Real-Life Communication
You're a geotechnician for an engineering firm. Your firm is planning
to build a highway for the city of Bridgeway.
Some of Bridgeway's city
councilors have asked you to attend a council meeting to explain a report
you gave them. In the report, you detail the work your firm is planning.
At
the council meeting, a councilor says to you:
"Thank you for coming,
Mr. Black. We have reviewed your report. Before we get into more detailed
questions, please explain three terms you use throughout the report: bearing
capacity, slope stability and soil."
Summarize the following definitions
in your own words. Make your response simple without sounding like you're
talking down to them. Don't give more details than you think they need.
Bearing
Capacity: The ability of a soil to carry a given load on a given surface
area. It is determined in many ways, and can involve looking at soil friction,
inclined loads, footing shape and base conditions. Bearing capacity may also
be determined from standard penetration test results, plate bearing tests
and actual load tests.
Slope Stability: In engineering, the
sides of hills are known as slopes. The sides of hills will collapse quickly
or slowly under various conditions. The ability of a slope to stand is called
slope stability. Large failures of such slopes have caused whole communities
to be destroyed. Soil conditions leading to slope failure include disturbing
a sensitive clay, removing soil supporting the base of the slope, adding a
new load at the top of the slope, changing vegetation on the slope or changing
moisture conditions.
Soil: Geotechnicians define soil in many
ways. In the broadest sense, there are granular soils and non-granular soils.
Granular soils are made of individual particles that can be seen and don't
normally stick together. Non-granular soils are sticky. The soil types are
defined as gravels, sands, silts and clays. Often, soil types are mixed.