As many wise geotechnical engineers have said, “Good quality test results start with a good quality sample!” It is vital for geotechnical engineers and project managers to think twice about how the samples for their project will be handled from extraction in the field to arrival at the laboratory, as ultimately, the information from theseContinue reading “Getting the Best Data Starts with Proper Handling of Geotechnical Samples”
Category Archives: GeoTesting
How to Assess the Strength of Coal Combustion Residuals
Stability failures of impoundments involving release of Coal Combustion Residuals (CCRs; commonly known as coal ash,) like the one that occurred in Dan River Coal Ash Spill in 2014, have recently highlighted the importance of assessing the stability of CCR impoundments. CCR materials contain pollutants like Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic. Without proper management, these contaminantsContinue reading “How to Assess the Strength of Coal Combustion Residuals”
How Automated Geotechnical Testing Can Help in Today’s Laboratories
Commercial and academic geotechnical testing labs traditionally have required considerable time and effort to manually apply and monitor loads and pressures, adjust valves and regulators, and record data on paper (Figure 1A). Each of these time-consuming steps is prone to human error and operator subjectivity (not to mention some very late nights/early mornings in theContinue reading “How Automated Geotechnical Testing Can Help in Today’s Laboratories”
Time for an Audit? Don’t Panic!
Audits are a necessary “evil” that we all must endure when working in a geotechnical testing laboratory. Audits can be from an outside accreditation agency, a client for a specific project or simply an internal audit for quality review purposes. The scope of the audit may be a review of your quality system but itContinue reading “Time for an Audit? Don’t Panic!”
Business as Virtual
It is all but illegal now to shake hands, show an unmasked smiling face, walk into a business establishment and travel. So pretty much EVERYTHING I’m good at and enjoy doing I’m not allowed to do anymore. Panic much?…You bet I panicked! In a new world of “business as virtual” instead of “business as usual” I hadContinue reading “Business as Virtual”
ASTM International – Get Involved, Be Heard, Make a Difference!
What is ASTM International? ASTM is the abbreviation for American Society for Testing and Materials. ASTM International is a consensus standard writing organization that is involved with almost every type of material we, as engineers, work with. Soil, rock, geosynthetics, concrete, steel, plastic, etc. If you’ve worked on a tunnel, highway, deep foundation, dam, wasteContinue reading “ASTM International – Get Involved, Be Heard, Make a Difference!”
3 Best Practices for Shipping Rock Samples
Don’t you hate having to go back and do something a second time because it went wrong the first time around? What if you could have avoided that second time altogether? Although this idea pertains to many everyday activities, in the world of lab testing, this applies quite simply to packaging and shipping samples, specificallyContinue reading “3 Best Practices for Shipping Rock Samples”