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...
Strengthening Connections
China’s Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge is the world’s longest sea crossing. It promotes connectivity in a fast-growing region, significantly cutting journey times in what is known as the Greater Bay Area....
Enhanced Entrance
A new, smaller road, together with an improved entrance plaza and pathways, helped revitalize key areas within Niagara Falls State Park—despite the repeated discovery of underground contamination and other...
Reliability-Based Design (RBD) For Everyone: (No Monte Carlo Simulation Required!)
In North America, the design of earth structures for transportation applications is most often carried out using load and resistance factor design (LRFD). In the U.S., the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications...
Forever Frozen? Future Challenges for Ground
On a typical day, in a typical town, in a city almost anywhere in North America, roads and highways are filled with people going about their everyday business — commuting to work, delivering goods and...
Under-Slab Utility Installation with Aggregate Piers: It's All About Planning
Aggregate pier ground improvement is commonly used in North America to support buildings. The technology has expanded in the last decade thanks to refinement and introduction of new techniques, more rigorous...
Dried Lakes Do Tell Tales: Seismic Soil Amplification in Mexico City
Mexico City is a vibrant, urban metropolis — a living and breathing example of an "old layered city," where past civilizations coexisted with one another. Standing more than 2.2 km above sea level, surrounded...
Geotechnics of the Suez Canal Construction: 150 Years Old, but Nearly Four Millennia in the Making
Construction of the Suez Canal created one of the most important waterways in the world, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Its construction from 1854 to 1869 created three cities, Port-Said, Ismailia,...
Designed for Durability
The Marc Basnight Bridge, completed in February, carries North Carolina Highway 12 over the Oregon Inlet, an area that is one of the most dynamic and dangerous inlets on the Atlantic Coast. At 2.8 mi long,...
Restoration Through Reclamation
The people of the Netherlands have a long history of reclaiming land from the sea. In one of the lasted examples, the construction of an artificial archipelago represents a remarkable collaboration among...
A Moving Mystery
Along the southeastern edge of California’s Salton Sea, there are areas that contain geothermal mud pots and mud volcanoes—Geological features that may change shape, but never location. In 2016, a large,...
Adventures in Managing Water
Real-World Engineering Experiences
Sponsored by the River Basin Planning, Policy, and Operations Technical Committee of the Planning and Management Council of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCEAdventures in Managing...
Stabilizing the Cliffs of Alcatraz Island: It My Be "The Rock," but it Still Needs Attention!
California's Alcatraz Island was described by some early explorers as an unusually lush rock sticking out of the sea. The rock on the island consists of shale and sandstone members of the late Mesozoic-aged...
A Sunken Submarine Full of Mercury: Safe, Controlled Construction of a Counter Fill for Seabed Slope Stabilization at about 155 to 177 Meters
On December 5, 1944, with World War II still raging and peace in Europe still six months away, the German submarine U-864 set out on her maiden voyage on a secret mission to deliver strategic war supplies...
Raising Gatun Lake
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...
Innovations in Geosynthetic Rolled Erosion Control Products: From Forests to Fibers
Over the last 50 years, many different types of geosynthetic rolled erosion control products (RECPs) have emerged, ranging from different structure types to different fiber types. Natural-fiber...
Evaluating Bridges With Unknown Foundations for Susceptibility to Scour: North Carolina Applies Risk-Based Guidelines to Over 3,750 Bridges
Scour occurs when flowing water removes erodible material such as sand and rock. For bridges over water, scour affects the stability of pier and abutment foundations and contributes to...
A Simple Model to Predict Soil Resistance to Driving for Long Piles in Deepwater Normally Consolidated Clays
As the exploration and development for offshore oil and gas reserves moves into the deepwater environment of the continental slope, a good model is necessary to evaluate drivability of...
Observations on Geotechnical Reliability-Based Design Development in North America
Quantifying Regional Risk Profiles Attributable to Sea Level Rise
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