From Good to Great: The Evolution of Cutoff Wall Quality Control and Verification Techniques
The last three decades have brought tremendous improvements to quality control (QC) procedures for construction and post-construction verification of deep cutoff walls installed in active high-hazard dams....
Working Platforms for Specialty Geo-Construction
A major cause of rigs toppling over is the state of the "working platform" that they must work from. A working platform is a layer of material, often compacted sand or gravel, placed over the subgrade,...
Your Numerical Model Begins at the Site Investigation — Phase Improving the Suitability of Numerical Geotechnical Modeling
The success of an advanced geotechnical numerical analysis depends foremost on a thorough geologic and geotechnical understanding of the site, and thus the geometric definition and adequacy of input parameters...
Moving Down the Road of Progress: Geosynthetics Subdue Failures on Expansive Clays and Frost-susceptible Soils
Using geosynthetics in roadway projects has provided sustainable alternatives for reconstruction and maintenance and now represents a significant portion of the total geosynthetics market. Geosynthetics...
Site Constraints Complicate a Bulkhead Replacement: It Takes a Team to Overcome the Challenges
North American Aggregates (NAA), a leading supplier of aggregates in the New York area, recently constructed a new processing facility in Perth Amboy, NJ. One of the final components of the new facility...
Composite Special Moment Frames
Wide Flange Beam to Concrete-Filled Steel Column Connections
Prepared by the Composite Construction Committee of the Metals Technical Administrative Committee of the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCEComposite Special Moment Frames: Wide Flange Beam to Concrete-Filled...
West Virginia’s Airport In The Clouds: Response to a Massive Slope Failure at Runway’s End
Although the small and scenic Mountain State ranked 40 out of 50 in population according to a July 2017 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, it boasts seven airports. Yeager Airport (CRW), billed as "West Virginia’s...
Highway Embankment Failure on Soft Clay: Bad Input = Bad Output
Our ability to analyze and compute 2D and 3D factors of safety for embankments and slopes, including finite element and finite difference analyses, has increased greatly in the last decade. However, use...
Learning From Pile Driving Failures: Out of Sight Can't be Out of Mind
The design of driven pile foundations for static service and strength limit state loading conditions is meaningless if the piles cannot be driven to the required depth and nominal resistance without sustaining...
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...
Seeing into the Subsurface: Harnessing Geophysics to Remotely Monitor the Condition of Earthworks
Condition assessment of geotechnical structures is essential for cost-effective maintenance and prevention of hazardous failure events. Early identification of deteriorating conditions generally allows...
Big Steps for Mankind: Extraterrestrial Sampling and Exploration 50 Years after Apollo 11
Between June 1966 and January 1968, four Surveyor missions successfully landed on the Moon, collecting invaluable scientific data required to support the coming manned Apollo missions. Central to the goals...
Back in Action
At one of Northern Virginia’s most complex and notoriously congested intersections, the superstructure of a critical highway overpass was demolished, removed, and replaced in a single weekend. The design’s...
The Genoa Approach
The Morandi Bridge (formally known as the Polcevera Viaduct) was more than just a critical part of the infrastructure of Genoa, Italy; it was part of the fabric of the city itself. When the bridge partially...
Failures Inspire Progress: Protecting Sensitive Buildings from Tunnelling
Tunnelling in urban areas is always a challenge, and it’s especially so when construction is proximate to densely populated districts. Such was the case on January 25, 2005, when a 10-m length of a Barcelona...
The Transcona Grain Elevator Failure Revisited: A Modern Perspective a Century Later
More than a century ago, a seminal event in the then world of foundation engineering took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, when the mat-foundation-supported Transcona Grain Elevator underwent catastrophic...
Rapid Recovery
In May 2017, the California Department of Transportation had to contend with a massive landslide that closed a section of the iconic State Route 1 through central California’s scenic coastal region of...
When Bridges, Roadways, and Dams Need Our Help: Innovative Techniques Can Help Save Our Nation's Critical Infrastructure
The nation's infrastructure is showing its age. The signs are obvious with structure distress, lack of functionality, and failure reported frequently over the last several decades. Specialty geotechnical...
Dry Dams in the Desert: Chasing Land Subsidence and Earth Fissures with Geophysics
Homogenous embankment dam flood retention structures (FRSs) were built throughout central Arizona desert basins in the mid-twentieth century to protect mostly agricultural lands and military installations...
State of the Practice for Laboratory Testing of Soft Soils: It's All in the Details
As with all material testing, soils testing has undergone dramatic advances in technology because of computer automation. In the 1970s, laboratories were filled with dial gages, proving rings, mercury...
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