Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other sudden change in stress condition, in which material that is ordinarily a solid behaves like a liquid. In soil mechanics, the term "liquefied" was first used by Allen Hazen in reference to the 1918 failure of the Calaveras Dam in California. He described the mechanism of flow liquefaction of the embankment dam as:
If the pressure of the water in the pores is great enough to carry all the load, it will have the effect of holding the particles apart and of producing a condition that is practically equivalent to that of quicksand... the initial movement of some part of the material might result in accumulating pressure, first on one point, and then on another, successively, as the early points of concentration were liquefied.
Geosynthetics are synthetic products used to stabilize terrain. They are generally polymeric products used to solve civil engineering problems. This includes eight main product categories: geotextiles, geogrids, geonets, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, geofoam, geocells and geocomposites. The polymeric nature of the products makes them suitable for use in the ground where high levels of durability are required. They can also be used in exposed applications. Geosynthetics are available in a wide range of forms and materials. These products have a wide range of applications and are currently used in many civil, geotechnical, transportation, geoenvironmental, hydraulic, and private development applications including roads, airfields, railroads, embankments, retaining structures, reservoirs, canals, dams, erosion control, sediment control, landfill liners, landfill covers, mining, aquaculture and agriculture.
Marine clay is a type of clay found in coastal regions around the world. In the northern, deglaciated regions, it can sometimes be quick clay, which is notorious for being involved in landslides.
Pipe ramming is a trenchless method for installation of steel pipes and casings. Distances of 30 m or more and over 500 mm in diameter are common, although the method can be used for much longer and larger installations. The method is useful for pipe and casing installations under railway lines and roads, where other trenchless methods could cause subsidence or heaving. The majority of installations are horizontal, although the method can be used for vertical installations.
T. Leslie Youd is an American geotechnical engineer and earthquake engineer, specializing in soil liquefaction and ground failure. He currently lives in Orem, Utah.
David Edwin Daniel is a former deputy chancellor of the University of Texas System. Previously, he was the fourth president of the University of Texas at Dallas, where he served from 2005 to 2015. He is a former councillor of National Academy of Engineering. As of 2020, he serves as a consultant in Dallas, Texas.
ASCE Library is an online full-text civil engineering database providing the contents of peer-reviewed journals, proceedings, e-books, and standards published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Library offers free access to abstracts of Academic journal articles, proceedings papers, e-books, and standards as well as many e-book chapters. Access to the content is available either by subscription or pay-per-view for individual articles or chapters. E-books and standards can be purchased and downloaded in their entirety. Most references cited by journal articles and proceedings papers in the library are linked to original sources using CrossRef. Linking provides researchers with the ability to link from reference citations to the bibliographic records of other scientific and technical publishers’ articles. ASCE also offers librarians usage statistics which are compliant with the COUNTER Code of Practice for Journals and Databases. All articles are in PDF and many journal articles are also available in HTML format.
Pressure grouting or jet grouting involves injecting a grout material into otherwise inaccessible but interconnected pore or void space of which neither the configuration or volume are known, and is often referred to simply as grouting.
Dr. Manoj Datta is an Indian engineer specialized in geotechnical engineering, foundation engineering, ground engineering, earth dams, landfill engineering and geoenvironmental engineering. He was the Director of Punjab Engineering College University of Technology and chairperson, Organizing Committee of 6th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics,. He was also held the office of Dean at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2004–2007) and retains his lien as Professor of Civil Engineering at the same institute.
Acta Geotechnica is a bimonthly peer-reviewed engineering journal published by Springer. The editor-in-chief is Wei Wu. The other two journal editors Ronaldo Borja, and Jian Chu (Singapore).
Microbiologically induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a bio-geochemical process that induces calcium carbonate precipitation within the soil matrix. Biomineralization in the form of calcium carbonate precipitation can be traced back to the Precambrian period. Calcium carbonate can be precipitated in three polymorphic forms, which in the order of their usual stabilities are calcite, aragonite and vaterite. The main groups of microorganisms that can induce the carbonate precipitation are photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria and microalgae; sulfate-reducing bacteria; and some species of microorganisms involved in nitrogen cycle. Several mechanisms have been identified by which bacteria can induce the calcium carbonate precipitation, including urea hydrolysis, denitrification, sulfate production, and iron reduction. Two different pathways, or autotrophic and heterotrophic pathways, through which calcium carbonate is produced have been identified. There are three autotrophic pathways, which all result in depletion of carbon dioxide and favouring calcium carbonate precipitation. In heterotrophic pathway, two metabolic cycles can be involved: the nitrogen cycle and the sulfur cycle. Several applications of this process have been proposed, such as remediation of cracks and corrosion prevention in concrete, biogrout, sequestration of radionuclides and heavy metals.
Timothy D. Stark is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign since 1991. Dr. Stark teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Foundation Engineering and Earth Structures, respectively, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UIUC and numerous short courses for various entities. Dr. Stark has served as a consultant and expert on a range of domestic and international projects including levees and dams, buildings, bridges, slopes, geosynthetics, seismic issues, waste containment facilities, and highways.
Robert M. Koerner was an American engineer and academic. He was Professor Emeritus at Drexel University and director emeritus of the Geosynthetic Institute. He died on December 1, 2019.
Robert Kayen is a civil engineer, geologist, and Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is a leading international expert in the fields of earthquake engineering, seismic soil liquefaction, and seismic displacement analysis of ground failures. Kayen's research focuses on geotechnical engineering, engineering characterization of natural hazards and extreme events, and earth science aspects of civil engineering. His works have been applied in earthquake engineering design of improved ground, building foundations, bridge abutments, lifeline, and environmental systems.
Ronald Kerry Rowe, OC, FRS, FREng, is a Canadian civil engineer of Australian birth, one of the pioneers of geosynthetics.
Jorge G. Zornberg is Professor and Joe J. King Chair in Engineering in the geotechnical engineering program at the University of Texas at Austin. He has over 35 years' experience in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. He is also one of the pioneers of geosynthetics.
The Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It covers foundations, retaining structures, soil dynamics, slope stability, dams, earthquake engineering, environmental geotechnics, geosynthetics, groundwater monitoring, and coastal and geotechnical ocean engineering. Papers on new and emerging topics within the general discipline of geotechnical engineering are encouraged, as well as theoretical, practice-oriented papers and case studies.
Charles Ng Wang-wai is the first CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability and Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He is also the vice-president of HKUST (Guangzhou) and the dean of the Fok Ying Tung Graduate School at HKUST, Clear Water Bay Campus. He is the immediate past president of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), where he served as the 17th President from 2017 to 2022.
Patrick J Fox, Ph.D., P.E., BC.GE, F.ASCE is an American civil engineer and currently the Dean of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University. His field of expertise is geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, with specializations in slope stability, retaining walls, landfills, and settlement. He obtained a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1992.
Geological engineering is a discipline of engineering concerned with the application of geological science and engineering principles to fields, such as civil engineering, mining, environmental engineering, and forestry, among others. The work of geological engineers often directs or supports the work of other engineering disciplines such as assessing the suitability of locations for civil engineering, environmental engineering, mining operations, and oil and gas projects by conducting geological, geoenvironmental, geophysical, and geotechnical studies. They are involved with impact studies for facilities and operations that affect surface and subsurface environments. The engineering design input and other recommendations made by geological engineers on these projects will often have a large impact on construction and operations. Geological engineers plan, design, and implement geotechnical, geological, geophysical, hydrogeological, and environmental data acquisition. This ranges from manual ground-based methods to deep drilling, to geochemical sampling, to advanced geophysical techniques and satellite surveying. Geological engineers are also concerned with the analysis of past and future ground behaviour, mapping at all scales, and ground characterization programs for specific engineering requirements. These analyses lead geological engineers to make recommendations and prepare reports which could have major effects on the foundations of construction, mining, and civil engineering projects. Some examples of projects include rock excavation, building foundation consolidation, pressure grouting, hydraulic channel erosion control, slope and fill stabilization, landslide risk assessment, groundwater monitoring, and assessment and remediation of contamination. In addition, geological engineers are included on design teams that develop solutions to surface hazards, groundwater remediation, underground and surface excavation projects, and resource management. Like mining engineers, geological engineers also conduct resource exploration campaigns, mine evaluation and feasibility assessments, and contribute to the ongoing efficiency, sustainability, and safety of active mining projects
