Please note Short Courses 2, 4 and 5 have been cancelled as of 2-27-08. Anyone having registered for these courses will be contacted by ASCE Customer Service regarding a refund.
Join leading researchers and practitioners as they examine hot topics in geoengineering in these five pre-Congress short courses. The course you choose for the day will introduce you to the latest thinking on a pressing problem and offer you practical solutions you can apply in your work.
#1 Levee Overtopping and Soil Erosion
Jean-Louis Briaud, Chaired Professor, Texas A&M University; Ming Han Li, Director, Surface Erosion Laboratory, Texas Transportation Institute; Beatrice Hunt, P.E., Principal Hydraulic Engineer, STV Incorporated; George Sills, Geotechnical Engineer, USAE Corps of Engineers; and Anand V Govindasamy, Ph.D. Candidate, Texas A&M University
Levee erosion by overtopping was a major factor in the failure of levees when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, and soil erosion demands serious attention from geoengineers. In this course, you will learn about soil erosion in general and levee overtopping erosion in particular while considering bridge scour, meander migration, surface erosion, and internal erosion of dams.
You will learn:
- The fundamentals of soil erosion
- How to estimate the resistance of a levee to overtopping erosion
- How to estimate the scour depth around a bridge pier or abutment
- How to protect highway embankments against erosion
- How to estimate the migration of a river meander
#2 Practical Application of Geophysics for Geoenvironmental Investigations
Ronald S. Bell, Senior Geophysicist and Sales and Marketing Manager, hydro-GEOPHYSICS Inc.; and John B. Fleming, Ph.D., Senior Research Geophysicist, hydroGEOPHYSICS Inc.
You’ll gain new insights into the work of geophysicists in this course as you review geophysical principles and methods and examine real-world cases that demonstrate the application of geophysics to geoenviron-mental problems associated with soils, geology, contaminant plumes, buried infrastructure, levees, impoundments, voids and hydrodynamic processes.
You will learn:
- The process that a geophysicist applies to designing and executing a subsurface site characterization study
- The physics of each geophysical method
- Practical insight into the applicability and appropriateness of each geophysical tool
- How to apply geophysical methods to geoenvironmental problems
#3 Risk and Reliability of Levees and Dams
Robert B. Gilbert, Ph.D., P.E., Hudson Matlock Professor in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas–Austin; Gregory B. Baecher, Ph.D., Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering, University of Maryland; and Martin W. McCann Jr., Ph.D., President, Jack R. Benjamin & Associates Inc.
This course will use the results from risk analyses of two major levee systems—the New Orleans Hurricane Protection System and the Cali-fornia Delta Levee System—to introduce you to the concepts and tools used in analyzing the risk and reliability of levees and dams. You will learn how to interpret and use the results of such analysis. You will also learn how to characterize natural hazards (including floods, hurricane surges and earthquakes) to represent failure modes (including seepage, overtopping, static stability and seismic stability) and how to integrate the available information to assess risk.
You will learn:
- Basic concepts and methods for analyzing risk
- Detailed techniques to characterize natural hazards and failure modes
- How to interpret risk assessments
- Practical applications
#4 Soil and Sediment Remediation Technologies
Jay N. Meegoda, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
You will familiarize yourself in this course with basic principles and design concepts for in-situ and ex-situ remediation of contaminated soils and sediments and for groundwater cleanup. Learn about the complexity of contaminated subsurface systems and the relevant site investigation techniques, and the practical considerations, mechanisms, unit costs, and technology limitations of soil and sediment remedia-tion. Case studies will guide you through the selection of appropriate technology for particular soil and sediment characteristics, site condi-tions and chemicals.
You will learn:
- Basic principles and design concepts for in-situ and ex-situ remediation of contaminated soils and sediments
- How to select remediation techniques for contaminated sites
- How to review site remediation proposals and reports
- How to supervise contaminated and brownfield sites
#5 Static and Seismic Stability of Solid-Waste Landfills
Jonathan D. Bray, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Geoengineering, University of California–Berkeley; and Neven Mastasovic, Ph.D., P.E., Geosyntec Consultants
Join Dr. Bray and Dr. Mastasovic as they explain how to analyze the static and seismic stability of municipal solid-waste landfills. You will review the regulatory framework that drives some aspects of landfill design and learn how to estimate the static and dynamic properties of waste and landfill containment materials. Discover for yourself why government regulators, landfill owners and practicing engineers have praised a similar course taught by these instructors.
You will learn:
- How to characterize and analyze waste properties
- The regulatory framework that drives some aspects of design
- Critical aspects of seismic hazard assessment
- Design issues involved in evaluating the stability of landfills
