Bring Your A-GaME! and Dominate the Field [Investigation] — As Newer Technologies Mature and Are Adopted More Widely — It’s A Whole New Ball Game Out There
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in collaboration with industry partners, is helping state DOTs take their existing geotechnical site characterization programs to the next level. Technologies...
In the Wake of the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Breach: Tailings Dam Design, Innovation, and Practice Changes
The Mount Polley tailings dam in British Columbia (BC), Canada, failed in 2014, spilling approximately 21 million m3 of water and tailings (estimated as approximately 50/50 water and tailings) into Hazeltine...
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: Are Design Professionals Liable for Failing to Anticipate the Effects of Climate Change?…
Climate change is the result of rising greenhouse gasses from a century and a half of development and industrialization around the world. The inability of the global community to reduce greenhouse gas...
Creating Copenhill
The design and construction of a new waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen, Denmark, was meant to do more than just generate electricity. The unique structure also features a rooftop public park with an...
Infrastructure Solutions: Transit Transformation
Beset by long-term problems related to underinvestment and inadequate maintenance, the U.S. transit sector confronts challenges pertaining to funding, demographic changes, and an increasing array of new...
What's Hiding Between the Boreholes?
Often, geotechnical explorations consist of a few, strategically placed boreholes and considerable interpolation and extrapolation by the geotechnical engineer. The information between boreholes in most...
Railroad Tunnel Clearance Improvement and Linear Replacement: What Happens with Unexpected Ground Conditions during Tunnel Construction?
To increase the capacity and efficiency of transporting waste by rail to an existing landfill, Enviro Solutions Inc., the landfill owner, and CSX Transportation (CSXT), the rail line owner, sought the...
What Does the Crystal Ball Say? Energy and Water Issues Are Too Great to Ignore!
Over the past 15 years, the Geoprofessional Business Association's (GBA) Emerging Issues and Trends Committee has held a series of Crystal Ball Workshops (Workshops) to identify long-term emerging issues...
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...
What Does the Case Law Say? Geotechnical Risk on Design-Build Projects
The growth of design-build (DB) contracting, particularly on public-sector civil projects, has generated a great deal of industry discussion over the age-old question of who should bear the risk of unforeseen...
The Rise of UAVs Signals a New Era in Geotechnics: Big Data in Geotechnics is Coming from Above
If you have been following the news, browsing the internet, or even gazing up in the sky, it is likely that you have seen an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also commonly known as Unmanned Aircraft System...
Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
Civil engineers have responsibilities for the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of physical infrastructures. These infrastructures include all types of buildings,...
Future Geo-Business Trends
As part of its mission to identify long-term emerging issues and trends and their impact on member firms, the Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA) assembled for its biennial Crystal...
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...
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...
Permeable Pavement Research Needs
The implementation of permeable pavement installations and practices are expanding and becoming more commonplace. With this increased usage comes expanded and improved information on design,...
Findings From a Joint Industry Study on Foundation Fixity of Jackup Units
During the design storm conditions the soil supporting jack-up unit footings may be close to, or at plastic failure. Accordingly, the use of elastic solutions to the problems of foundation...
The Joint Industry Development of a Recommended Practice for the Site Specific Assessment of Mobile Jackup Units
The mobile self-elevating (drilling) unit, or jack-up, has been central to the exploration and development of offshore oil and gas reserves. In recent years there has been an increased...
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