Geologic Hazards

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Geologic Hazards

Maitland Sinkhole Stabilization Project – Central Florida

July 14, 2009 rockman Comments Off on Maitland Sinkhole Stabilization Project – Central Florida

image A massive sinkhole more than 300-ft in diameter and with depths to bedrock of up to 350-ft is located under a future I-4 traffic interchange in an Orlando suburb. A massive $9 million stabilization project is underway to prepare the site for the eventual TI construction. The size of the Maitland Sinkhole is on par with the largest sinkholes to form in central Florida in recent times. There is not a void present, instead it is infilled with a compressible sand deposit. (Image from FDOT)

The mitigation method includes drilling over 300 grout injection holes, and performing grouting operations to infill cracks in the limestone bedrock. Then in the same holes, compaction grouting will be used as a method of ground improvement to densify the sand in place. Once the grouting is complete, the site will be surcharged to compress any remaining weak layers. Click through for a subsurface profile and location map. Via ASCE SmartBrief.

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Devil's slide repair of PCH 1 using
Geologic Hazards

Devil’s Slide Repair and Tunnel Bypass Presentation

May 28, 2009 rockman 1

Devil's slide repair of PCH 1 using [Updated Thursday May 29, 2009 – 1:00 PM PDT] Added a photo of the AIS Kaiser S2 excavator (spider excavator), and added photos of the Devil’s Slide debris dump where they have put the landslide material removed and the material from the tunnel excavation. [/Update]

Grant Wilcox, Geology Branch Chief with CALTRANS Office of Geotechnical Design West gave a presentation on the Devil’s Slide repair along PCH Highway 1 at the Southwest Geotechnical Engineer’s Conference on May 12 in Phoenix. I’ve posted about the project here before. When I saw Mr. Wilcox, I knew he looked familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. At the beginning of his presentation he made light of his being on You-Tube…then it clicked! He gave a nice overview of the history of the failures, the geology, and the tunnel project. What follows are a few quick tidbits from his talk based on my notes. (Photo via Caltrans site).

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Video thumbnail of Rockfall protection installation
Geologic Hazards

Rockfall Protection Videos from G.T.S.

May 21, 2009 rockman 2

Video thumbnail of Rockfall protection installation More videos! French Company G.T.S. has posted some great videos on rockfall protection systems on their YouTube channel. I don’t speak French, so I can’t give you any more info on the company (although their website looks like it has plenty of info!). But the videos cover the preparation of, drilling for,  and installation or rockfall protection fences and barriers as well as a couple of general rockfall ones. They just have video with background music, so no worries about a language barrier. You can watch the installation video below.

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Anchored landslide in Japan
Geologic Hazards

Landslide Mitigation Examples in Japan

May 6, 2009 rockman Comments Off on Landslide Mitigation Examples in Japan

A couple of weeks ago the Landslides Under a Microscope blog had two nice posts about Landslide Mitigation examples in Japan. The author references the book “Landslides in Japan” (1996), but I’m not sure if […]

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Geologic Hazards

Provo Utah Rock Fall Event

April 27, 2009 rockman 1

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The rock at left travelled nearly a mile down the slope and picked up some significant velocity before impacting a house, hitting the back wall and damaging the ceiling before dropping through the floor into the garage and damaging the garage door. In an often-overlook advantage of the current financial crisis, the house was currently in foreclosure and therefore not occupied at the time of the damage. Read on for links, more info and a map of the location so you can view the terrain. (Photo by Provo Fire Department by way of Utah Geologic Survey)

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SR 87 landslide in Arizona
Geologic Hazards

SR 87 Landslide Presentation at Roads and Streets Conference

April 17, 2009 rockman Comments Off on SR 87 Landslide Presentation at Roads and Streets Conference

SR 87 landslide in Arizona Last week was the annual American Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona Roads and Streets Conference in my home town of Tucson, Arizona.  Its a transportation themed conference as you might guess, but there are usually a few geotechnical-type presentations. This year, there was an excellent presentation on the SR 87 Landslide that occurred about 1-year ago on the highway between Phoenix and Payson.  The presentation was given by Keith Dhalen, PE with AECOM , Wayne Harrison, RG also with AECOM and Scott Neely, PE with Terracon . Read on for my recap of the presentation. (Photo by ADOT via AZGS)

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