Category: Civil Engineering

Posted in Civil Engineering, Soil Mechanics

Location of Corner of Failure Envelope for Anchored Sheet Pile Walls

Posted on by Don Warrington

A recent inquiry revealed that the literature on this site and vulcanhammer.info has a difference of design procedure for anchored sheet pile walls.

In order for a deadman anchor to be effective, it must be beyond the failure envelope. Here we present two ways to insure that this is so.

The first is shown above: it is taken from NAVFAC DM 7.2, although it has been in many publications over the years, including NAVFAC DM 7.02 and Sheet Pile Design by Pile Buck. It shows the point at which the failure envelope starts as the “estimated point of zero moment in wall.” That can be determined using software such as SPW 911.

The second is shown below, from EM 1110-2-2504, and shows the same point at the bottom of the wall.

If you have any comments about either of these methods, or which one you prefer and why, let us know in the comments.

Posted in Civil Engineering, Soil Mechanics

New Year, New Prices: Geotechnical Books Update

Posted on by Don Warrington

As we begin a new year (for this site, it’s the 29th) we need to clarify some things that have changed regarding our book offerings.

We’ve been with Lulu publishers since 2006 (this is our twentieth year with them) and we’ve been through many changes in the publishing industry since that time. In those days we not only offered print books (our government doesn’t print their geotechnical publications any more) but also CD’s with documents. They only sold these books and CD’s on their own website.

Later they began to offer to put books “in distribution,” i.e. with places such as Amazon.com and other book sellers. We’ve been migrating our product line in that direction but have run into two problems.

The first is that distribution is expensive; these people like to take a substantial cut. This forced us to price things accordingly, although we’ve tried to keep our own cut at a reasonable level.

The second is that the requirements for a book to be in distribution changes, or more accurately the way that Lulu and these publishers enforce these requirements changes. The result is that books which have been in distribution for years are no longer there, although they’re still available from Lulu.

Our response to this is to simply keep the books in distribution which are most popular and to allow the rest still being published to stay on Lulu. The result of that is below, with our entire geotechnical book line listed. In taking books out of distribution we’ve looked at our pricing and have reduced prices on several titles.

We’d like to wish everyone who visits this site a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Geotechnical Books Which Are in Distribution

Geotechnical Books Which Can Only be Obtained From the Publisher

Our other books are available at our sister web site Chet Aero Marine.

Posted in Academic Issues, Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering

RIP J. David Rogers

Posted on by Don Warrington

Another giant in our profession has passed into the heavenlies:

Dr. J. David Rogers passed away on August 23, 2025, surrounded by his family and prepared to meet his Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

A popular retired Missouri University of Science and Technology (MS&T) professor, David will be remembered for his love of teaching, his wide range of interests and knowledge, as well as his endearing sense of humor.

He was surely one of the greats of geotechinical engineering, and I have featured articles of his on this site, including Engineering Geology in the Civil Engineering Curriculum and Determination Of Earth Pressure Distributions For Large-Scale Retention Structures.

I got to meet him once in 2005 when the History Channel featured the Vulcan #2 hammer at a distributor’s yard in New Jersey. I am also indebted to him for much of the material in my own post Getting to the Bottom of Terzaghi and Peck’s Lateral Earth Pressures for Braced Cuts. In the photo at the top, that’s him at the right being interviewed by the channel. (He spent most of this time talking about Gow and the Chicago caissons, but Vulcan was expanding into marine and other applications.) He was doing what he was a master at: communicating, he was one of our industry’s best in that respect.

He had his own website and you can visit it here.

Memory eternal.

Posted in Civil Engineering

Longest Suspension Bridge in the World to be Built

Posted on by Don Warrington

ROME, ITALY: Italy’s government gave final approval on Wednesday to the construction of what will be the world’s longest single-span bridge, …

Longest Suspension Bridge in the World to be Built
Posted in Academic Issues, Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Soil Mechanics

NAVFAC DM 7.2: Verification Examples, Some Parting Observations, and an Announcement About DM 7.1

Posted on by Don Warrington

At the end of NAVFAC DM 7.2 is a series of example problems which include the following:

  1. Cantilever Cut Wall
  2. Anchored Cut Wall
  3. Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundations
  4. Mat Foundation Design
  5. Pile Group Capacity and Settlement
  6. Lateral Load Analysis
  7. Reliability Analysis of a Retaining Wall

Although the inclusion of these is “obvious,” some background is in order.

When the original DM 7.01 and 7.02 were introduced, examples were scattered throughout the books, and were of variable quality, generally not very detailed. Combined with the terse (and sometimes cryptic) guidance, the lack of detailed examples made them difficult to use in an academic setting for something other than a supplement, and including more examples would have made the concepts clearer.

DM 7.01 and 7.02 came at the end of a fruitful period of knowledge expansion in geotechnical engineering, but even towards the end of the 1980’s things were happening (many documented in NAVFAC DM 7.2) that really begged for an update. With the pedagogical deficiencies noted earlier, a comprehensive teaching document was needed to educate engineers and other practitioners in the science of geotechnical engineering, and that came forth in the Soils and Foundations Reference Manual. Although many of the facts (and figures, albeit redrawn) came from DM 7.01 and 7.02, the book was structured for an educational setting, complete with worked examples (which you can see now in NAVFAC DM 7.2.) Although it was intended primarily for short courses, it could be used for undergraduate students, and (with supplements) I used it in both my Soil Mechanics and Foundation Design and Analysis courses.

It is my hope that the FHWA will revise the nearly twenty year old Soils and Foundations Reference Manual, which is complementary to these new DM 7 documents.

An Announcement About DM 7.1

This site was quick to publish NAVFAC DM 7.1 when it came out in 2022, and it has been a success. There were a few typos and places where revision was needed, and about the time NAVFAC DM 7.2 came out Change 1 to NAVFAC DM 7.1 was also released. That Change was incorporated into the print document and can now be ordered. Whether you never bought NAVFAC DM 7.1 before or just want a corrected copy, it’s available both from the publisher and now in distribution, so you can order it in places such as amazon.com.

Some Parting Observations

The whole DM 7 project, including both NAVFAC DM 7.1 and NAVFAC DM 7.2, was a monumental task. While I voiced my objections about many things, most of these were about the state of geotechnical practice and how it can be improved. As books which document the state of the practice, NAVFAC DM 7.1 and NAVFAC DM 7.2 will become necessary references.

With many thanks to the authors and all of those who worked on these books, just one thing: don’t wait so long to update it…