Abstract A residential development in the northern Waikato requires the excavation and placement of 700,000m3 of earth fill to generate suitable building platforms for domestic dwellings and associated infrastructure. During the first season of earthwork operations the highly variable and sensitive nature of the volcanically…
Abstract The geotechnical behaviour of natural pumiceous soil deposits is highly dependent on the percentage of highly crushable pumice particles to hard-grained sands, within the soils matrix. There is currently no standardised method to quantify the pumice content of a given soil sample. The research…
NZS 4431:2022 – Engineered fill construction for lightweight structures is an update of the 1989 standard, with significant changes reflecting over thirty of years of improvements in geotechnical investigation, design and construction practice, test methods and environmental, consenting and health and safety obligations. The standard…
Comments and opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Waka Kotahi Waka Kotahi welcomes additional SMEs Programme and Standards-Transport Services-System Resilience Team, led by Richard Topham, has welcomed new subject matter experts in the geotechnical and drainage fields. This brings the geotechnical…
A biased view of the development of engineering geology in New Zealand Background Engineering geology is the application of geology to engineering for the purpose of ensuring that the geological factors, including hazards, affecting a site or scheme are recognized and taken into consideration during…
An Update Introduction MBIE and the New Zealand Geotechnical Society have produced six Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Guideline Modules covering a range of geotechnical topics. However, these do not specifically address slope stability. In 2019 the NZGS management committee agreed to start work on a seventh…
Geotechnical Slope Hazard Design Team Keywords: Lessons Learned, NCTIR, Natural Hazards, Disaster Response, Kaikōura Introduction This paper captures the lessons learnt from the Geotechnical Slope Hazards Design Team over the approximate four-year duration of the NCTIR (North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery) project. The paper is…
The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is in the process of investigating the feasibility of providing year-round aviation access to the continent through the construction of a paved runway near Davis Station, East Antarctica. Currently access to Davis is limited to icebreaker ships throughout the summer…
Keywords: Geogrid, Geosynthetic, Bridge Abutment, GRS Design, Bridge Foundations Abstract This study investigated the performance of geogrid reinforced bridge abutments for their use in New Zealand. Over the past couple of decades geosynthetics, and geogrids in particular, were employed to create a reinforced soil block…
Geology, risk, hypothesis, model, investigation Introduction First of all, what is a hypothesis? You might remember writing a hypothesis in high school chemistry class or a science fair, like ‘will chilling an onion before cutting it keep you from crying’? As defined by Google Dictionary…
