Failures

Tunnel Collapse Caught on Video

According to the site Geotechpedia, this tunnel failure occurred on November 29, 2016 around 9am (local time?). The tunnel is located in Yusufeli district of Erzurum in northeastern Turkey. It is somehow related to the […]

A car damaged after a retaining wall failure in Baltimore
Failures

Baltimore landslide: Is it covered?

This is a different perspective on landslides than what I usually blog about on GeoPrac. This banking and insurance website blog post discusses what should and shouldn’t be covered on a car owner’s insurance policy. […]

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Failures

Cologne Tunnel Collapse: Investigations Focus on Tiebacks and Groundwater

image The latest information to come out of the collapse of a subway tunnel excavation in Cologne, Germany is that investigators are evaluating the ground anchors or tiebacks that were holding open the subway tunnel excavation. There doesn’t appear to be much information available to the public yet, and the New Civil Engineer article mostly quoted academics saying an anchor failure “could” have caused the collapse. Apparently at the time of the collapse, the excavation had reached the bottom depth after the slurry walls had been constructed along with the ground anchor system. Crews were supposedly working on the base slab which would have undoubtedly stiffened up the whole system. For what its worth, an anonymous comment left at the bottom of that article indicated that after half of the debris had been excavated, the diaphragm walls were still intact and without apparent displacement. So what other theories have been floated? Read on for more info.  (Image Credit: New Civil Engineer)

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Destruction from the collapse of a subway tunnel in Cologne, Germany which swallowed Cologne's Historical Archive
Failures

Subway Tunnel Collapse in Cologne Germany

Destruction from the collapse of a subway tunnel in Cologne, Germany which swallowed Cologne's Historical ArchiveEarly indications are that a collapse of a subway tunnel station still under construction was to blame for the sinkhole that destroyed Cologne’s Historical Archive, home to documents dating back to 922 A.D. More info after the break. (Photo by DPA via Spiegel Online)

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Failures

Drilled shaft rig falls into hole – Iowa

On May 15 a drilled shaft rig operated by Mid America Drilling Corp was nearly swallowed by the 9-ft diameter hole it was drilling for a cell tower foundation near Harlan, Iowa. Fortunately nobody was injured and the truck did not suffer any significant damage.

In Arizona, the standard of practice is to use a temporary surface casing to prevent dangerous failures like that. I once saw pictures of a drilling contractor superindendent almost get sucked into a collapsing shaft, even with the temporary casing. Pretty scary stuff. Source: Harlan Tribune. (Photo by Samantha Bruck) 

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