News – Page 166 – GeoPrac.net

Directional Core Drilling for Tunneling

October 6, 2009 rockman Comments Off

When you’re doing a geological investigation for a tunnel, only having vertical or traditional angled core holes only gives you a very limited picture of geology of the rock mass through which you’re going to […]

Software Updates

GEO-SLOPE GeoStudio 2007 Version 7.15 Update – Windows 7 Compatible

October 5, 2009 rockman Comments Off

GEO-SLOPE International, makers of the GeoStudio 2007 geotechnical software suite have announced a version 7.15 update for their GeoStudio 2007 software products, which includes SLOPE/W, SIGMA/W and SEEP/W, QUAKE/W and others. This is their first […]

Weekend CUP October 5, 2009

October 5, 2009 rockman Comments Off

Niagara Tunnel update from Ontario Geofish Fate of Miami tunnel project is in limbo again (as funding was not secured) – Miami Herald via ASCE SmartBrief Caltrans Could Start Work On Caldecott Tunnel Expansion By […]

Happy Birthday Terzaghi!

October 2, 2009 rockman 1

Karl von Terzaghi, the father of Soil Mechanics would have been 126 years old today! Two years ago, a colleague sent me an email wishing me a Happy Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday. So I decided for […]

Weekend (Thursday) CUP for October 1, 2009

October 2, 2009 rockman Comments Off

The International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) has established European Technical Committee 10 (ETC10) to "evaluate the geotechnical design process covered by Eurocode 7 by carrying out a number of design examples". […]

Video: Aerial Shots of Leaning Tower of South Padre

October 2, 2009 rockman 1

In a previous post, I described the planned demolition of a high-rise condo development on South Padre Island in Texas because of 16-in or more of settlement. This video from YouTube (SouthPadreParade is the username) […]

Helicopter sledgehammer used to scale loose rocks from a cliff in Norway.

Video: Helicopter Based Rock Scaling “Sledgehammer”

October 1, 2009 rockman 3

[Updated May 26, 2011] A new, cleaner, longer version of the video has surfaced on YouTube recently. You can see it embedded below. It includes some footage of attempts to "water bomb" the rock loose […]

MSEW and ReSSA Updates

September 29, 2009 rockman Comments Off

ADAMA Software has released update 10.1 for their Mechanically Stabilized Earth retaining wall design software, MSEW 3.0 as of September 29, 2009. Click through for the download link and a few of the changes.

I expect that when the new FHWA MSE Wall Manual hits the street in a few months time that we will see some significant updates with the MSEW software package.

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Video of Car Swallowed by Sinkhole Related to Tunneling in Cairo, Egypt

September 29, 2009 rockman Comments Off

cairo_sinkhole_swallows_car

On September 3, a sinkhole opened up on a downtown Cairo street, swallowing the car pictured here. According to the description accompanying the video uploaded to YouTube by TheDailyNewsEgypt, the sinkhole was related to tunneling activities for the Cairo Metro line that is currently under construction. Click through for the video. […]

Standards and Codes

ASTM Updates September 2009

September 28, 2009 rockman Comments Off

American Society of Testing Materials Logo - ASTM This post contains a summary of geotechnical, materials testing, geosynthetic and related testing standards that were updated by ASTM during the month of September. This month there were not as many updates as the last couple, but a few that caught my eye are a new standard for measuring geosynthetic-soil resilient interface shear stiffness, a revision to the standard practice for laboratories testing concrete and concrete aggregates for use in construction and criteria for laboratory evaluation and a revision to the standard for measuring slump flow of self-consolidating concrete.

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