September e.Geo

September 2020

In this issue:

1. How to Re-design the World for Coronavirus and Beyond
2. Don't Forget to Renew your Membership
3. GBA's Fall Conference Goes Virtual
4. Settle3 Online Short Course starts September 18th
5. EP Webinars - Register Now!
6. Project Award Spotlight: Farrell Design-Build at the Historic Marshall Hotel, Sacramento
7. Cheers to Surviving Summer
8. Welcome New Members
9. Upcoming Events - the e.Calendar

How to Re-Design the World for Coronavirus and Beyond

Check out this article from Politico with some interesting ideas on re-imagining our homes, office spaces and lives post-coronavirus.

Only have a few minutes? Skip to the following points for more "engineering related" ideas:

• #1: Build skyward
• #3: Create more private outdoor spaces
• #4: Let airports sprawl
• #14: Equip offices for the next crisis
• #19: Learn new communication tricks

Don't Forget to Renew Your Membership

Through your support of CalGeo’s online meetings, webinars, and continued learning opportunities, we firmly believe that we are staying stronger together. CalGeo will continue to provide education, outreach and advocacy for our members in these changing times.

Let your Board advocate or Kelly know how we can continue to support you.

Options for renewal:

On-line: The KEY CONTACT of each member firm has received an auto-generated invoice and email.

Old-school: We have mailed each KEY CONTACT a paper renewal form along with our Value Report. Choose the size of your company and send in your payment via check. Easy as pie!

Why should you renew?

Well, we think CalGeo is a great organization with amazing members and tons of benefits, but don't just take our word on it...

"The resources CalGeo has provided my firm have been invaluable, but its the relationships that I treasure the most." - David Hamilton, Hamilton & Associates

Benefits of CalGeo Membership:

• Learning: Get a competitive edge over non-members with exclusive training opportunities on a variety of topics
• Have a voice: Gain a say in what happens in government through the advocacy efforts
• Discounts: Members-only discounts and perks!
• Credibility: Raise your reputation through membership
• Visibility: Stand out and get noticed in our community through our Project Awards and volunteer and leadership opportunities
• Networking: Even though we are all separated and events are postponed, CalGeo connects you through our discussion boards, newsletters and surveys

Read on below and check out our Value Report for a short summary of everything CalGeo has accomplished this year.

GBA's Fall Conference Goes Virtual

Join industry professionals from all specialties from across North America for 4 half-days of virtual information and premier education convening October 20-23, 2020 (Tuesday through Friday) in the comfort of your own home or office setting.   Sessions will focus on leadership behaviors, business strategies, and proven tactics critical to managing corporate performance beyond crisis to take advantage of the emergent new business environment.

Looking beyond the pandemic, companies will do well to develop leadership that supports innovation, challenges assumptions and encourages risk taking and creativity.  The COVID crisis has revealed not just vulnerabilities but also opportunities to improve business performance

GBA will hold Board of Directors and Committee meetings on Tuesday; General Business Meeting and Round Table Sessions on Wednesday; and two half-days of education sessions on Thursday and Friday.

We will also showcase sponsor partners.  This conference will allow you to continue building lasting personal and professional relationships with industry stakeholders  Attending GBA’s Fall Conference (virtually) requires only 2-4 hours of engagement each day and offers up to 7.5 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) for the education sessions.

CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION FORM

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

WINE TASTING & NETWORKING EVENT DETAILS – October 21st

Settle3 Online Short Course

We are back with our popular short courses this fall and are working closely with Rocscience to provide you with a 3-week series on their Settle3 software.

Each Friday starting September 18th from 10am-12pm, join experts at Rocscience for a live instructional class. Each week will introduce a new specialist and provide 2-hrs of instruction plus a question and answer period.

Schedule & Instructors:

September 18th: 10am-12pm PDT Settle3: Settlement Analysis by Dr. Sina Javankhoshdel

Sina Javankhoshdel, P.Eng., Ph.D. Geomechanics Specialist, Rocscience
Dr. Sina Javankhoshdel holds his Ph.D. from Queen’s University in Civil Engineering (Geomechanics). Dr. Javankhoshdel joined Rocscience in 2016 and he was one of the developers of Slide2 2018 and added Spatial Variability Analysis to this software. He has published more than twenty papers on the topic of probabilistic analysis of slopes and retaining structures considering spatial variability.

September 25, 10am-12pm PDT Settle3: Ground Improvement and CPT by Dr. Ahmed Mufty

Ahmed Mufty, P.Eng., Ph.D. Geomechanics Specialist, Rocscience
Dr. Ahmed Mufty has a prolonged and distinguished practical experience in construction and design of foundation piles, shoring for excavations, slope stability problems, settlement and shear strength of soft clay, site investigation and soil testing, and gypseous soils. He earned his Ph.D. from the university of Baghdad 1997 and has 10 years of academic experience, teaching Numerical Analysis and subjects of different levels in Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. He joined Rocscience as a geomechanics specialist in May 2019. He worked in several countries and has many publications.

October 2, 10am-12pm PDT Settle3: Liquefaction Analysis by Dr. Tolga Bilge

H. Tolga Bilge, Ph.D., Senior Geotechnical Engineer at GeoDestek Ltd. Şti. (Rocscience Representative in Turkey)
Dr. H. Tolga Bilge is a senior geotechnical engineer at GeoDestek Ltd. Şti. He has more than 15 years of experience in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering, numerical modeling, design of geo-structures (including shallow / deep foundations, deep excavation support, ground improvement and landslide rehabilitation systems), seismic hazard assessment and experimental soil behavior. He obtained his Masters and Ph.D. degree in geotechnical engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey in 2005 and 2010, respectively. Dr. Bilge has been actively participating into Rocscience courses and workshop events since 2011, and enthusiastically shares his experience with geotechnical engineering community.

Cost:

$100/Members. Member firms sending 5 or more employees can use the discount code: 5ORMORE to save $30/pp! Can be used when registering individuals as long as at least 5 employees plan to register.

$250/Non-members. Consider joining as an individual member for the same price and gain our entire Online Learning Library access for the whole year! Individual membership is only $150 or contact Kelly Cabal about a new company Trial Membership savings.

Attendees may login through GoToWebinar to attend any or all of the live webinars. Each webinar will be recorded and the video plus any handouts and slides will be available to registered attendees through CalGeo's Online Learning Library for up to 1 year. You choose based on your schedule!

Emerging Professional Webinars - Register NOW!

We have been working hard to bring you educational content from our partner organizations and have a great line up for this month. Click on the links below for more details and to register with GoToWebinar. Registration is free but only CalGeo members will have access to the recorded session and materials on our awesome Online Learning Library.

Polymer Grout Applications

September 10th, 11am-12pm: Presented by Cliff Frazao, COO & VP Operations, EagleLIFT

(Click the images below to directly register for the webinars!)

Use of Lime Products in Soil Treatment Applications

September 15th, 11am-12pm: Presented by Narain Hariharan and Mike Tate, Graymont

Mark your calendars for Tuesday September 15th at 11am Pacific Time for a webinar with our newest Affiliate member, Graymont, on the use of Lime products in soil treatment.

The presentation will last approx. 45-minutes with time at the end for questions.

About the Speaker:

Narain Hariharan is a licensed PE in Texas and joined Graymont in 2020 as a ‘New Products and Applications Engineer – Civil Works’ after completing his doctoral degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University under Dr. Dallas Little. During his PhD, Narain worked on a evaluating the physicochemical and geotechnical performance of lime products in both new and existing industrial applications including treatment of mine waste tailings, stabilization of hydraulic embankments and roadway subgrades.

Register Now >>

Case Study On Earth Dam Stability Under Static And Seismic Loading

October 16th, 11am-12pm: Presented by Dr. Sukhmander Singh, Ph.D., P.E., G.E. , Nicholson Family Professor of Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Santa Clara University

Details & Registration Here >>

These webinars are made available free of charge to participants thanks to the generosity of our Affiliate members. Webinars will be recorded and available to CalGeo members only on our Online Learning Library.

Project Award Winner Spotlight:

Well, another casualty of COVID-19 is that our amazing project award winners were not allowed to receive their awards in person this April. Read on below for details on the winning projects.

WINNER: Farrell Design Build

(NEW GeoContractor Project  Category)

Historic Marshall Hotel, Sacramento: A Chapter of Sacramento’s History is Reclaimed

Built in 1910-1911, the Marshall Hotel is a 5-story historic monument that resides in the heart of Sacramento, just blocks away from the California State Capitol building.  Made of century-old brick and steel, this landmark hotel slowly revealed the tale of a remarkable past, both above and below the ground.  

The challenge: preserve two ornate, 5-story, exterior walls of the original 109-year-old brick building with the intention to use the historic brick façade as the focal point for a new 11-story Hyatt Centric Hotel.

Farrell, Geocon, Buehler, and davisREED set out to merge the old with the new, but there were many unknowns to be discovered.  As each demolition phase exposed new challenges, clear as-built data and critical information Geocon provided in the initial Geotechnical Report gave the project team the necessary resources to effectively work and re-work each foundation design element. Farrell executed the design-build solutions to multiple foundation support elements based on the situations at-hand: Helical Piles for direct vertical support of the façade walls, Drill Pipe Piles to support the temporary exoskeleton, Auger Cast Piles for deep foundation support of the new hotel, and Cantilever Soldier Beam Shoring for temporary excavations near existing adjacent structures.

Through each challenge the Marshall Hotel presented, the collaboration of highly skilled geotechnical and structural engineers and construction teams successfully reclaimed a piece of Sacramento’s history.

Farrell’s work included the following:

Phase 1: design-build Helical Pile (HP) deep foundation support beneath the 109-year-old brick façade walls.

Phase 2: design-build Drilled Pipe Pile (DPP) deep foundations to support the temporary exoskeleton for lateral support of the walls.

Phase 3: design-build Auger Cast Pile (ACP) deep foundation support for new hotel foundation support with very low settlement tolerance, less than ½” total.

Phase 4: design-build cantilever soldier beam and wood lagging shoring for elevator and fire water tank excavation right on the east wall of the Golden One Center.

During demolition of the old hotel slab and exposure of the existing façade foundation, davisREED exposed several varying existing foundation and active utility conditions.  Farrell and Buehler redesigned the Helical Pile foundations that would be used to directly support the façade so demolition could continue, and construction of the façade walls’ temporary exoskeleton steel-frame support could begin.

Above: Old existing brick foundations and slab support discovered during demolition

Right: Interior Auger Cast Pile (ACP) installation

New Members

We are so pleased to welcome the following new company members and individual members. Click the logos below to visit each company's website.

New Affiliate Members:

Project X Corrosion Engineering is a forensic, engineering, soil testing laboratory, metallurgy laboratory, and consulting firm based in Murrieta, California. Project X serves customers nation wide, ranging from soil testing and corrosion control recommendations for large scale solar farms, university expansions, water testing to find origin of lead contamination, failure and metallurgy analysis of oil refinery and water infrastructure, and unbiased expert witness services.

Graymont is a global leader in lime and limestone solutions. Our products are essential in addressing today’s most pressing environmental issues while supporting vital industrial processes and agricultural needs.

Professionally managed and family owned, the Company has been in operation for over 70 years. Graymont aims to be the preferred supplier, employer, and partner of choice wherever we operate.

New Individual Members:

Cheers to Surviving Summer!

We managed to find this geo-appropriate beer by the Sonoma County Brewing Co. at Total Wine & More. Check it out for your next at-home BBQ or happy hour!

The e.Calendar & Online Learning Events - The Geo-Calendar

All in-person events are cancelled for the foreseeable future. We will notify you when we plan to hold a dinner meeting or Emerging Professional event.

September 10th, 11am-12pm: EagleLIFT Polymer Grout Application EP Webinar

September 15th, 11am-12pm: Graymont Use of Lime Products for Soil Stabilization EP Webinar

September 17th, 11am-12:30pm: ASCE OC Geo-Institute Webinar on Geo-Instrumentation & Fiber Optics

September 18th, 25th & Oct. 2nd 10am-12pm: 3-Week web-series on Settle3 software with Rocscience.

October 6-15, 9am-1pm: Seismic Analysis of Embankment Dams using FLAC by Dr. Richard Armstrong, GEI & CSU Sacramento

October 16th, 11am-12pm: Case Study on Earth Dam Stability Under Static And Seismic Loading EP Webinar by Dr. Sukhmander Singh, Santa Clara University

October 20-23: GBA's Fall Conference (A Virtual Event)

Visit our COVID-19 Resources page for more information and tips for managing your business through this time of crisis.