settlement – Page 4 – GeoPrac.net

German town sinking after drilling operations

February 25, 2008 Wolfgang Fritz 2

The historic town of Staufen in southwestern Germany on the western edge of the Black Forest is experiencing some rather unexpected downward movement these days. Several buildings, some of them historic, are experiencing cracking and distress and are still sinking at a rate of approximately 1mm per week. Investigations are underway, but everything seems to point towards drilling operations for geothermal energy which were conducted last fall. [Editor] More after the break…[/Editor]

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Deleware Forced to Redesign Unfinished Bridge Because of Consolidation Issues

January 25, 2008 rockman Comments Off

[Update 2/10/08] Updated the name of the bridge. [/Update]

DelDOT is putting the new Indian River Bridge over out to bid. The current bridge is said to be in danger of failing between 2008 and 2012 according to the Army Corps of Engineers, seems to be related to scour. From what I hear, the tidal currents at that inlet being spanned over are tremendous, with water velocities on the order of 35 mph.

In 2005, Mactec, a geotechnical firm, provided a geotechnical report and associated recommendations to DelDOT for how to construct the 45-ft high approach embankments for a 1,400-ft long bridge in light of a 60-ft clay layer (sounds like pre-loading). However, the embankments are not settling as Mactec predicted (not sure if its more or less, probably less meaning slower) and are "shifting laterally" (squeezing?) so the DOT is going with a longer bridge to span the problem soil. More after the break.

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Jefferson Memorial’s Signs of Sinking Raise Fresh Alarms

July 15, 2007 rockman Comments Off

The National Park Service is carefully monitoring a settlement problem at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. The geotechnical problem area is a seawall that borders the Memorial’s plaza that seems to be settling away from the plaza. Read on for more info. [Photo by esev]

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