The City of Irwindale, California contains a series of open-pit sand and gravel mines that have been excavated over the past century. These mines are located in a broad alluvial fan consisting of noncohesive silt to boulder size materials with significant fractions larger than 100 mm. An extensive characterization program was implemented to develop design shear strength values for use in slope stability analyses. This program revealed very high frictional strength, which is largely attributed to dilatency. Some apparent cohesion also is present. This design strength envelope was then used to evaluate the static and seismic stability of existing and proposed slopes.
Nearly all undergraduate civil engineering curricula include a geotechnical laboratory course. The traditional format consists of conducting individual isolated laboratory tests, often on manufactured samples, with separate weekly reporting for each test. Although this format provides hands-on experience with standard test methods, it does not teach how these tests are integrated into the design process. More importantly, it does not provide the student with any experience in the broader challenge of characterizing a real site, and thus presents an overly sanitized picture of the site characterization process. In order to address these pedagogical shortcomings, the authors and their colleagues have developed an alternative format which consists of a project-based laboratory course that is taught after completion of the associated lecture course. This paper presents the rationale for the course design, describes the course organization and content, and provides a qualitative assessment through authors' experiences in teaching undergraduates using this approach.
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