Not so long ago we did a job down in Amanzimtoti. Routine we thought, and due to there being a crunch on and none of the youngsters were available, I decided that a day on site would be great and that we would get through the work quickly and be out of there by mid [...]
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Geotechnical Instrumentation
“Every geotechnical design it to some extent hypothetical and every construction job involving earth or rock runs the risk of encountering surprises. These circumstances are the inevitable result of working with materials created by nature… by processes seldom resulting in uniform conditions. The inability of exploratory procedures to detect in advance all the possibly significant [...]
Ralph B Peck – The Godfather of Soil Mechanics
Ralph Peck Influential American civil engineer whose innovations earned him the sobriquet ‘the godfather of soil mechanics’ Ralph B. Peck was an American civil engineer who invented a controversial construction technique that would be used on some of the modern engineering wonders of the world, including the Channel Tunnel. Known as “the godfather of soil [...]
Those Dreaded Expansive Soils
It is often the small things in life which are important. And they are often overlooked. Take for instance heaving soils. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that a quarter of all homes in the United States have some damage caused by expansive soils and in a typical year in the United States they [...]
That Sudden Sinking Feeling
Here is an issue which doesn’t get a great deal of coverage in the text books or feature highly in typical soil mechanics texts. South Africa has a number of areas which are subject to collapsing soils, and from my point of view, living here in KwaZulu Natal, we have a fine body of collapsible [...]
My Geotechnical Fantasy
Back in the 1990’s I returned to South Africa flush with new found knowledge and enthusiasm. The reason of course being that I had just completed my Masters degree at that old and venerated institution of learning – Leeds University. The course was recognised as one of the big three for this kind of training, [...]
Why Install Instrumentation?
GeoZone GeoServices officially represent SISGeo Geotechnical Instrumentation in Southern Africa and as such are well placed to supply a wide range of instruments for any civils or mining project. We also have the capacity to design instrumentation programmes from scratch, carry out the installation and collect and analyse the data if need be. SISGEO Geotechnical [...]
Shear Strength Parameters and a Sacred Trust
These are esoteric terms indeed, but that said, fundamental to geotechnical engineering. ‘Burn the shear strength equation into your brains’ we were told by our soil mechanics lecturer. And indeed we did. For those not in the know, the basic shear strength equation is: However we are going to keep things simple here, so I [...]
The Dark Art of Geotechnical Investigations
This is indeed a dark art. You need to keep your wits about you, train your eye, question everything, be cognisant and understand the local geology, have some idea what to expect in terms of soil types, and above all be thorough in your approach. Desk study Someone may pay you to do this, and [...]