A 13-story apartment tower in the Lotus Riverside Development toppled over almost intact in Shanghai on June 26. The apartment building was still under construction and one worker was killed. According to the Shanghai Daily, there was an excavation for an underground parking garage immediately next to the failed structure. From the photos and video, it appeared that the building fell away from the excavation. More info and video after the break. (Imaginechina via AP Images via Wall Street Journal)

Redlands, California—The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will implement an enterprise version of EarthSoft's Environmental Quality Information System (EQuIS) for ArcGIS to better manage, analyze, and share geotechnical data throughout the organization. An agreement between ODOT and EarthSoft, an ESRI business partner, will see EarthSoft provide the transportation industry standard Data Interchange for Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (DIGGS) as electronic data deliverables (EDD). The new data will then reside and be accessible through ODOT's enterprise-wide geographic information system (GIS)-supported EQuIS database.

The Devil's Slide Tunnel project is on schedule and on budget according to a news story at ABC7News.com from earlier in June. The video (shown after the break) has a few nice shots showing rock bolting, soil nailing at the portals, and the geologic mapping and laser scanning that happens at the tunnel face.

I also came across a very neat article about how the Ocean Shore Railroad Company was the first to try to cut into the slope along what is now PCH 1 at the Devil's Slide back in the early 1900s. They were trying to connect the then rural farming community of Half-Moon Bay with San Francisco. The railroad fought the reoccurring landslide and serious rockfalls. Ocean Shore Railroad went bankrupt in 1922 and pulled up its rails, making room for the current highway. (Photo at left from halfmoonbaymemories.com)

The Association of State Dam Safety Officials publishes a great collection of news links every month. In this batch, there are a number of articles related to the TVA coal ash dam failure, including links to a recently released EPA list of the 44 coal ash dams rated with a high hazard. Initially, the EPA was not releasing the locations at the request of the USACE because of fears that the dams may become a terrorism target. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Other interesting news items from the ASDSO included a dam failure in Brazil that killed 7 people, a leaking dam in Kentucky, the possibility of rebuilding Teton Dam in Idaho (site of a famous dam failure), seepage at Howard Hanson Dam in Washington State.

It's hard to believe that such a tremendously historic scientific and cultural event is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this month! On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts "Buzz" Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. [Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin near a leg of the Lunar Module. (From enwiki), NASA Source]

One of the first featured articles I published on GeoPrac was a remarkable narrative by my NCS Consultants, LLC colleague, Dr. Ed Nowatzki, sharing his recollections of his work on the geotechnical (soils engineering)aspects of the design of the first lunar lander or LM. I was doubly reminded of his article recently, first because of the milestone anniversary, but also because a different spacecraft was having some soil-related trouble on the Planet Mars.

Fortunately nobody was seriously injured as a drilled shaft rig toppled over at a construction site in Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia. No word on what caused the accident at the building site. The operator was inside the cab at the time and suffered minor bruises. The article mentioned that the mast of the rig landed in between two other pieces of equipment and fell on an area that was occupied by a group of workers just moments earlier. (Photo by Michaela O'Neill, thedaily.com.au)

D5434 - "Standard Guide for Field Logging of Subsurface Explorations of Soil and Rock" and D4429 - "Standard Test Method for CBR (California Bearing Ratio) of Soils in Place" are two standards revised this month that may be of interest to geotechnical engineers. Those in the construction services and materials testing business should take a look at a number of changes to relevant standards. This month there are also a few revised standards related to detection of different ions in water. I also see that there are a number of geothermal and solar standards that were reapproved this month, most of them seem to have been last modified in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Click through for the full list of new, revised and reapproved ASTM standards from June.

ADSC published a summary of some research being conducted by the University of Texas, Arlington (UTA) through funding by TxDOT. The research involves the lateral load testing of drilled shafts that are used for cable barriers in median applications in the State of Texas. The South Central Chapter of ADSC donated the drilling, setting of steel and placement of concrete for the project.  (Photo by TxDOT via ADSC)

Sinkholes at the Dead Sea have threatened tourists and forced Israeli (and perhaps Jordanian)authorities to close various facilities and cancel development plans to avoid these geologic hazards. These are not your typical Karst sinkholes. According to a recent AP article, they are caused by the erosion of salt deposits by fresh water as a result of the lowering of the water level. This is a human caused phenomenon as current size of the Dead Sea is just 1/3 of its size in 1960 since water has been diverted from the Jordan River, its main tributary to be evaporated for its phosphates. At the end of the article is an interesting note that the World Bank is currently evaluating a proposal to replenish the Dead Sea by digging a $15 Billion canal from the Red Sea, about 100 miles away. (Photo by urban_hipster)

ENR reports that a nuclear waste repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden could begin construction as early as 2016. The facility would consist of 50km of tunnels in granite bedrock up to 500-m deep. The proposed site is approximately 75-km north of Stockholm. The projected cost of the facility is $2.5 billion to $3.2 billion (US$ I presume). The Swedes would be chasing the Finns who might be the first country to have a permanent underground nuclear waste repository for spent nuclear fuel. (Illustration by BBC of Finland's proposed repository)

Jet Grouting is a ground improvement technology used to mix the insitu soils with cement to create a soil cement column. The systems can be single, double or triple fluid jet grouting. The common element to all three is the cement grout. The double fluid systems involve using another fluid (typically air) to increase the velocity of the jet to better scour the soil. Triple fluid systems typically use water and air to scour the material and grout is delivered via a third nozzle. (Photo courtesy of NCS Consultants, LLC)

The Jet Grouting Task Force of the Grouting Committee of the Geo-Institute of the ASCE (phew!) has prepared a guideline document that will be of use to any owner, engineer or contractor involved in a jet grouting project, and it reads like an outline for a specification but with commentary. The task force was made up of representatives from contractors (including Nicholson Construction and Geosystems, Hayward Baker and Bechtel), owners (including USBR, FHWA) and consultants (too many to list).

GEO5 Finite Element Method software increases design safety, feasibility

Santa Rosa, CA – June 16, 2009 – gINT Software, Inc.

FINE Software’s GEO5 FEM and Tunnel software is newly available in North America through its exclusive distributor, gINT Software. GEO5 FEM is designed for civil engineering firms looking for cost-effective solutions for both new development projects and for existing sites affected by geotechnical problems such as terrain settlement, excavation and slope stability, sheet piling, and underpinning.

[Editor] Disclosure: gINT Software, Inc. is a sponsor of GeoPrac. All images courtesy of gINT. Read on for the rest of the press release. [/Editor]