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...
When Things Became Muddy: TVA's Response to Seepage Discharge at Boone Dam
In October 2014, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) profited from investments in a robust dam safety program. This profit did not come in the form of money, but more importantly in the protection of...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
Open Pit Geotechnics: Designing Slopes for a Very Deep Hole
For most hard rock surface mining operations, the development of an open pit is required to extract the ore resource. In designing an open pit, the challenge is to develop the most cost-effective pit slopes...
Where Geosynthetics Meet Mining Geotechnics: Part of the Mining Engineer's Toolbox
From enhancing stability to providing environmental containment, geosynthetic materials play an important role in mining projects and geotechnics in general. While often overlooked, advancements in geosynthetic...
Redevelopment of Aggregate and Rock Quarries: No Longer Just a Hole in the Ground
Redevelopment of former sand and gravel (aggregate) and rock quarries can be challenging, often requiring developers, quarry operators, planners, and engineers to work in tandem. As urban and suburban...
Wider and Deeper (part of "A Greater Wonder")
A key component of the recent Panama Canal expansion involved the widening and deepening of Gatun Lake, the artificial lake that serves as the canal's reservoir, and the deepening of the Culebra Cut (also...
Raising Gatun Lake (part of "A Greater Wonder")
Raising the maximum operating level of Gatun Lake was one of the four main undertakings of the Panama Canal expansion project. Its goal was to increase the storage capacity for water used for human consumption...
Testing the New Locks (part of "A Greater Wonder")
The recently completed third set of locks at the Panama Canal incorporates several civil components and hydraulic design features that are intended to reduce routine maintenance and conserve water. For...
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...
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....
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