Keynetix_Geotechnical_Academy_1
Press Releases

Keynetix to Support the Geotechnical Academy

Keynetix are delighted to have been offered the opportunity to be a regular contributor to the Geotechnical Academy starting in June 2014. The Geotechnical Academy is a collaboration between Equipe Group and Geotechnical Engineering Ltd, […]

Snow. Jesse Hall. The Quad. Memorial Union. Tiger Plaza.
Miscellaneous

Mizzou Memorial Union Gets Lift from TerraThane Geotechnical Foam

Univ. of Missouri’s Historic Memorial Union, Built to Honor WWI Dead, Gets New Life with TerraThane Geotechnical Foam

Snow. Jesse Hall. The Quad. Memorial Union. Tiger Plaza.MOUNT AIRY, NC—The Univ. of Missouri’s iconic Memorial Union, with its Gothic architecture and central bell tower, was built to commemorate the 117 Mizzou alumni who lost their lives in WWI, and has been under silent attack. Like all buildings built atop the ancient dry riverbeds of the tributary valleys of the Missouri River, the soil beneath is a mixture of sand, clay, and fine rock particles and highly susceptible to erosion from water. So, while hundreds of thousands of students walked the hallways of the building, water escaping steam pipes far beneath caused severe drying of the soil and destabilized it enough so that erosion created voids, or cavities in the soil, some as large as four feet. In turn, this caused the concrete slab floors atop the voids to become uneven, and the eventual danger of even greater problems loomed large.

A team of engineers went after the problem, including MU alums, Matt VanderTuig, P.E., of Bartlett & West, Jefferson City, MO, and Mark Whitehead, P.E. with extensive structural design and environmental engineering management experience. They suggested to Chris Hentges, president of SIRCAL Contracting, Jefferson City, the general contractor in charge of the job, that instead of using the older method of mudjacking, a highly involved and intrusive process of drilling large holes in the slabs—sometimes removing the slabs entirely—and pumping “mud”, ultra-heavy Portland cement-based grout, into the void, then leveling the slabs, that the university might better be served by using the newer polyurethane foam system method called “foamjacking” or “polyjacking.”

[Editor] Be sure to click through for the rest of the interesting project from GeoPrac sponsor NCFI Polyurethanes and TerraThane! [/Editor]

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terzaghi_birthday
Comings and Goings

Happy Karl Terzaghi’s Birthday 2013!

Every second of October, geotechnical engineers around the world remember Karl Terzaghi on his birthday! Terzaghi is the father of soil mechanics, and I don’t think it is cliche to say he is also the […]

Wed June 5th 017
Miscellaneous

NCFI Geotechnical Foam, TerraThane, Helps Contractor Save Chicagoland Apartments With Minimal Disruption to Tenants

Wed June 5th 017

MOUNT AIRY, NC—A newly purchased 17-building apartment complex in Rolling Meadows, IL, built in the early 1960s, has seen plenty of tenants make their homes there. When new owners went about making renovations they discovered one 18,000 sq. ft. building suffering from voids in the soil beneath the slabs ranging from five inches to almost two feet in diameter caused by the stratified compacting of the historically hydric wetlands sedimentary soil, and water and sewer main breaks over the years. The voids caused some uneven floors and left the door open for future problems like mold.

[Editor] Read on for the remainder of the press release from GeoPrac.net sponsor NCFI Polyurethanes. [/Editor]

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Example sustainability report from EFFC and DFI's geotechnical carbon calculator tool
Press Releases

International Collaboration Delivers Pioneering Geotechnical Carbon Calculator

Foundation Industry Launches Standardized Open Source Tool to Compare the Sustainability of Different Foundation Techniques

Example sustainability report from EFFC and DFI's geotechnical carbon calculator toolHawthorne, NJ (May 1, 2013): The European Federation of Foundation Contractors (EFFC) and the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) are urging the geotechnical sector to make immediate use of their jointly-developed, pioneering carbon calculator tool, the Geotechnical Carbon Calculator.

Developed using internationally recognized standards, the Geotechnical Carbon Calculator is believed to be one of the construction industry’s first standardized and collaboratively produced carbon calculator tools at the European and international level.

Carbon measurement is at the core of the construction industry’s approach to sustainability. The Geotechnical Carbon Calculator uses a standardized emission factors database to make the analysis of the carbon footprint of a foundation project consistent and comparable across the foundation industry.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of this interesting press release from the Deep Foundations Institute! [/Editor]

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Bentley Geotechnical Website
Miscellaneous

New Bentley Geotechnical web site launched

Strah Antoljak, a Bentley Product Manager, posted in the gINT Linked In Group that Bentley has launched a new geotechnical website showcasing their two main geotechnical software products – gINT and GeoStructural Analysis (GSA). Make […]