The caving/sloughing of sandy layers into drilled shafts is a common and costly phenomenon in the drilling industry. A prototype soil-testing device known as the Pneumatic In-situ Soil Caving Index Sampler (PISCIS) has been developed to test sandy layers above the water table for their propensity to cave/slough into a drilled shaft during the drilling process. The PISCIS fits down a Cone Penetration Test (CPT) hole and uses air pressure to agitate a sample off of the hole wall that is then collected and weighed. Large-scale lab testing was conducted using sand under a variety of simulated overburden pressures and fines contents. The tests were conducted with a dual purpose in mind. First, the tests confirmed the functionality of the PISCIS prototype and its ability to collect samples in a consistent and repeatable manner. Second, the tests resulted in a calibration curve that shows a very strong (nearly exponential) relationship between collected sample weight and the fines content of the test sand; higher fines contents resulted in lower collection weights. The PISCIS was designed to supplement information found in a geotechnical report with information that would specifically inform drilling contractors about potential caving/sloughing hazards found in the stratigraphy.

<p> The nearshore morphology of sand beaches in the Great Lakes usually consists of a ridge and runnel unit in the shallow, inner portion of the nearshore zone and one or more longshore bar and trough units in the deeper, outer portion. These two sets of features are morphologically and genetically different and exhibit spatial and temporal variations indicating the relative importance of environmental factors in controlling the form of each. </p> <p> Ridges and runnels form and evolve in response to a combination of the controlling factors of wave and water level variations. Ridge formation occurs in response to a rapid decrease in wave energy and lowering of the water level during the subsiding period of a storm. Ridges, with heights of 0.04-0.40 m, take 5-10 days to migrate 10-30 m across an inner nearshore terrace toward the shore. Ridge migration produces laminations dipping at 20°-30° toward the shore. Ridge attachment to the shore produces an accretional berm composed of laminations dipping at about 5° toward the lake. </p> <p> An annual cycle of erosion and deposition occurs in the inner nearshore and foreshore zones and is due to seasonal wave energy and water level variations. Erosion occurs in spring and summer because of rising water levels while the deposition of planar laminations dipping at less than 5° toward the lake is caused by lower water levels and higher energy waves in autumn. </p> <p> Based on the analysis of over 100 echo sounder profiles of the outer nearshore zone of 7 beaches, longshore bar and trough morphologic properties (maximum depth of bar formation, number of bars, and bar amplitudes), are controlled by three main environmental factors (wave energy or surf base, nearshore slope, and sediment size). Bars are present at depths of 3.5 m and at distances of 500 m from the shore, the number of bars ranges up to 6, and bar amplitudes range up to 2 m. Surf base ranges from 3-6 m, slopes from 0.009-0.02, and mean sediment size from 1.85 Ø - 3.30 Ø. There is a good correlation between the slope and sediment size. Temporal variation in bar morphology during the summer period of study is small or insignificant. </p> <p> Individual longshore bars probably only approach, rather than attain, equilibrium forms because of the temporal flucuations in the environmental controls of wave energy and water level. The geometrical trend in all longshore bar systems for the bar amplitude and spacing between bars to increase with increasing depth and distance from the shoreline, suggests a wave energy dissipation process which is somewhat analogous to dampened oscillation. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> The concern about the preservation of a valuable natural resource such as Point Pelee is readily apparent, yet along with this concern is the need for raw materials such as aggregates dredged from submarine sand and gravel deposits. This could involve a conflict in resource management, therefore the question of how significant commercial dredging is as a process element in the local coastal dynamics needs to be resolved. To provide a basis for this assessment, offshore and onshore surveys, bottom sediment analyses, wind-wave analyses, and current measurements have bee·n taken over the last two years to derive a sediment budget for the Point Pelee spit and shoal system. </p> <p> The magnitude of response was measured by the morphologic and volumetric variation between successive profiles at 18 sites throughout Point Pelee. The beach zone of the east shore evidenced the most dramatic morphologic and volumetric changes to its profile, with an average loss of 17.5 m3/m from fall to spring of 1975. </p> <p> Maximum material restored to the east beach in 197-5 was 4.5 m3/m. In terms of annual.quantitative changes to the beach budget, the westward migration of the Point is five times greater for the east shore than for the west. The sediment budget for 1974-75 shows a net deposition to the south of Point Pelee on the order of 440,000 m3. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

One common software program developed for analyzing single laterally loaded piles is called LPILE. Soil properties are required as input into LPILE. For sands, the soil properties required are effective soil unit weight, γ’; subgrade modulus, k; and the internal friction angle, ϕ’. There are two commonly used methods to obtain ϕ’ and subsequently k: the API method and Bolton method. Fourteen different pile test sites were used in the analysis of the API and Bolton methods to obtain soil strength properties in sands for laterally loaded single pile tests. Between the fourteen pile test sites, a total of 26 piles were tested in the field and analyzed in LPILE using the API method and Bolton method to calculate the soil strength properties of the sands. After each pile test was analyzed in LPILE and compared to the field measured results, the two methods were compared graphically and percent errors were calculated between each method and the measured results to determine the optimal method in single laterally loaded pile design. Using the Bolton method to determine the soil strength properties gives more accurate load-deflection values with respect to measured values from field tests. The Bolton method accounts for dilation and the type of sand as well as the relative density and the mean effective stress of the soil. This leads to soil strength properties more characteristic of the soil at the site.

The Sand Creek watershed, Choctaw County, Mississippi, constitutes a proposed site for a recreational and water management reservoir. Prior to the development of the site, the geology and hydrogeology of the watershed must be investigated to determine suitability for impoundment. Geological cross sections derived from geophysical logs and field exploration provides information regarding facies distributions within the proposed site area. Discharge characteristics of streams provide data concerning surface runoff that can then be related to the amount of water that is beneficial to the reservoir filling and remaining filled. All data collected and the characteristics of the reservoir are mapped using ArcGIS 9.1 software. The amount of sand located near the abutment of the levee and possible thin ridge with prospect of faulting to the southeast of the abutment is cause for concern. Analysis of the study area suggests that the proposed site is suitable for location of a reservoir.

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