code: Finding an Alternative to the Nuclear Density Gauge
Two of the most basic quality control tests made in the field during soil construction are the soil’s moisture content and density. The establishment of a uniform procedure to compare the performance of...
Translating the Language of Soils: Developing a Soil Classification System for International Engineering Projects
Soil classification systems are used to help predict soil behavior and provide information to farmers, engineers, builders, agricultural extension agents, homeowners, community planners, and government...
Remote Sensing: A New Revolution in Geotechnical Engineering
Remote sensing in the form of satellite imagery has become part of our everyday life—from displaying boring locations at a job site to the various mapping apps on our smart phones that help us get there....
A Faculty Internship: Reconnecting with the Profession
After spending eight years as a full-time academic administrator at Lafayette College in Easton, PA – one of only a handful of institutions where discipline-specific engineering programs are embedded in...
Nature Sides with the Hidden Flaw: Lessons Learned from Failures of Earth-Support Systems
In recent years, the demand for excavations and fills of significant height has increased due to many factors, including requirements for below-grade parking for urban buildings and the need to construct...
Soil Nailing in the 2010s: Its Evolution and Coming of Age
While the early 2000s witnessed soil nailing as a well-established method in the U.S. for providing temporary and permanent support of excavation (SOE), the technique has since continued to evolve thanks...
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...
Geotechnical Instrumentation for Roadways: Shifting from Manual to Automated
Geotechnical instruments, including inclinometers, piezometers, settlement plates, etc., have long been used during and after construction to monitor performance of transportation infrastructure, including...
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