The device created by University of Arizona senior engineering students is suspended from a mobile armature can be positioned over an excavation made by a backhoe or other excavator and accurately measure the depth and volume using laser range finders (lidar?). This keeps the operator away from the excavation and allows for a more accurate measurement compared to using a tape or rod. The team of senior engineering students wrote their own software from scratch. The Caterpillar Proving Grounds in nearby Green Valley, AZ will be using the technology immediately and working on a more advanced version soon. [Source: Arizona Daily Star. Image: CAT]
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Lasers, Software and the Devil’s Slide
[Editor] National Science Foundation (NSF) Press Release – June 30, 2008. Screenshot Credits: Jeramy Decker, Kiewit Corp [/Editor]
Running for more than 1,000 kilometers along picturesque coastline, California’s Highway 1 is easy prey for many of the natural hazards plaguing the region, including landslides.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is currently building a kilometer-long tunnel to bypass one of the most landslide-prone stretches of the highway, the Devil’s Slide, to help ensure drivers’ safe passage.
Using a new software package developed by researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., project engineers are getting a detailed 3-D view of the rock exposed in the excavation, adding a new tool for improving both safety and construction progress.
[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release. [/Editor]
RockMass Tool for Digital Underground Mapping
Geological Engineering Major Eliminated at University of Arizona
[Editor’s Note] I am an alumn of the U of A’s Geological Engineering program, so this hits me in a sentimental spot. [/Editor’s Note]
A proposal submitted by Mary Poulton (Mining and Geological Engineering Department Head) and Jeff Goldberg (Associate Dean of College of Engineering) was submitted to the University of Arizona Faculty Senate to eliminate the geological engineering undergraduate major and merge the degree with Mining Engineering. The proposal was accepted by the Senate this week despite the efforts of Dr. Ben Sternberg who attended the hearing. The geological engineering degree will be combined with the mining engineering degree. The new degree will be a B.S. in Mining and Geological Engineering and there will be a mining engineering track and a geological engineering track. Budget cuts and small enrollment were the main reasons cited for the elimination of the degree. Read on for more. (Photo by Jacob Rader)