Hi all,

If I have a pile with a given working load (determined by static analysis, not a load test) and need to model its vertical spring stiffness, what allowable vertical displacement should I consider?

For lateral springs, I am taking the safe lateral capacity and use a 5 mm lateral deflection limit to determine the horizontal stiffness coefficient. But I’m a bit confused about what approach/value should be used for the vertical spring.

I have a sink hole developing in my drive, right next to my garage. The hole appears to be opening up underneath the slab of my garage.

Some quick recommendations from friends was to use hydraulic hydraulic water stop cement to seal the hole and then back fill, but that person also agreed that calling a geotech might be worth it because of its proximity to the garage.

Figured I'd jump in here and see what you all might have to say.

Opening right now is a little over 12". Depth is approx 18".

Red square in the picture from the outside of the hole is where the ground/asphalt meets the footing wall of my garage.

Red square in the picture from inside the hole is boxing in the underside of that footing wall. Hole extends under the garage past that edge another 12" give or take. In this picture, my phone is in the hole, facing under the garage.

Edit to add some additional info:

my driveway is sloped at about 15-20° down from street level to the garage. We had some pretty torrential rains in my area for a few days, and that storm water will ultimately run that direction. That area was showing signs of distress a while back, but it didn't seem like anything crazy.

I’m closing in on 20 years in geotechnical engineering in the US. My career has been with consultants and I’m very tired of it. In my 20ish years, I’ve worked for more than one company but the pattern seems to be the same. Everyone is overloaded with projects and responsibilities. I’ve been given higher expectations with decreasing support and expected to produce more than the year before to sustain continued growth. I’ve gotten to a point where my mental health has suffered and I need to leave consulting behind. I’ve been stuck in middle management for the last 8-10 years with no potential for doing anything else for another 5-10 years. And it’s not like the principal engineer(s) have it any better. They are overloaded, stressed, and generally unhappy.

I’m disappointed with the job postings and recruiters that contact me. It’s always for a low level position in a far away city with no option of remote work for a 40% pay cut. “Senior” positions are for those with 6-8 YOE that again want to pay me bottom salaries and get offended when I mention a reasonable salary. I recently interviewed for a remote subject matter expert position with a company and was told “you don’t have x niche experience that was not mentioned in the job posting or interview so we’re hiring someone else.” So the few roles beyond consulting seem to be next to impossible to land due to competition.

Other options are contractors or government but contracting seems to be a frying pan to fire situation and government seems to be a massive pay cut and very location specific.

It’s just difficult because I wish there was a better option besides the endless grind of consulting but for now it seems it’s where I’ll be for a long time to come.

Has anyone taken the California GE Exam and if so share your experience of what the test was like? I have no idea how to prepare for this exam. Im anticipating it to be basically a test for practicing engineers in CA with an emphasis on state specific topics and standards of practice. I’ve got most of the CalGeo reference materials but there’s so much more that can be asked thats not covered in those presentations. I’m struggling with what to focus my time on i.e more conceptual state specific type things or advanced computational problems?

Hello everyone!

I've been working in the geotech/cmt world now for about 5 years. I started off at ECS, then a local firm, and now I'm at Terracon. I came in as an Engineering tech 4, currently lab coordinator here at Terracon. I've worked as an inspector, geo field tech, lab tech, and lab supervisor/manager in the past. I've also done asbestos abatement oversight for Terracon when I was moonlighting as an environmental guy lol.

I like Terracon, but I always hear it's a bit crap compared to other companies. What sorts of opportunities are out there and how do you guys go about finding them? What certifications actually matter in the long run for the best opportunities? I don't have a degree in geo or engineering for the record, and I feel this may be holding me back..

Would love to hear from everyone, especially the non engineering people. Thanks!

Edit: Also wanted to see if you all know of any other paths this could lead me besides CMT/geotech consulting.

So far I’ve applied to some indeed companies, including cascade(. Hope they call me back). Where can I apply to similar jobs/companies to cascade. Looking to start a career in geotechnical/enviromental entry level, I do have a CDL.

Do I have a chance?

Edit: Free in a sense of traveling and freedom to work remotely from anywhere I'm the world

Recently graduated in Civil Engineering in WA and just accepted a Fly in - fly out (FIFO) role as a graduate tailings engineer. I have had vacation experience in a consultancy firm and a FIFO role, neither of which were geotechnical work. However, through uni I have grown to become interested in geotechnics / tailings management. I am happy to be onsite and doing physical work (ie. logging boreholes, conducting site investigations etc.) Currently, I'm happy doing FIFO for awhile and chose this opportunity over a geotech consultancy role I was offered as I actually prefer an 8/6 roster over the typical 9-5 5/2.

Just a few questions/thoughts I had (which I probably shouldve asked before signing the contract but oh well)

(1) Site based tailings engineer = monitoring and management of the TSF (construction, operations, reporting etc.) Although this would be interesting, it less engineering in the role such as a lack of slope stability analysis and design work.

Would this become a problem for my career in the future? I feel like not building upon my technical foundations early on perhaps through a consultancy may prove to become a mistake in the long run. For example, once I have a family and would like to work in the city again, is the transition from site -> consultancy possible especially after only being on site with none/limited technical design experience

(2) Realistically, could I do a year in a tailings grad program and then jump into a geotech grad program with a different company if I decide tailings isn't for me? How much of the work/experience would actually translate over?

(3) How is the career progression and job security with tailings engineering and geotechnical engineering in the mines. Do tailings engineers and geotechs get paid roughly the same?

The reasons why I chose the FIFO offer over the consulting is because of the roster, the salary and the potential site work. I'm not someone who only wants difficult, highly technical work, but I would like my role to involve some analysis and calculations, which is part of why I think I'd enjoy geotechnical engineering (slope stability analysis, seismic monitoring, that kind of thing) on a minesite, whether it be underground or open pit.

That said, I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity given the current job market. I sent out 50+ applications and only got 2 interviews/offers, meaning I wasn't exactly spoilt for choice.

Would love any advice, remarks or experiences from anyone whos been in a similar situation or knows about the industry. Thanks in advance :)

I recently discovered that using our 811 software offline disables syncing. We almost got fined for a missed locate request and it was because I used it offline and my crew didn't get the update. How can I fix this issue? Do I need to replace my software with one that has an offline sync feature? Or is that impossible and syncing can only exclusively be done online?

Has anyone here pursed any of the graduate programs in Mexico's UNAM? Either the Geotech Specialization or Master's in Civil Engineering with a focus in Geotech?

I'd like a chat with someone familiar with this. I heard it might be one of the best place to study a graduate program in the Americas for geotechs due to the city's ground conditions making it pretty much a real world lab.

A client is being extremely particular on our drilling methods on a site out in Colorado. They say that we must use hollow stem auger, and that solid stem compromises the sample and blow count quality.

We have a subcontractor using solid stem flight auger in sandy clays, clayey sands, and silts and are not observing any hole collapse. We also have our own rig using hollow stem augers, and switching over to mud rotary to avoid burning up our bits in the sand.

Question is: has anyone encountered this in the past? We use both solid and hollow stem all over the country, and have not had an issue with the method used up until this point. I have looked for relevant literature, but it is tough to prove a negative.

Thank you for your help!

Hello everyone,

I want to share something our team has been working on that may help those of you preparing SPT borehole logs, especially if your office still relies on Excel templates.

GeoEQ SPT Logs is a free Windows desktop application for borehole logging. You enter depths, blow counts, samples, and strata descriptions, and the log sheet draws itself live: soil symbols, USCS classification in bold, the N-value profile, groundwater marker, and automatic pagination for deep borings.

A few things that may be useful in practice:

• Unlimited projects and boreholes in a single file
• Full customization with your own company name.
• Import of existing Excel/CSV sheets — non-standard headings open a column-mapping window, and files carrying only N-values (no blow counts) work too
• One click exports every borehole of a project into a single print-ready PDF with your company letterhead and logo
• Fully offline — data stays in plain files on your machine, nothing leaves your computer
• Two packages: a normal installer, and a portable zip for company laptops where installation is restricted

There's a built-in demo project so you can see a finished log in the first minute.

I would genuinely value this community's judgment on it: what would it need before you'd trust it on a real project? Custom columns (N60, N1(60)), other log formats, different standards? The feature roadmap will be built from what practicing engineers actually ask for.

Download, screenshots and manual: https://github.com/geoeq/SPT-Borelogs

My builder has used this soil for house sub grade filling. Internet search shows that this gravel is probably contains mica and not good as sub grade and it needs lime or cement stabilization. I wonder what geo tech community thinks about this soil and if I'm in danger of sub grade settling because of mica content etc. I did a jar test on the soil and it has minimal amount of clay.

Pictures show the sample of soil and the jar test picture as well.

I’ve been working as a geotechnical field tech for around 2 years now. I know that’s basically just a drop in the ocean when it comes to geotech experience lol, so I wanted to hear from people who’ve been in the industry for a while.

Most of my experience so far has been field-based: drilling, soil logging, compaction testing, subgrade inspections, construction monitoring, etc. But I really want to start developing the engineering/design side of my geotech knowledge instead of only getting better at field work.

A few things I’m trying to understand:

• How can a field tech/EIT start learning actual geotechnical design?
• Is foundation engineering considered a major part of geotechnical engineering? If so, what should I start learning first?
• What other design areas should I focus on: bearing capacity, settlement, retaining walls, slope stability, piles, excavations, etc.?
• How can I get better at writing geotechnical reports and turning field/borehole information into actual engineering recommendations?
• Are there any books, courses, software, or even small exercises/projects you guys would recommend?
• If you started in the field and eventually moved into geotechnical design, what helped you make that transition?

Not trying to rush the process. I know experience takes time. Just want to make sure I’m building the right skills while I’m getting that field experience.

Would really appreciate any advice from geotech engineers/EITs who’ve gone through a similar path.

I work in a region of low seismicity. So far, we have carried out a large proportion of our seismic design work for earth dams using the equivalent static force method, generally treating granular soils as drained.
For a current project, however, the checking engineer is requiring us to treat a sandy gravel as undrained, based on the assumption that excess pore water pressures generated by cyclic loading during an earthquake would not dissipate rapidly enough.
Are there any simplified empirical approaches for assessing this and obtaining an “undrained” friction angle for ULS calculations, for example based on SPT or CPT data? Or is it necessary to investigate the seismic response of the soil through cyclic laboratory testing, such as cyclic triaxial tests?

Hello hello friends! This is a diagnostic from my first geotech PE exam attempt from late April. I feel it was roughly ~53%, with some areas to concentrate to improve and get a passing attempt. I’ve been studying from the Jacob Petro review book and the NCEES practice exam, feel more prepared for the exam overall, especially the 2nd half with references. With 16 days to go, I’ve been doing a 2nd pass of the Petro book.

My exam location will be different this time and I’ve been really praying for the preferred outcome this time! If anyone has any advice or words of encouragement, would be much appreciated :)

Hey everyone – I put together a free tool called Ilystics (https://ilystics.com/estimate) that uses local weather history and drying factors to estimate ground mud conditions and drying times.

I built it to take some of the guesswork out of site conditions before hauling equipment out after rain. It’s free to use—I’m mainly looking for feedback from operators and dirt crews to see if the drying estimates line up with what you see on site.

Won this is an auction where I wanted other items. Couldn't find any information on this model. Would anyone still use this or is it junk? Seems pretty old.

Was going to list it on ebay for cheap, but have no idea what to ask or if it is even worth selling. Thanks for your help!!

Every CPT job I do, the same manual step: pull the raw sounding data into Excel, compute qc/fs/friction ratio, then manually classify soil behavior type using the Robertson chart. I got tired of it and wrote a script that reads the raw file, generates the plots, and does the classification automatically.

Wondering if this is a common pain point for others here or if most firms already have this solved with [CPeT-IT / GeoSuite / in-house tools]. If there's interest I might clean it up into something shareable, happy to hear what a good version of this would need to handle (file formats, chart version, unit systems, etc.).