Revised, new, and reapproved ASTM standards for the month of July. This month was a busy one for the various comittees with 108 standards related to concrete, geotechnical lab testing, asphalt, lab testing and other standards updated. Read on for the list.
Since the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has gotten the axe from President Obama, nuclear power plants around the country are faced with the prospect of virtually indefinite "temporary" storage of their nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel rods. The US Department of Energy has a legal obligation to find a permanent disposal facility for the spent fuel, and the agreements currently in place presumed that Yucca Mountain would be accepting nuclear waste by 2025 which clearly won’t happen. (Photo of dry cask temporary storage method for spent nuclear fuel from Connecticut Yankee). More after the break. […]
July 23, 2009 – Engineers, architects, contractors, code officials and others in the construction industry need access to ASTM standards referenced in the 2009 International Building Code (IBC) to design, construct and regulate safe and reliable buildings. The ASTM Standards: As Referenced in the 2009 International Building Code fulfills this need in one book.
This comprehensive book contains 280 ASTM referenced standards in Chapter 35 of the IBC, including critical topics such as structural steel, concrete, masonry, wood, soil, gypsum, insulation, fire protection, fire prevention, window fall prevention devices, and other important areas that contribute to safe and quality construction. [Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release [/Editor] […]
I’ll be brief since I have already mentioned this in a previous post and in the July GeoPrac newsletter. But today was the 40th Anniversary of the first time humans set foot on the moon. […]
A massive landslide in the little town of Nachterstedt in Eastern Germany early on Saturday morning local time caused two houses to vanish into a nearby lake. Three people are believed to have been in the buildings at the time of the slide. Rescue efforts are still on going and had to be halted during the night but were resumed the next morning. Helicopters with infrared cameras and dogs were used to find the missing people, but with no success so far. Approximately 60 residents of nearby buildings had to be evacuated and put up in emergency shelters. (Photo by Spiegel Online) [Editor] More after the break. [/Editor]
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.
A landslide in Logan Utah caused a portion of a canal to fail, causing a second mudslide. Three people, a mother and two children, were believed to be buried when the mud and debris hit their home. Rescue efforts were halted fairly quickly because of concern regarding the stability of the hillside. So far I have not read any reports that the bodies have been recovered. Map, Videos and more after the break. (Photo by Mike Terry, Deseret News, hat tip to Landslides Under a Microscope Blog)
Lunar geotechnical engineering, popular GeoPrac content for June, Dead Sea sinkholes and a toppled building in Shanghai are all featured in the 5th issue of the GeoPrac.net monthly newsletter for July of 2009. You can […]
Earthsoft, makers of the EQuIS geotechnical and environmental data management software, have posted a presentation titled ODOT Geotechnical Data Management System given by Kirk Beach of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Office of Geotechnical […]
[Editor] Moretrench [/Editor] Vice President Thomas J. Tuozzolo was elected to the Board of the International Association of Foundation Drilling (ASDC) at the IFCEE Conference held in March, 2009. Mr. Tuozzolo, who has overall responsibility […]
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