Articles by rockman

Software Updates

ReSSA Major Update and MSEW Update

February 5, 2008 rockman Comments Off on ReSSA Major Update and MSEW Update

The downloads page at ADAMA Engineering lists an update (Number 1) for ReSSA 3.0. I have not even heard anything about the release of version 3.0, and even other pages on their website only mention ReSSA 2.0 as the latest version. As soon as I hear anything about the new version and its additional features, I’ll be sure to post the info here. ReSSA is software for the design of reinforced soil slopes or RSS.

An update for the MSE wall design software MSEW was also released recently. This update is number 8.1 and primarily updates the way reinforcement database files are referenced, allowing the location of the database file currently in use to be stored in the project file. After recently completing a major MSE wall review using MSEW, all I can say is halleluia! I had to manually locate the database file for every single one of my old runs. This should be a nice fix.

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Geologic Hazards

Allegations: Oregon Not Forthcoming With Landslide Hazard Information

January 25, 2008 rockman 2

Folks in Oregon are angry about a recent landslide and debris flow that closed Highway 30 and destroyed property in the town of Woodson. (Here is a powerpoint presentation by Bill Burns of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries showing how the event happened). Some rather stinging allegations are being made that politicians withdrew a landslide hazard map from general use in 2002 for political reasons. That map or another one had characterized the area effected by the December 2007 debris flow as a "very high" or "extreme" risk of landslides. A very interesting article. 

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Project Related

Deleware Forced to Redesign Unfinished Bridge Because of Consolidation Issues

January 25, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Deleware Forced to Redesign Unfinished Bridge Because of Consolidation Issues

[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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Standards and Codes

US House Passes National Tunnel Inspection Program

January 25, 2008 rockman Comments Off on US House Passes National Tunnel Inspection Program

The US House of Representatives passed legislation approving a national tunnel inspection program. This of course came about as a result of a fatal accident from 2006 in a tunnel on Boston’s Big Dig project where a concrete ceiling tile fell on a car killing one person. More after the break. 

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Rockman's Ramblings

Problems with Registration and Outside News and Blogs

January 22, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Problems with Registration and Outside News and Blogs

I just found out that there was a problem with the site that prevented new members from registering on GeoPrac. My appologies to anyone who got a permission error after filling out the registration form. I humbly invite you to try again at your convenience.

Additionally, the Outside News and Blogs page that I was patting myself on the back for has apparently not been visible to the public either. Great big oops on my end. It should be up and running now.

Thank you to Elizabeth at the ASCE Geo-Institute who took the time to let me know about both problems. Do me a favor and check out the new G-I News Feed blog that she maintains.

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Journal Article Reviews

Challenging the Natural Flow Models

January 22, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Challenging the Natural Flow Models

According to the New York Times (by way of Geology.com), researchers from Franklin and Marshall College are saying that early work by geologists and hydrogeologists to formulate water-flow models may have been based on remnants of old dams created by settlers in the 1600s. The implication of these findings is that it changes the way ecologists and conservationists look at streams and what it means to return one effected by urbanization to a "natural state." (Photo by silverxraven)

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Available Resources

Geo-Institute Website Changes

January 22, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Geo-Institute Website Changes

The Geo-Institute of the ASCE has made some changes to their online services. For starters, they have now posted online versions of the Geo-Strata magazine. The only catch is you have to be a member to read them. Additionally, they now have a blog with an associated RSS news feed. If you don’t use RSS feeds, you can always head over to our Outside News and Blogs page where we have already incorporated this new blog’s feed into our aggregated news.

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Geologic Hazards

More Movement on La Jolla Landslide

January 20, 2008 rockman Comments Off on More Movement on La Jolla Landslide

For those of you following the landslide in residential La Jolla California known as the Soledad Mountain Road landslide, it made the news again a couple days ago when a section of the slide re-activated and slid 10-ft down the hill. Doesn’t sound like too big of a deal to me, no additional houses damaged. I’m curious how it related to the shear pins they installed a couple of months ago.

Additionally, the San Diego City Attorney has released a report detailing the sequence of events leading up to the landslide. One interesting note is that the Mayor of San Diego is in hot water with the City Attorney’s office for hiring outside legal council to handle the legal aspects of the landslide. According to the City Attorney’s office, he wasn’t allowed to do that, but so far the City Attorney hasn’t stepped in to force the outside attorney(s) to drop the case saying it would open the City up to even more liability.

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Rockman's Ramblings

Personal Reflections on I-35 Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

January 17, 2008 rockman Comments Off on Personal Reflections on I-35 Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

On January 15, the National Transportation Safety Board released a safety recommendation letter report to the FHWA related to the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis Minnesota that claimed the lives of 13 people and injured 145. The safety recommendations are based on the findings of an interim report from the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center  that some gusset plates, components of the steel trusses, were undersized (not thick enough). This deficiency was confirmed to be a flaw in the design and not construction-related based on review of the original drawings from the 1960s and inspection of the wreckage. Whether this was a calculation error or a drafting error will perhaps never be known as only portions of the original design calculations were located. But the point is that it was never caught by any reviewers.

When this event first happened back on August 1, I remember being very shaken up by it. After my initial sadness for the victims of the accident, my first thought as a geotechnical engineer was: “were the foundations at fault.” As more information came out, it quickly became evident that the failure did not have anything to do with the foundations but that it was related to the superstructure of the bridge. But this still was something that profoundly affected me. (Continues…)

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