I'm trying to find a reference (preferably with case histories) for expected horizontal displacement ranges of an earth dam during construction as a percentage of height, eg. 0.5% to 1.0% of the height. I have that range (up to ~1.0%) in my head as a rule of thumb some grey haired guy in a...
Just curious if anyone has been through Colorado School of Mines Underground Construction and Tunnel Engineering program or the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign online geotechnical programs
We're all familiar with the typical 'depth of influence' type calculations for vertical compression loads, eg. bousinesq stress distribution bulbs (take the depth of influence as the depth at 0.1 to 0.2Q), or the eurocode / british standard esque technique of setting the depth of influence as...
Slightly esoteric question but does anyone know of any examples of co-seismic fire ignition at WTP / WWTP facilities during large earthquakes? Is this a credible hazard?
FEMAS Hazus model addresses damage states for WWTP's but doesn't directly address fires at them, and the fire ignition...
For a seismic case on a circular slip surface using one of the simplified methods for Newmark sliding block (eg. Jibson) - what displacement are you actually calculating? For example, if you calculate a displacement of 200mm, does that mean you are calculating 200mm of displacement along the...
Curious what people think about these documents on engineering geological modelling linked below. I increasingly struggle with engineering geologists who reference these documents essentially as a way to take almost the entire profession away from geotechnical engineers. The main concerns I have...
I'm looking for a reference, the title of which eludes me on back-analysis of stable, un-failed slope. The reference presents a table of presumed factors of safety to use in the back analysis based on observed slope performance eg.
1.1 - if evidence of recurrent movement (i.e. there isn't a...
Reaching a bit here, but does anyone know of any literature on applying aging factors to clays in cyclic softening assessments?
I have sDMT and sCPT data.
There's a whole body of literature on doing this for liquefaction assessment of sands (eg. Andrus / Hayati - Correcting Liquefaction...
For a seismic case on a circular slip surface using one of the simplified methods for Newmark sliding block (eg. Jibson) - what displacement are you actually calculating? For example, if you calculate a displacement of 200mm, does that mean you are calculating 200mm of displacement along the...
Suppose you have a tank where the base shear applied from fluid moving in the tank during an earthquake is greater than the available resistance from friction / passive resistance of the slab it's sitting on.
Has anyone estimated displacements in such a situation, and if so how? I.e. assuming...
Just curious if anyone know of any software packages specific for design of rigid inclusions or settlement reducing piles (i.e. piles not connected directly to the slab / foundation but sitting under a gravel load transfer platform). As opposed to doing it with a general-purpose FE program or...
Does anyone know if there is an English translation of this document and where I could find it. I'm trying to compare geotechnical aspects of various standards on the topic from the water, oil and gas, nuclear and other lifeline industry associations. I've found various references to the...
Does anyone know of guidance or research publications on deriving t-z / q-z curves for static analysis by hand.
For example, API-RP-2GEO and API-RP-2A-WS present essentially bi-linear (or quadrilinear I guess if you count the strain-softening part of the curves) spring (t-z/Q-z) curve...
What Direct Labour Multipliers are your current employers running for their rates, and how does it line up with utilization?
Every company I've worked at has ran between 2.25 - 3.3 DLMs (the lower DLMs for large government projects or small Geotech consulting firms that made most profit on...
Anyone know of any good references that focus specifically on stability of steep sand slopes. Think slopes of 45 degrees to vertical (or sometimes overhanging) made of sand or cemented sand. I have one good reference paper by Sitar and Collins (Geotechnical Properties of Cemented Sands in Steep...
https://www.geplus.co.uk/news/deadly-landslides-in-new-zealand-follow-record-breaking-rainfall-03-02-2023/
Might be interesting - look up Cyclone Gabrielle. We had a cyclone at the tail end of one of the rainiest sequences of 12 months ever. The imagery really puts things into perspective...
https://engineerscanada.ca/news-and-events/news/engineers-canada-joins-others-in-calling-for-changes-to-iron-ring-ceremony
For the Canadians out there who went through this.
Good to see some changes being proposed. Personally, I went through this a decade ago now and I thought it was some...
Curious to hear anyones experience with geotextile wrap for subsoil drains, in particular any studies not funded by the geosynthetic industry on long term performance.
I've seen a couple different combinations: Slotted pipe wrapped in a filter sock embedded in freedraining material. Slotted...
Does anyone know of any reference manuals or design guidance that cover geotechnical investigations for sewer rising mains (and also other types of linear civil infrastructure like water transmission / stormwater). I'm thinking along the lines of the EPRI guidance for geotech investigations for...
I've reached a career stage where it's not uncommon for me to have 4-6 meetings a day, at least for 2 or 3 days a week, often one hour each. How do people manage this? How do charge your time? It seems like people generally only budget for the meeting time (i.e. 1 hour meeting so they budgeted...
