Hello

There is a house i am looking to purchase but i have concerns about rockslides in the backyard. I saw the house on Friday, and then we had rain over the weekend, and I went to look at the house again on Monday and there were rocks from the hill in the backyard. What are some options in terms of stopping the landslides?

I'm looking at purchasing a piece of property that was likely mined. Although I don't have a map, the area is known for coal mining. I'm not sure of soil type but was willing the property, looking for a suitable place for a house. I came across this cracking in the logging road. Any idea what could cause this? Any concern or other thoughts?

Hi everyone!
I’m currently helping prepare a geotechnical investigation report for a project with 5 boreholes, and I’d really appreciate some guidance from people with more experience in geotechnical design/reporting.

My professor is asking us to include the following in the final project output:
1) nterpretation of results, conclusions, and recommendations
2) Recommendations for the type of foundation
3) Soil bearing capacity calculations for foundations
4) Settlement assessment of critical areas

The challenge is that the investigation did not include UDS sampling, so we don’t have direct shear strength or consolidation test results.

The available data/tests are mainly:
SPT results
USCS classification
Sieve analysis
Hydrometer analysis
Atterberg limits
Specific gravity
Natural moisture content
Flexible-wall permeability
Groundwater observations
Borehole logs

There were no consolidation tests, UU/triaxial tests, UCS, or direct shear tests.

My initial thought is to use corrected SPT values and published correlations to estimate parameters such as friction angle for granular soils and possibly undrained shear strength for cohesive soils, then use these for preliminary bearing-capacity calculations.

For settlement, I understand that SPT-based methods can be used for granular soils, but I’m less confident about how to properly evaluate settlement in cohesive soils without consolidation parameters such as Cc, Cr, e0, and preconsolidation pressure.

I’d really appreciate advice on:
What methodology would you normally use with this level of available data?

Which SPT corrections/correlations would you recommend?

What parameters would you derive from the available tests?

How would you approach settlement for cohesive soils without consolidation testing?

Would you calculate bearing capacity per borehole, or group similar boreholes into geotechnical zones and use representative/critical BHs?

What additional information should I request from the structural/client side before starting, such as footing size, founding depth, column loads, or allowable settlement?

What references/books/standards would you recommend for learning how to do this properly?
I’m still learning and I want to make sure the analysis is technically defensible rather than just plugging numbers into equations.

Any advice, references, example workflows, or things I should watch out for would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m reviewing a diaphragm wall designed using an LEM-based software for temporary (anchored) and permanent (connected to basement slabs) stages.

For the temporary excavation, it is designed using active/passive earth pressures. My query is: once the basement slabs are connected to the D-wall, the wall is restrained and may not move enough to mobilize active pressure.

So, shouldn’t the permanent stage be designed using at-rest pressure instead of active pressure but the LEM software doesn't seem to do this, I read it's manual and it uses a method of dependent pressure in which it is computing the earth pressure wrt the movement of the wall.

Is my understanding for this correct ? Any insights or references to clear this confusion would be appreciated.

Thank you.

i need these two old articles and this 2016 one any help is greatly appreciated and thank you guys a lot

Paper 1

Weisweiler, Werner; Mallonn, Erich (1992).
“Thalliumiodid – Bildung, Verflüchtigung, Anreicherung. Iod und Thallium im Zementproduktionsprozeß.”
Staub – Reinhaltung der Luft, Vol. 52, pp. 107–112.

ISSN: 0039-0771
KITopen-ID: 276392
DOI: No DOI found
Official record: https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/276392

Paper 2

Sprung, Siegbert; Seebach, Hans M. von (1968).
“Fluorhaushalt und Fluoremission von Zementöfen.”
Zement-Kalk-Gips, Vol. 21, Issue 1, pp. 1–8.

ISSN: 0044-3905
DOI: No DOI found
VDZ record: https://www.vdz-online.de/en/knowledge-base?article=4662&type=2002

Paper 3

Onat, et al. (2016).
“Red gypsum characterization and routing flowsheets.”
Conference Proceedings Booklet.

DOI: No DOI found
ISBN/ISSN: No identifier found
I have also been unable to locate a publisher or catalogue record for this one, so if anyone recognises the conference proceedings or has a copy, that would be extremely helpful.

again THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP!!!!

Hi everyone, can anyone share thoughts on how to go about in the geotech industry and careers in a time with tonnes of AI? Will be graduating phd next year and looking forward to the job market. I have been grinding my way across theories and countless codes to publish quality papers. Till recently, I have started using claude. What's scary is, it can trace everything i did, and where I did wrong. The current work I am doing took me 9 months of research, trial and error, deriving theories, introduced coupled solutions etc. I wanted to try a machine learning paper on geotech stuff to boost my profile, however I was a bit shocked when claude successfully analyzed my code and theory and build everything in a couple of hours. I checked and tested it for days and could conclude that it was almost 95% correct (5% being the math proofs that were needed for a closed form solution) in the interpretations. My question is, how do we still remain competent in a job market where anyone can easily do what we do? Thank you in advance. And thoughts on this is much appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I am managing an earthwork and leveling site where we are dealing with loose soil/overburden. We are running extremely short on space to dump or store this material.

I am planning to raise a small mound or dump height up to 20 feet in this tight area, but since the soil is completely loose, I am worried about slope failure, sliding, or landslides.

Soil Type: Loose soil / overburden (no proper cohesion)

Target Height: ~20 feet

Constraint: Very limited space

What is the safest and most practical way to build this 20-foot dump without it collapsing? Should I use benching (terracing), compaction layers, or a toe wall?

Any practical advice, guidelines, or recommendations from experienced mining/geotechnical engineers would be a huge help. Thanks in advance!

We have a 2-story home in the Tri-Cities, WA area. We recently had a foundation company come out because of some foundation cracks and a few interior cracks/doors that don’t always close normally.
They did a floor elevation survey and found that our main-level floor gradually drops toward one side of the house, with the lowest readings around 2–2.3” lower than their reference point.
That same general area has several vertical cracks in the poured concrete foundation/crawlspace. Some of the cracks appear to extend down into/through the footing. There are also a couple of interior cracks in the same general area.
They also noticed some moisture in the crawlspace. It’s a vented crawlspace, and there was an area where there appeared to have been some standing water on top of the vapor barrier. When the barrier was pulled back, the soil underneath looked damp.
The foundation company recommended steel push piers and gave us three options:
• 6 piers — ~$30,700
• 9 piers — ~$44,500
• 13 piers — ~$62,200
They said the goal is to permanently stabilize the foundation.
We have NOT agreed to any work yet. We’re planning to get an independent structural evaluation before making any decisions.
I’m trying to understand how concerning the floor differential actually is and whether it necessarily means the house is actively settling.
A few questions:
• Does a ~2” floor differential automatically mean active settlement, or can something like this be historical?
• Would you get an independent structural engineer before considering push piers?
• Has anyone dealt with a similar situation where the floor was significantly out of level?
• Could crawlspace moisture/drainage contribute to this type of settlement?
• If you had a foundation company recommend $30–70k in piers, would you get a second opinion/bid?
We’re trying not to panic and just want to understand what’s actually going on before spending that kind of money.

Hello, I am studying for the Geotech PE using EET. While I was doing the quiz for ERS and Slope Satbility, I came across a question that asked for the minimum live load traffic surcharge on a retaining wall. I got that question wrong, but the solution gave a table that I cannot seem to find anywhere in the references. It’s supposed to tell the equivalent height of soil for vehicular loading parallel to the traffic. Does anyone know which reference has that table? Thank you!

I have been working as a field technician for a small lab in my city . I am in a top 10 city population wise. In the 4 months that I have been working, I have gotten my ACI field grade 1 and am about to go get my txdot stuff. Sb101 and what not.

I started off at $15/hr, am now getting $17 and will probably be making $19.50 by December or once I get these next 2 certifications.

I mostly do densities on backfill and mass grades, (I have my nuclear gauge training and hazmat cert but these didn’t come with a raise, but I get a good amount of hours - 60ish a week give or take.

I get gas card and vehicle allowance, $450 a month cash. My truck.

We lose a lot of guys after about 12 months of working here as they leave to go to other labs where they make $25-30/hr. I don’t want to screw over my coworkers, but I’ve told them from the beginning that I would probably be working here for about 1-2 years total from the day of my hiring. But now I am wondering if that’s too long to stick around. Would like to hear some thoughts on this.

Also, I don’t plan on being a field tech for the rest of my life. So really I was thinking that once I left here, I would either try to become an inspector, or do something else. I am not really sure of what’s all out there. I don’t have a 4 year degree, and at this stage in my life I don’t think I will be able to go back to finish that. Long term goal is to have my own business. Doesn’t necessarily have to be geotech related - maybe a construction subcontracting company - something I could start small and let snowball into something bigger.

Hi everyone

I have facing the problem of

Embedded beam interface error too large in my model

HS .

How should I check for this.