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Ever get that sinkhole feeling?

Ever Get that Sinkhole Feeling?

It takes planning and good leadership to decide on an effective solution to problems associated with a building asset. Recently, a large wholesale warehouse facility in Cincinnati began to experience large sinkholes across a significant portion of their customer parking lot. Unable to determine the problem at that time, store management was forced to close a portion of the parking lot, inconveniencing their customers. This particular parking lot is unusual in that a drainage system is located directly under the parking lot, consisting of a network of pipes spanning 250 feet in length and 12” in diameter. Joint separations in the underground drainage piping had caused enough soil erosion to create sinkholes in the asphalt. Engineers were concerned that other unknown sinkholes could cave in anytime, resulting in further costly damage, and potentially posing safety hazards to customers.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the article. [/Editor]

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Seattle tunnel cross-section
Project Related

Seattle tunnel will go under 158 buildings

The tunnel replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct (SR-99) will pass beneath 158 existing structures requiring an extensive program of vibration and settlement monitoring as well as some remediation. Of the 158 buildings, WSDOT identified 20 […]

Rock sheds in New Zealand
Weekend CUP

Weekend CUP for August 16, 2011

Millions of dollars worth of Brightwater project material deemed unusable – Source: NWCN.com Agile Frameworks, LLC. – Management and IT Consulting, SaaS and Managed Services for AEC / ACEC / ASFE Project-Based Businesses Devastating landslides […]

Access shaft for the Singapore petrol caverns
Project Related

Singapore digs deep to be petro hub

On the island nation of Singapore land is at a premium, so a planned petrochemical storage facility is being constructed 150 meters under the sea floor. The article does not give the total underground storage […]

Shoring wall failure in Rosslyn, Virginia
Failures

Shoring retaining wall failure in Virginia prompts apartment building evacuation

Shoring wall failure in Rosslyn, Virginia

On Sunday evening, a soldier pile lagging wall shoring system failed at the Sedona & Slate residential development construction site in Rosslyn, Virginia (Arlington County). There were no reported injuries, but an adjacent apartment building was evacuated as a precaution and a nearby street is closed to traffic.  Click through for a video that shows some additional views of the damage.  The scale of the wall is apparent when you see the shots with workers putting braces near the bottom of the wall. I’m guessing the rakers shown in this image were added monday to attempt to stabilize the wall, but that’s just speculation at this point. Image: MyFoxDC.com

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American Society of Testing Materials Logo - ASTM
Standards and Codes

ASTM Standards Update for July 2011

American Society of Testing Materials Logo - ASTMJuly was a busy month for a number of ASTM committees.  Click through for a summary of last month’s revised and reapproved standards that are relevant to geotechnical engineering, materials testing, construction CQA, geosynthetics and related technologies.

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