Portland

Source: Sustaining solid ground | ASU News   A team of faculty members and students in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University contributed to a major geotechnical engineering field research project recently recognized with a 2021 Western States Seismic Policy Council Award in Excellence. Associate Professor Leon van Paassen led the group from ASU’s Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, in a collaboration with researchers from Portland State University and the University of Texas at Austin. The endeavor has been funded by the Natural Hazard Engineering Research Infrastructure program of the National Science Foundation. Recent ASU civil engineering doctoral graduate Elizabeth Stallings Young (second from the right) is shown with Portland State University students and staff members involved in characterizing soils near the Portland International Airport, one of two main sites for a major soil liquefaction research project supported by the National Science Foundation. Van Paassen and Professor Edward Kavazanjian, director of the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, have collaborated on projects to reduce the impact of earthquakes on soils. One of these aftereffects is liquefication, or the process by which soil saturated with water loses strength, which can lead to ground failure. ​The multi-university project involves microbially induced desaturation — called the MID technique — for mitigation of earthquake-induced liquefaction in silty soils. Photo by Leon van Paassen/ASUDownload Full Image Seeking earthquake and engineering solutions The work has included treating two test sections located within the Port of Portland Critical Energy Infrastructure hub (the Harborton site) and adjacent to Portland International Airport (the Sunderland site). The map shows two sites in the vicinity of Portland International Airport and the Port of Portland Critical Energy Infrastructure hub that are test sections for the research to develop techniques for reducing soil damage as a result of earthquakes. Map courtesy of Portland State University There, researchers monitored the treatment performance and [...]