Geotechnical

Engineering
Dongyuan (Don) Wang, Ph.D., P.E.
Office and Office Hours: RFM5210/TBA
Email: d_w319@txstate.edu
Cell Phone: 512-986-0615
 Technology Enhanced Infrastructure
Geotechnical engineering
‒ is a branch of civil engineering, whereas engineering geology is
a branch of geology.
‒ these two disciplines are closely related, and the discipline
combining the two is sometimes called geotechnics.

Geotechnical engineering can significantly

influence the resilience and sustainability of
infrastructure development
‒ its early position in the construction process
‒ the involvement in event detection and
analytics, data management and decision-
making
Incorporate Geotechnics with TEI
It is not a black box! It will be
transparent after you master the
knowledge

Data Management
Analytics
Asset Management
Event Detection

Resilient and
Information Geotechnical
Sustainable
Collection Engineering
Infrastructure
 Aspects of Geotechnical Engineering
Can you identify geotechnical
aspects and projects?

1. Deep foundations for

high rise building;
2. Design of a tunnel in
(4)
(3) soil and rock;
3. Shallow foundations for
homes;
(6) 4. Design of retaining
(5)
walls;
5. Stability of earth slopes;
6. Subgrade of roadway
(1)
7. Else?
(2)

Figure only shows geotechnical aspects of some

typical civil engineering projects
Some Geotechnical Projects

the Golden Gate Bridge Oroville Dam in California Wind turbine foundation
The leaning Tower of in San Francisco is one of the largest earth
Pisa. (Adapted from dams in the world
Terzaghi 1934)

Crack in a house’s
The 1964 Niigata foundation,
Differential settlement near a bridge’s A deep foundation Austin, TX
Earthquake in approach slab failure in China
Japan
What Does a Geotechnical Engineer Do?
Can you please tell me what does a Geo-Engineer do?
1. Examine the behavior of earthen building materials?
2. Study how these materials can be used in constructing foundations, embankments,
tunnels, dams and landfills?
3. Provide information on such issues as sustainable infrastructure and mitigation of ground
hazards?
4. Entail surveying building sites, assessing risks and helping plan new construction projects,
performing analysis and preparing for design drawings, as well as construction
management?
Most engineering students need a strong mathematical foundation and computational
mechanics. How about a geotechnical engineering student?

4 Levels of Geotechnical Engineering: Common Sense, Engineering, Science and … Art!

- By Dr. Don Wang
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
1. Geotechnical exploration and laboratory testing
Soil formation, classification, its physical and mechanical properties.
 Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
In-Situ Exploration: Standard Penetration
Test/SPT and Cone Penetration Test/CPT
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
1. Geotechnical exploration and laboratory testing
Soil formation, classification, its physical and mechanical properties.
In-Situ Exploration: Standard Penetration Test and
Cone Penetration Test
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
1. Geotechnical exploration and laboratory testing
Soil formation, classification, its physical and mechanical properties.
In-Situ Exploration: CPT
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
CPT Log

In-Situ Exploration: SPT and CPT

Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
Laboratory testing – Index Properties
.
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
Laboratory testing
Mechanical properties
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
2. Deep foundations
Design and analysis, construction and load testing
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
2. Deep foundations- Design & Analysis
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
2. Deep foundations
load testing
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
2. Deep foundations
load testing
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
3. Slope stability, landslide hazards
Analysis, stabilization, forecasting, monitoring and mitigation
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
3. Slope stability, landslide hazards
Analysis
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
4. Dewatering and ground water control
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
4. Dewatering and ground water control- Analysis and Design
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
5. Levee and dam
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
6. Soil and site improvement
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
6. Soil and site improvement
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
7. Environmental Geotechnics
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
7. Environmental Geotechnics
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
8. Tunneling
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring

Tunnel Boring Machine Earth-Pressure Balance

(TBM) for tunneling in rock Shield/Slurry-Pressure
masses Balance Shield

Working Mechanism Illustration

Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
8. Tunneling
monitoring

Tunneling Monitoring I did in China

Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
8. Tunneling
Analysis, design

Maglev and Tesla’s Big Boring- How to keep the low air
pressure even vacuum? And how to design with
negative pressure?
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
9. Mechanically Stabilized Earth Structures
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
9. Mechanically Stabilized Earth Structures
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring

AASHTO, and TxDoT or other

government agency has
guidelines for such design
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
10. Earthwork and Excavation
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
10. Earthwork and Excavation
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring Compaction density= density of
compacted soil/max. density of soil
Different project has different requirements
for compaction density, typically >90%

Sand Cone Method and Nuclear Density Gauge

Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
11. Seepage and earthen structures
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
11. Seepage and earthen structures
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
12. Marine Geotechnics
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring
Some Scopes of Geotechnical Engineering
12. Marine Geotechnics
Analysis, design, construction and monitoring

Marian Geotechnical Exploration Ship and Exploration Platform

12. Marine Geotechnics
Different foundation types with water depth
Incorporate Geotechnics with TEI
It is not a black box! It will be
transparent after you master the Geomatics？
knowledge!

Data Management
Analytics
Asset Management
Event Detection

Resilient and
Information Geotechnical Sustainable
Collection Engineering Infrastructure
Geomatics + Geotechnics will be popular and powerful

Geomatics Engineering is the management of global infrastructure through

the collection, measuring, monitoring and archiving of geospatial data.
Geomatics engineers contribute to the welfare and safety of the public
through administering appropriate research and advanced mapping
techniques.
Monitoring, Measuring and Collecting Geo-Data
Data Management
Data Storage
Cloud technique?
Hard Disk?
Optical Storage ?

Data Mapping
BIM
GIS
Other?
Data Analytics
Big Data
complex process of examining large and varied data sets, or big
data, to uncover information -- such as hidden patterns, unknown
correlations, market trends and customer preferences -- that can
help organizations make informed business decisions.

Statistics and Probability

Probability and Statistics form the basis of Data Science. The
probability theory is very much helpful for making the prediction. Reliability and Risk-
Estimates and predictions form an important part of Data science. Based Decision
With the help of statistical methods, we make estimates for the Making
further analysis. Thus, statistical methods are largely dependent on
the theory of probability. And all of probability and statistics is
dependent on Data.
Data Analytics
Artificial Intelligence

1. Smart Implementation of Machine Learning and AI in Data Analysis:

2. Data analytics and artificial intelligence use data science and advanced computing algorithms to
automate, optimize and find value where the human eye will never see it
3. Expert system will help decision-making and enhance the resiliency and sustainability of
infrastructure

1. What is the popular computer programming language for AI?

2. Are you interested in program development for an expert system?

Fortran C-
C++, Python, Lisp
Questions
Technology Enhanced
Infrastructure
Coupling Bayesian updating and machine
learning in big data analysis of geo-data
Outline
• Introduction (spatial data, Bayesian probability & statistics)
• Machine learning and big data
• Compressive sensing/sampling (CS) and Bayesian compressive sampling (BCS)
• Bayesian supervised learning (BSL) of spatially varying geo‐data from sparse
measurements
• Concluding remarks