Portables Pay Off
A portable microcomputer with appropriate software, utilities and copies of job related records can establish a field office for almost any project. Examples of applications for the onsite...
Predicting Sinkhole Collapse
Sinkholes erupt when a cavern or opening in the limestone rock below opens up to the surface. Florida's sinkholes have received most U.S. attention recently, but sinkhole geology is found...
Establishing Patterns of Building Failures
Establishing statistical patterns of building failures can help engineers and architects prevent similar failures in the future and also reduce litigation. The Architecture and Engineering...
1986: The Year of the Connection
It is proposed that 1986 be designated the Year of the Connection and that the American Society of Civil Engineers take a leading role in overcoming problems now associated with structural...
High Rise Design: Accounting for Column Length Changes
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the height of concrete buildings jumped from 20 to 60 stories. During the same period, architects introduced the use of exposed...
Just a Few More Tests and We'll Be Sure
This short paper presents a practical approach to data analysis, with the intent of suggesting that simple statistical methods - when tailored to geotechnical problems - do in fact provide...
Probabilistic Nature of Soil Properties
The integrity of a soil material is defined not only by its compositional components but also by the constituent natural bonds and the resultant interactions between the various constituents...
Application of Methods of Probabilistic Characterization of Soil Properties
The use of probabilistic methods to describe soil properties has many applications. One such application that has been developed is in the area of probabilistic slope stability analysis....
Characteristics of Indiana Soil Properties
The Indiana Geotechnical Data Bank was established to collect engineering soil data in the state and to provide information for engineering planning and design works. It contains nearly...
Probabilistic Characterization of Nigerian Falls
A probabilistic method of subsurface characterization is developed for sites in Southern Nigeria. This method is based on the use of statistics to analyze real field data and determine...
An Extreme-Value Model for Strength of Stiff Clays
The role of the distribution function in the safety analysis of soil structures is briefly discussed. Comparison of the two statistical distributions - normal and Weibull - reveals that...
Landform-Based Characterization of Soil Properties
A probabilistic characterization of site soil properties can be achieved with sparse site-specific data by augmenting them with data available from other sites in the region having the...
Building Failures�Construction Related Problems and Solutions
A leadership group of representatives from the fields of structural design, construction, building inspection, the law and insurance agreed that if five changes are made in the way building...
The Case of the Bungled Bridge Rehab
Foundation failures and rehabilitations concern the owner, the engineer and the contractor. These parties face liability to one another as well as to third parties. There are contractual...
Building Failures: Design Problems and Solutions
A Building Failures conference of the Engineering Foundation dissected the problems leading to failures and recommended ways to reduce failures. This article discusses value engineering,...
Engineering Liabilities for Design of a Bridge That Failed During the San Fernando Earthquake
On February 9, 1971, the San Fernando Valley in Southern California experienced a major earthquake. Among the victims were two men who were killed when a bridge connector ramp of a newly...
Seismic Risk and Decision Analysis of Lifeline Systems
This paper provides general guidelines for performing lifeline seismic risk and decision analyses. Relevant input models are introduced as they support the performance of component and...
Port of Seattle Seismic Waterfront Design
This paper describes the soil seismic design process, using the design developed for a concrete apron project at Terminal 20 as an illustration. Damage by the 1965 earthquake is described....
Seismic Response of Port and Harbor Facilities
A research program compiled information regarding the behavior of port and harbor facilities during past earthquakes. The potential for significant damage to port and harbor facilities...
Response of Subsystems on Inelastic Structures
Preliminary analyses are performed to obtain insight into the seismic response of subsystems supported on simple structures that yield during severe earthquake ground motions. Current...
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