Careers in Geotechnical Engineering

Minnesota Minerals Education Workshop 2011

Career Opportunities in Geotechnical Engineering

Presented by

Carlos Carranza-Torres,Associate Professor ofGeotechnical Engineering,Department of Civil EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota Duluth

June 21-23, 2011 - Mesabi Range Community and Technical College, Eveleth, MN

Topics to de discussed

-Introduction.

-What is geotechnical engineering?

-What type of work does a geotechnical engineer do? (the book description)-How does geotechnical engineering relate with other common disciplines, like geology and mining engineering?

-What geotechnical engineering companies do? (the `real life description)

-What is a typical undergraduate study plan to focus on geotechnical engineering?

-Time for questions.

Geotechnical engineering

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering that deals with rocks, soils and underground water, and their influences in the design, construction and operation of engineering projects (e.g., civil and mining engineering projects).


-Introduction.






The geotechnical engineer work

Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

Geotechnical aspects of structures.

Geotechnical failures.

Determination of physical and mechanical properties of rocks and soils.

Geotechnical construction and soil remediation.



Geotechnical aspects of structures: for example, design and construction of foundations for buildings, bridges and dams; design and construction of tunnels.

The Sears Tower in Chicago is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It needs massive foundations to transmit the structural loads into the ground. The design of foundations for tall buildings depends on the nature of the underlying soils. Geotechnical engineers are responsible for assessing these soil conditions and developing suitable foundation designs.

From Coduto et al. (2011), Geotechnical Engineering. Pearson.

The design and construction of foundation for large bridge, such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, is the task of the geotechnical engineer. The type of and size of foundations needed in a large bridge depend very much on the conditions of soil and rock on which the foundations are going to rest on. Assessing the characteristics of the soil and rock for designing the foundations is also the task of a geotechnical engineer.


Oroville Dam in California is one of the largest earth dams in the world. It is made of 61,000,000 m3 (80,000,000 yd3) of compacted soil. The design and construction of large dams like this require extensive geotechnical engineering studies.


The Ted Williams Tunnel is part of the Central Artery Project in Boston (the `Big Dig). This prefabricated tunnel section was floated to the job site, and then sunk into a prepared trench in the bottom of the bay (the tunnel resulting from sinking and linking together prefabricated sections like these is called a prefabricated submerged tunnel).


Tunnel excavation and support

Excavation of tunnel top heading. Egnatia Odos Project. Greece


Top heading and bench configuration. Egnatia Odos Project. Greece


Tunnel wall collapse. Egnatia Odos Project. Greece

Final support design and construction

Construction of tunnel invert. Egnatia Odos Project. Greece

Final support design and construction

Impermeabilization of final support. Egnatia Odos Project. Greece



Geotechnical failures: although the purpose of sound geotechnical designs is to avoid failures, when geotechnical failures have occurred, geotechnical engineers have learnt from past mistakes, and have advanced developments in the field of geotechnical engineering. Examples include development of proper draining systems (including geo-membranes) to stabilize soils that are prone to develop erosion and landslide problems; development of proper compaction techniques to avoid failure of dams and road sub-grades; development of proper drainage techniques to avoid liquefaction failures.

This house was built near the top of a slope and had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, a landslide occurred during a wet winter, undermining the house and causing part of its floor to fall away.


Teton Dam (an earth-filled dam) in Idaho failed in 1976, only a few months after the embankment had been completed and the reservoir began to be filled. This failure killed 14 people and caused about $400 million of property damage. The cause of the failure was attributed to type of soil and compaction degrees of soil in the core of the dam and in the foundation.


The fill in the approaching ramp to this bridge has settled because the underlying soils are soft clays and silts. However, the bridge has not settled because it is supported on piles. Although this failure is not as dramatic as the previous ones, it is a source of additional maintenance costs, and can be a safety hazard to motorists and pedestrians.


The 1964 Niigata Earthquake in Japan caused extensive liquefaction in this port city. These apartment buildings rotated when the underlying soils liquefied.




Determination of physical and mechanical properties of rocks and soils: for example, using field and laboratory testing.

Drilling exploratory borings to obtain soil and rock samples. This rig drills holes up to 30 m (100 ft) deep.


Testing samples in a soil mechanics laboratory. These tests help geotechnical engineers determine the mechanical properties of soils and rock.


Performing a field reconnaissance. This is the top of a recent landslide, and the man in the photograph isexamining the soil and rock exposed in the scarp.


Monitoring geotechnical instruments. These instruments measure groundwater levels and water pressure, soilmovements, and other attributes of water and soils below the ground surface.




Geotechnical construction and soil remediation: when working for contractors, geotechnical engineers can also become actively involved in construction projects.

The fill for this highway near Fort St. John, British Columbia is being reinforced with geogrids, thus allowing the side slopes to be steeper than would be possible with an unreinforced fill.


This rig is drilling a hole in the ground that will be filled with reinforced concrete to form a drilled shaft foundation.


This rig is installing a series of wick drains, which help accelerate the settlements that will occur as a result of an earth fill.


Advertising brochure ofKeller Inc., a geotechnical engineering consulting/contractor company(downloaded from Internet)


-Introduction.






Geotechnical engineering, geology and mining

Geotechnics is the name commonly used to refer to the common field of civil engineering and geolgy, or civil engineering and mining engineering, in which geotechnical issues are addressed.

Geotechnical engineeringin civil engineering and its relationship with Geology

Adapted from Coduto et al. (2011), Geotechnical Engineering. Pearson.

Geotechnical engineering, geology and mining (Cont.)

There is a wide range of problems addressed jointly by engineering geologists (who has a geology background) and geotechnical engineers (who has a civil engineering background). Examples include site or ground investigations (including field and lab testing of physical and mechanical properties of soil and rock) in which geologists and engineers normally work together.

Geotechnical engineeringin civil engineering and its relationship with Mining Engineering

Based on a sketch from Coduto et al. (2011), Geotechnical Engineering. Pearson.

The mining geotechnical engineer

In mining industry a mining geotechnical engineer can apply his/her skills and get involved, for example, in:

-Design and construction of open pit and underground excavations.-Design and construction of gravity earth-fill tail-dams.-Site investigations and field and lab testing (normally in a team that includes also engineering geologists).

The mining geotechnical engineer (Cont.)

The mining geotechnical engineer by himself/herself is not trained to solve all aspects of mining (that is why mining engineering as a career exists!). Furthermore the mining industry is an industry that is very multidisciplinary in nature.

But when the mining geotechnical engineer teams up with mining engineers, geologists, environmental engineers and others, a great spectrum of problems related to mining can be addressed.

Clear examples of these are companies like SRK-Consulting and Golder which were started by geotechnical engineers Golder still being very much onto Civil Geotechnical Engineering and SRK very much more focused onto mining, and therefore very multidisciplinary.


-Introduction.






Minnesota-based geotechnical engineering companies

In alphabetical order:

Barr Engineering (www.barr.com). Originally started as water engineering company (designing reservoirs, pipelines, etc.) it provides very good geotechnical engineering services.

Broun Intertec (www.braunintertec.com). Although it has a current focus on environmental engineering, it provides very good geotechnical engineering services.

Minnesota-based geotechnical engineering companies


Barr Engineering (www.barr.com). Originally started as water engineering company (designing reservoirs, pipelines, etc.) it provides very good geotechnical engineering services.

Broun Intertec (www.braunintertec.com). Although it has a focus on environmental engineering, it provides very good geotechnical engineering services.

Global geotechnical engineering companies


Golder Associates (www.golder.com). Originally started in Canada, it has ~160 offices around the world.

SRK Consulting (www.srk.com). Started in South Africa, it has ~40 offices around the world. In contrast with Golder Associates, SRK specializes in geotechnical engineering applied to mining.

Both Golder Associates and SRK were started by geotechnical (civil) engineers as mainly geotechnical engineering companies; nowadays the companies are highly multidisciplinary in scope, employ not only geotechnical engineers but also a large number of professionals in other areas like environmental sciences, geology, biology, social sciences, natural resources sciences, etc.

Global geotechnical engineering companies


Golder Associates (www.golder.com). Originally started in Canada, it has ~160 offices around the world.

SRK Consulting (www.srk.com). Started in South Africa, it has ~40 offices around the world. In contrast with Golder Associates, SRK specializes in geotechnical engineering applied to mining.

Slope stability problems. Open pit (copper) mining

Chuquicamata Mine. Calama, Chile

Slope stability problems. Open pit (copper) mining

Radomiro Tomic Mine. Calama, Chile

Wall stability problem. Open pit diamond mining

Koidu K1 Diamond Mine. Sierra Leone, Africa

1111,000 m(~3,281 ft)

Project Rajo Sur (Southern Open Pit) at El Teniente mine crater, Chile

112


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-Introduction.






Soil and Rock Mechanics

Soil mechanics and rock mechanics are two important components of the geotechnical engineering field (i.e., core courses in any geotechnical educational programs). Soil mechanics and rock mechanics deal with the study of the physical and mechanical properties of soil and rock, respectively, and the behavior of soil and rock masses when subjected to various mechanical loading/unloading conditions.

Geotechnical engineering courses at University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD)

The new civil Engineering program at UMD offers the following geotechnical engineering courses:

-CE3425 Engineering Geology (required) taught by C. Carranza-Torres

-CE3426 Soil Mechanics (required) taught (temporarily) by C. Carranza-Torres

-CE4415 Geotechnical Design (elective) to be taught by D. Saftner

-CE4426 Rock Mechanics (elective) to be taught by C. Carranza-Torres

-CE4436 Design of excavations in rock (elective) to be taught by C. Carranza-Torres

Geotechnical engineering courses at University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD)

David Saftner is a PhD from University of Michigan and a West Point graduate (David is a veteran of Irak war) and has background and experience in soil mechanics. Besides taking over (and teaching) Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Design, David will be teaching the following new courses (still to be outlined and accepted by UMD):

-CExxx Advanced Soil Mechanics (elective).

-CExxx Field investigations (elective).

David Saftner, the new geotechnical (`soils faculty) at UMD - From Google Images (searching for David Saftner)


-Introduction.






Thank you for your attention...

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Careers in Geotechnical Engineering