Geotechnical News • June 2019
35
WASTE GEOTECHNICS
Soil Walls and Tailings Dams:
Education Outreach at the University of Alberta
Geotechnical Centre
Vivian Giang
Each Spring, the University of Alberta
Geotechnical Centre is abuzz with
education outreach efforts to bring
theory into practice for students and
geotechnical engineers working in
industry.
On April 9, 2019, five teams of stu-
dents from the University of Alberta
Geotechnical Engineering graduate
program and NAIT’s Civil Engineer-
ing Technology program battled for
the Dr. J. Don Scott Applied Geotech-
nical Design Award. Sponsored by the
Geotechnical Society of Edmonton,
BGC Engineering, Nilex, and Wood,
the 17th Annual University of Alberta
Applied Geotechnical Engineering
Reinforced Soil Wall Design Contest
continued a time-honoured tradition
where theory meets mettle in a timed
wall building contest.
Teams of four to five students had one
hour to construct a reinforced soil wall
using only five sheets of newsprint,
two sheets of 15 x 30 cm geotex-
tile, 100 paper clips and 20 popsicle
sticks. Construction tools provided on
the day of the contest included two
rubber mallets, two scoops, two 300
mm pieces of 2 x 4” wood, one 300
mm piece of 4 x 4” wood, one pair of
needle nose pliers, and one ruler. Walls
were initially loaded to 200 kPa, with
subsequent loads applied in 50 kPa
increments. Each load increment had
to be sustained for at least 10 seconds,
and wall failure was defined as when
sand exits from the face of the wall.
Winners of the Dr. J. Don Scott Applied Geotechnical Design Award
(Team NAIT).
Instrumented loading frame used to test the reinforced soil walls.
