Foundation
Engineering Section
The primary purpose of
this Section is to provide geotechnical design recommendations
and construction support for the Bridges, Roads, and Retaining
Walls that make up Washington State’s transportation
facilities. Our
staff consists of Civil Engineers, Transportation Engineers,
and Technicians who are specialized in Geotechnical
Engineering. Geotechnical
Engineering is the division of civil engineering that deals
with soil, rock, and underground water, and their relation to
the design, construction, and operation of engineering
projects. Nearly all civil engineering projects must be
supported by the ground, and require at least some
geotechnical engineering.
Typical
issues addressed by geotechnical engineers include:
- Can the soils and rocks beneath a
construction site safely support the proposed project?
- How will the site soil and rock
conditions effect the design and construction of the
project?
- What groundwater conditions currently
exist, how might they change in the future, and what
impact do they have on the project?
- What will be the impact of any planned
excavation, grading, or filling?
- Are the natural or proposed earth
slopes stable? If not, what must we do to stabilize
them?
- What kinds of foundations are necessary
to support planned structures, and how should we design
them?
- If the project requires retaining
walls, what kind would be best and how should we design
them?
- How will the site and structures
respond to potential earthquakes?
- What should be done if site soils or
groundwater conditions are different than was anticipated?
To accomplish these tasks
our staff is divided into three units. To learn more about the
functions of each of these units please click the links below.
Foundation Engineering
Foundations are used to
support many different types of structures and facilities that
make up Washington State’s Transportation System.
Our Engineers (Geotechnical Engineers) use information
obtained by our Field
Exploration
Staff to
characterize the soil and rock conditions across the site and
at depth below the site.
Once they have characterized the site soils, they use
their training, experience, field tests, and laboratory tests
to model the properties and stratigraphy (layering) of the
soil and rock. With
this information, the geotechnical engineer can estimate the
amount of load that can be placed upon the soil/rock without
failing. This is
often referred to as determining bearing capacity, or “How
much load the soils can bear without failing”. Adding loads
to soils causes them to deform or settle. Our Engineers also evaluate the settlement of the soils under
the loads that are applied to them.
We consider both bearing capacity and settlement in
evaluating our day-to-day operations, and we evaluate the
behavior of the soil under earthquake conditions.
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