Hi All,
I have a modest-sized earthworks site where the full depth of the proposed earthworks (cutting 10'; filling 10') is in a silty clay residual dolerite soil. The site is very gently sloping so the volumes are larger than the depths of the earthworks would suggest.
The clay soils are of...
Hi All.
I'm involved in a job which has gone horribly pear-shaped. It entailed the construction of a high earth-fill embankment which would support a major warehouse with very flat floors. The Engineer's design specification for the bulk fill was 95% Mod. AASHTO minimum. I gave predicted...
Hi All,
I have a site where the intention is to construct high fill embankments (50 - 70')on a hillside where there is no permanent water table. At a couple of locations on the hillside, broad, ephemeral drainage lines occur. My field testing has identified perched water tables through discrete...
Hi All,
I've just commenced the geotechnical investigations for a highway widening which seeks to add an additional carriageway to our existing highway.
There are some substantial fills (10 - 20m high) along the route, mostly coinciding with drainage structures (large culverts) beneath, and I...
I've lately been doing a number of geotechnical investigations for the rehabilitation and raising of relatively small earth dams. Typically farm dams on minor streams, capacity usually less than 100 000 cubes. Invariably homogeneous dams constructed of clayey materials throughout. Part of these...
Hi All,
I'm currently supervising a major earthworks project which involves the construction of high engineered fill embankments, to accommodate commercial warehouse structures. The platform I'm currently dealing with is 10 hectares (useable area) and the fill beneath the structure is up to 80'...
I've recently been commissioned to carry out the geotechnical investigations and remedial design of engineering solutions for a rock-slide which now places a structure at risk.
The situation is that a major office block development was built approximately 10 years ago to encroach within 7' of...
I have a major bulk earthworks project commencing in the next few months and value engineering is currently underway.
A costly aspect of the bulk earthworks is constructing high shale fill embankments over valley bottoms underlain by high plasticity transported clays. Rather than remove these...
I have a bit of a novelty situation.
On one of my sites, pavement layers (crushed stone) were constructed for a new asphalt pour. The asphalt was delayed many months, and weeds have now cultivated on the upper crushed stone layer- see attached photograph.
Construction plant is no longer...
I've recently had a good query from a Contractor.
We're working on a site with large volumes of coal ash, generally coarse (gravel-sand) bottom ash, which from all available laboratory results is an excellent engineering material.
Problem is, for a number of samples tested, the maximum density...
Have any geotech. guys got experience with systems aimed at protecting piles from slope creep in a deep, unstable soil profile?
I'm investigating a proposed new highway alignment in which one of the slopes is very dodgy, approximately 1 000' in length, 15degree angle and underlain by 40 to 50'...
Has anybody ever heard of this method being used to treat cut hard rock embankments that are failing along a discrete sliding plane?
I've got some high (40 - 50')shale rock cuttings which I've designed to a 1:2(V:H) cut slope, however the shale bedding dips directly out of the slope at ~15deg...
I've recently been tasked with providing a compaction specification for carbonaceous shale which is to be used in the engineering of large-scale industrial cut-to-fill platforms.
The shale is a grey to dark grey micaceous material recovered as platelets; sometimes hard but non-durable - the...
I'm currently involved in some big industrial developments in South Africa where high fill embankments are being engineered over a non-compressible soil profile, predominantly weathered sandstone bedrock.
The fill materials are variably graded sands (SW-SP-SM) engineered in 12" layers to a...
I'm currently running the geotechnical control on a large-scale industrial development on South Africa's east coast.
The larger development platforms are in the 10 - 20Ha range, developed over a site underlain by hard rock sandstone mantled by sandy soils. Due to the enormous volumes of hard...
