Preserving the Past: Recovering the Destroyed Buddha Statues and Niches in Bamiyan Afghanistan
For millennia, civilizations have built monuments to honor their gods, leaders, or founding principles, and with time those monuments that still exist have become revered treasures. Take, for example,...

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...

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...

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)....

Risky Business: Identifying an Acceptable Rockfall Standard
For many parts of the U.S. highway system, cut slopes in rock are as common as bridges and embankments. These cut slopes, as well as some natural ones, produce rockfalls that pose risks to highway conditions...

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...

Rock Glue Gets the Job Done: Reducing Rockfall Hazards along the G.W. Parkway
After a large rockfall damaged the road and disrupted traffic along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in 2002, the National Park Service was looking for solutions to stabilize the slope against additional...

Photogrammetry for Rock Engineering: A Snapshot of State-of-the-Art Rock Mapping
Generally speaking, photogrammetry is the science of turning photographs into 3D models. While flashy advertisements may convey the idea that it's as simple as pushing a button (e.g., on a drone remote)...

Borehole Geophysics: Tools to Characterize Rock Properties
Effective design and construction in rock requires characterization of the engineering properties of the rock mass, as well as any associated geological features such as joints, faults, and bedding planes....

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...

Difficult-Access Rockfall Mitigation: Design and Construction Way Up High!
Rockfall mitigation projects frequently require work at elevated positions. This is not something that comes naturally for many engineers and geologists. Palms sweat, knees knock, and voices may start...

Military Geotechnics in the Ancient World: Geo-Innovating the Hard Way
The technical expertise that is now part of geotechnical engineering was of paramount importance in the ancient worlds. This is because before, but also after, the invention of siege equipment, nearly...

Geotechnical Risk Management: The Five Non-Technical Topics that are Crucial for the Successful Practice of Geotechnical Engineering
It is fair to state that the aspects of civil design and construction referred to as geotechnical engineering can be characterized as inherently risky. Geologic processes are complex,...

Making Big Data Work for You and Your Project: A 3-D Geotechnical Model is a Smart Way to Work
Modeling the stratigraphy beneath a site and assigning soil and rock properties are important steps in geotechnical engineering. Geotechnical engineers often need to model ground conditions...

So, Why Do You Want to Write a GBR?
Since 1974, scores of papers, articles, conferences, and legal documents have been dedicated to explaining how to write and/or how to use a Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR). But the...

Improving Construction Quality by Seeing What's Hidden Underground
One of the challenges of deep foundation projects is the inability to see what's being built at depth. Construction is hidden below ground, in soil or rock conditions that...

A Probabilistic Approach to Karstic Foundation Variability
Karst is a landscape formed in soluble rocks caused by movement of water that has become slightly acidic. Limestone, dolomite, and gypsum are vulnerable to these influences and may be...

Risk and Performance of a Rock Cut Slope

Geomechanical Model for Rock Foundation Settlement

The Soil-Rock Boundary: What Is It and Where Is It?

 

 

 

 

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