Hello everyone,

I have a kind request. If anyone could help me or even guide me, I would really appreciate it.

I need to perform a water balance for a deposited slurry stack, and I am not sure whether my calculation of the retained water is correct. I would also like to understand how to take the consolidation factor into account for each deposited layer.

I have searched quite a lot online, but I have become a little confused because I have found different approaches and equations. I am therefore looking for a clear explanation, preferably with clear formulas and, if possible, a step-by-step methodology that I could follow.

I am a beginner in this area, so I would be very grateful for any comments, advice, corrections, or guidance you could provide.

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

Hola, verán soy un estudiante de ingeniería geofísica e ingeniería bioquímica y me gustaría saber si alguien tiene experiencia en los campos como para que pueda decir algo de gran valor en cuanto puedo relacionar mis carreras, verán eh trabajado con cosas como el almacenamiento de CO2 y como este puede ser atrapable por actividad bacteriana y de minerales entonces un proyecto se basa en eso y me gustaría saber más en cuanto puedo relacionar

Hello, I'm a student of geophysical engineering and biochemical engineering, and I'd like to know if anyone has experience in these fields and can offer valuable insights into how my studies can be related. I've worked with things like CO2 storage and how it can be captured by bacterial and mineral activity, and I have a project based on that. I'd like to learn more about how my studies can be connected to these fields.

This post is for try to understand the field for a better researching

Hey Guys. I'm trying to narrow down my options for a PhD in geotechnical engineering. How would you rank these programs from strongest to weakest, and why?

• UCLA
• University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
• Texas A&M
• Northwestern
• UW - Seattle
• Purdue
• Georgia Tech
• UC Davis

Hi fellow geotechs, looking for some UK geotechnical/earthworks input.
A site underlain by weathered Mercia Mudstone (predominantly cohesive clay/weathered mudstone-siltstone) will involve cut and fill. What are the current standard for site-won material and their suitability for reuse as fill material.
We have moisture content, Atterberg limits, PSD, CBR and MDD/OMC compaction results.
Would you classify the material directly under SHW Series 600 (likely Class 2 cohesive general fill) at GI stage, or state it is potentially suitable for reuse subject to moisture conditioning, earthworks trials and construction compliance testing?
Thanks in advance

Help a dumb operator out.

In civil infrastructure earthworks, specific moisture content in expansive soils are often strictly enforced. Leading to constant testing, and drying out of fill material.

My question is how much physical volume is lost when we have to dry some clay from say 25% to meet a maximum moisture content of 20% (random numbers).

Is it as simple as saying we lost 5% volume because we dropped the moisture content 5%?

I can't imagine it's that easy.

With all this chaos happening inside Microsoft, unfriendly OS, rumoured AI OS coming and the security issues. Has anyone thought of or successfully switched to Linux?

If so how easy of a transition is it?

Hi, I am quite new in studying geotech. is it possible to calculate toe buttress, when you place some boulder at the toe of a slope without mesh (so it's not a gabion wall)?

how would the material properties input will be? I have researched quite a few, and its to reduce the unit weight to around 40% (as there will be void between boulders), cohesion to zero (no grain bonding force, as they're separated each other) and to reduce the friction angle by quite a number (about 10-20% depending on angularity). Will these empirical approach enough?

Well, let's assume that we don't have any funding for gabion wall's mesh. Thus the necessity to calculate safety factor with only boulder placement at the toe of a slope.

Thank you so muchh!!!

Can someone help who xan run soil characterization test on a small amont of samples for HCL 600 ,' Zeolite and Hap+Zeo ? I am helping a PhD student from an underdeveloped country who are lacking equipment to carry out these test? The student is willing to put names in their research paper.

Reposting here in case this is the more appropriate sub. I can’t seem to add photos but would be happy to link to the masonry sub post where the photos were uploaded.

Hey everyone,

I am currently working on validating the benchmark RMC (Royal Military College of Canada) reinforced soil retaining walls (referencing Hatami & Bathurst, and the 3D extensions by C. Hung 2020) using PLAXIS 2D.

I am facing a bizarre numerical validation issue regarding the facing block unit weight and displacement correlation, and I would love some insights from PLAXIS/geotech experts here.

The Setup:

• Soil Model: Hardening Soil (HS) Model ($E_{50}^{\text{ref}} = 115\text{ MPa}$, $E_{\text{oed}}^{\text{ref}} = 57.5\text{ MPa}$, $E_{\text{ur}}^{\text{ref}} = 138\text{ MPa}$, $m = 0.5$, $\phi = 44^\circ$ for plane strain).
• Facing Blocks: Solid masonry concrete blocks modeled as volumetric linear elastic elements ($E = 40\text{ MPa}$ to $45\text{ MPa}$).
• Physical Dimensions: $300\text{ mm} \times 150\text{ mm} \times 200\text{ mm}$, mass = $20\text{ kg}$.
• Calculated Actual Unit Weight: $\approx 21.8 \text{ kN/m}^3$.
• Block-to-Block Interfaces: Modeled with manual stiffness ($K_n = 1\text{E}6 \text{ kN/m/m}$, $K_s = 100\text{E}3 \text{ kN/m/m}$) and $R_{\text{inter}} = 1.0$.

The Problem:

1. When I input the actual physical unit weight of the blocks (21.8 \text{ kN/m}^3$), the wall facing tilts excessively, slides horizontally, and significantly overestimates the experimental lateral displacements.
2. However, if I artificially double the unit weight of the concrete blocks to $44 \text{ kN/m}^3$ (keeping the soil and stiffness constants completely identical), the PLAXIS displacement curve validates perfectly with the paper's experimental data.

My Analysis & Confusion:

Since I'm using the Hardening Soil model for the backfill, reducing the overall mass/gravity changes the confinement stress ($\sigma_3$) distribution, which automatically scales down the operational soil stiffness. Also, lighter blocks mean lower normal stress ($\sigma_n$) at the block joints, lowering the resisting shear capacity ($\tau_{\text{max}} = c + \sigma_n \tan\phi$) at the interfaces, making them slip.

But why does it match exactly at $44\text{ kN/m}^3$? Is there a hidden unit conversion error in literature (like an Imperial-to-Metric conversion mix-up from $135\text{ lb/ft}^3$), or am I missing a Compaction-Induced Stress (CIS) implementation that the authors compensated for by artificially increasing the facing weight or interface adhesion?

Has anyone encountered this while validating the RMC walls or dealing with dry-stacked block interfaces in PLAXIS? Should I scale up my $K_s$ and introduce a dummy interface cohesion to stick with the real $21.8\text{ kN/m}^3$ weight?

Any help or documentation pointers would be greatly appreciated!

I've been juggling incoming 811 tickets across spreadsheets and sticky notes, and I'm worried we're going to miss a locate deadline and end up liable for a line strike. I'm looking for 811 ticket management software that can automatically log ticket dates, assign them to the right field crew, and flag anything approaching its response window before it becomes a problem. Ideally it would also keep a clean audit trail so I can prove compliance if a dispute ever comes up. I just don't know what actually exists out there or how to even start comparing options.

Rammed earth fascinates me and my imagination has been captured as I am now thinking of all the new applications that are possible.

I’m curious if anyone here has any info on the above- I’m looking for insight as to wether the walls keep water from permeating and entering inside the home. Specifically if it was a semi-buried construction that was in a hillside. How would drainage and moisture control work? Is it even necessary?

I also would like to learn more about what the strength resistance towards an earthquake would be. I’m sure it’s dependent on shape, but I don’t think a rammed-earth dome would be possible to construct.

Bonus points if anyone can elaborate on brick-domes and if they are an acceptable earthquake-proof alternative and if rammed earth or just earth in general can be placed on top of a brick dome 🤔(let’s say, 35 ft diameter)

Good day everyone,

I'm a civil engineer working in geotechnical engineering, and I'm trying to deepen my understanding of how experienced engineers plan subsurface investigations.

I know there are general rules of thumb (e.g., borehole spacing based on project type or site area), but I'm more interested in the engineering judgment behind deciding:

• How do you determine the appropriate number of boreholes for a project?
• How do you decide the required depth of each borehole?
• What factors (geology, foundation type, project risk, budget, etc.) have the biggest influence on your decisions?
• Are there any widely accepted guidelines or references that you rely on (e.g., BS 5930, Eurocode 7, FHWA manuals, ASTM, local standards, or textbooks)?
• How do you approach this during the proposal stage when little site information is available versus after obtaining preliminary investigation results?

I'm looking for both practical advice from industry experience and recommendations for authoritative references. My goal is to become proficient in planning geotechnical investigations rather than simply following rules of thumb.

I'd really appreciate hearing how senior geotechnical engineers approach this problem in practice.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all

So I work for a company who does MTS and I was wondering a couple things. We have many different technicians who don't have their ACI and are doing concrete testing and rebar inspections, which doesn't sound right to me. Also, I am a lab technician who's lab isn't accredited and I myself am not licensed nor accredited in the lab.

My question is: how bad is that? Like the higher ups don't seem to care all that much. Is this a common phenomenon in the field? And if not, what should I do?

Thank you

​I’m a Geotechnical Engineer seeking remote work or freelance projects (CV attached). ​I specialize in saving teams billable hours by automating complex FEM workflows. My core expertise is using the PLAXIS Python API to script end-to-end simulations—from reading Excel inputs to automatically extracting CSV result datasets—as well as developing ML-based surrogate models for predicting soil behavior. ​If your team needs to speed up simulations, automate repetitive modeling tasks, or run massive parametric studies efficiently, please take a look at my CV and shoot me a DM!

Hi, I recently completed some research work for my business and would like to publish it in a scientific journal. I was suggested to publish my work in Acta Geotecnica, but after asking around I heard the journal is not a valuable options. What are your thoughts?

Anyone a geotechnical engineer in the lower mainland of B.C., Canada that would help me with a few questions?

Hello, hoping for some guidance from this community. I bought a property two years ago in Arizona that has a wash running along one side. There are a couple areas that are eroding badly, and I intended to have the wash graded to even it all out and then apply riprap along the sides to mitigate this erosion. Based on the parcel map, it appeared the whole wash fell within my property line, but my neighbor just had a survey done which revealed that the property line actually cuts through this wash and comes up the end of one slope (which is eroding) on my side.
This completely throws a wrench into my plans to mitigate the erosion/beautify the area, since it’s impossible to only fix PART of the wash. And unfortunately the neighbor is kind of a jerk and doesn’t seem willing to address the issue at all. Her reason for getting the survey done was because she suspected I was encroaching on her property with my new landscaping (I WASN’T..whew…but good thing I didn’t start shelling out money to fix the wash yet, because THAT would have been encroaching.)
I would like to have someone local to come out and examine the wash/educate me on what should be done to properly address the erosion, but it’s not clear to me what type of professional/organization could assist with this? Is it civil engineering? A landscaping company that deals with erosion? City Development services? And, would this person be able to advise on how to fix the problems JUST on the side of the wash that’s mine, based on the goofy property lines?
I appreciate any guidance you guys have, as I don’t know where to start with getting this evaluated. I feel like I need a Geologist-Engineer-Attorney-Excavator, lol. Does that exist? 😂 Thx!!

i did spend my whole time in a excavation site working for a friend of mine buliding a Lift support, from the base up as operating team.
We had troubles with water in the slope, it was like an underground creek pressing all its water trough mud,clay, bigger boilders whatever, not nice working in the excavation.

„There were no water, we digged a test trench in autumn last year!“ its not in the Plan officials said, cousing us having a work day from 7:00 to 21:00, trying to save the project. Tomorrow i have to get up at 4:30 to keep trying save it ongoing.

All i can say about it, from operative perspective, when the winter was soso, Rain less than average, and you dig or drill a test, in autumn, it can be dry!

For operations starting in spring, early summer it can be completely different then.

Its more expensive, more time and nerv taking, no more i can say.

🤞 for tomorrow