A bicyclist went around the barricades at the California Highway 1 Devil’s Slide Tunnel project after work hours and rode his bike through one of the tunnels, recording video as he went. I don’t advocate that kind of dangerous behavior, but I must admit that it is neat to see a tunnel nearing completion after several years of work. [Source: YouTube]
Geologic Hazards
What Would a Large Earthquake Do to Downtown L.A.?
From the USGS Newsroom:
USGS scientist Ken Hudnut fills us in on how science created the theoretical magnitude 7.8 earthquake behind the Great Southern California ShakeOut—the largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history, coming Nov. 13—and what such an earthquake would do to downtown Los Angeles.
Seems like they did it right wiith this study. They had multiple teams independenlty come up with the ground shaking model, then had different structural engineers who are experts in seismic design of large buildings review the tall buildings in the L.A. area for the design earthquake. They say that buildings would likely come down in the 7.8 magnitude event. Click through to watch the video interview from the USGS.
Available Resources
Second Issue of International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories [Official This Time]
The International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories has formally announced their second issue. Apparently when I posted about it previously, they had only two of the four papers.
This second issue contains four case histories that come with additional downloads. In particular, check out Dr. Edmund Medley’s Paper on the 2006 Hawaii Earthquakes. He has some neat photos including some in 3-D (more about his 3-D photos).
- Design Process of Deep Soil Mixed Walls for Excavation Support: Example of paper with digital data
- Effect of Dredging and Axial Load on a Berthing Structure
- Geological Engineering Reconnaissance of Damage Caused by the October 15, 2006 Hawaii Earthquakes: Example of an Online Database
- Lack of Maintenance Compromises Tunnel Structural Safety
Project Related
Flooding Halts Tunnel Excavations for Lake Mead Water Supply Intake
Excavation for the $700M Lake Mead Intake No. 3 Project was put on hold after tunneling encountered a fault carrying groundwater that flooded the excavation and submerged equipment. The flooding occurred over about 4-days, so […]