I am working on geotechnical investigations for 3 solar farms of about 500 acres each out in the desert. The electrical engineers for the project have not yet been chosen by the client. So I hope you guys can help with some basic questions so I can complete a preliminary report for possible...
What usage do you generally make of the ground response spectrums that are prepared by the geotechnical engineers?
Do you use the whole spectrum or just the Sa at the fundamental period?
Would different modes of the structural response contribute more or less response back to the base of a...
What do you consider to be the bearing capacity of ground that has liquefied?
I am checking a design for a large amusement park ride that was submitted to a city I review for.
The ride is 300 feet tall.
The ride was designed with a spread footing that is a hexagon that is 60 foot wide, with...
What would be the maximum pressure that a retaining wall would see from an expansive backfill?
If you backfill a wall with a highly expansive clayey soil, say with an EI above 120, would the maximum swelling pressure against the wall top out at the at rest pressure? Or could it go as high as...
How close to active 3rd rail power have any of you driven piles?
We are driving piles for a bridge bent located between two rail tracks. The rail people do not want to shut off power to two tracks at the same time. They only want to allow one to be taken out of service. We will be maybe...
I am working on excavation issues involved with a 12 story building with 3 level underground garage. I would like to know what would be a typical building load if I spread the load out on a mat over the entire building area? So mostly i would be considering the dead load, say 80% or so. For...
Do any of you have information on how to interprete some old caltrans penetration borings, done with a no. 2 Mckiernan-Terry air hammer at 115 psi? The logs show a record of penetration in seconds per foot. They terminate at 300 seconds per foot. Any way to convert this to SPT?
All I could...
Do any of you have references for or know of any correlations between unconfined compression strength and shear wave velocity? Specifically for hard rock?
A project I am working on has a large slope of Talus that is at about 1.4H:1V in its current natural condition. The slope rises for 400 or 500 feet above the project. Near the top of the slope the granitic beadrock is exposed. The project plans on cutting into the slope at the toe to construct...
I am looking for some ideas on what may be causing manholes and sewer mains to sink. I was recently called to check out the repair operation of a manhole and replacement of the sewer line where the line had been videoed and the pipe was so badly seperated near the manhole that the video camera...
What amount of differential settlement do you find to be the tolerable limit for typical tilt up concrete construction? What would you have typicaly for footing loads?
I would like to know what you would do for an investigation for a large distribution center warehouse about 2.1 million square feet in size.
How many borings would you do, what type of equipment would you use, how would you structure your investigation? And how much could you charge for it...
Do any of you know how to calculate the constrained soil modulus Ms directly from the CPT tip stress Qc for clay soils? I have some charts for sand, but I need to calculate it for CH clay?
I need this for the rehabilitation of a very old pipeline.
Does anyone have experience with bore and jack of pipes (24 inch water line)in conditions with cobles and occasional boulders? I reviewed most of the posts on the board on this subject but they were a little different than the sittuation I have.
I have a project with a 24 inch wateline that...
Does anyone have any experience testing samples of clay for consolidation and shears when the clay samples are sensitive to fresh water reactions due to the saline environment they were taken from? I have a clay sample that is dispersive when placed in acid, and when we previously tested it in...
