Geotechnical Engineering Field Laboratory

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This project enhances the education of students in the critical area of geotechnical engineering by their participation in field laboratory exercises. This improves the present practice of classroom lectures coupled with only traditional laboratory exercises. Without field sampling and testing experiments, the student is left with only "textbook" knowledge of field aspects of geotechnical engineering. The equipment purchased in support of this project makes it possible for students to obtain soil samples from the subsurface using a distributed sampling technique (the Split Barrel Sampler and an undistributed one (the Shelby Tube). Rock samples are obtained using a rock recovery core barrel. The students conduct property tests on these samples in the geotechnical laboratory. In addition to soil and rock sampling, the project enables student to measure the in situ strength, compressibility and permeability of soils using state-of-the-practice in situ testing techniques. These techniques include the standard penetration test, the core penetration test with pore pressure measurements (the piezo- cone), the flat-plate (Marchetti) dilatometer, and the vane shear device. Finally, the students acquire and analyze geotechnical data using a field computer with data acquisition capability. The award is being matched with a greater amount by the principal investigator's institution.