Thursday, October 29, 2009

Next Meeting - November 5th

Dear AEG Members, Professional Colleagues, Students, and Friends:

The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that our next meeting will be held on Thursday November 5, 2009 at Pizzeria Uno in Tempe. The hosted social hour begins at 6 PM (thanks to Saguaro GeoServices), dinner is usually around 7 PM and the talk will begin shortly after dinner. The presentation topic is "Evaluation of Earthquake Damage to a Flood Protection Levee System at a Central American Banana Plantation" presented by Bob McMichael, P.E. and Kenneth Turner, R.G. of Ninyo & Moore. Hope to see you all there!

Please RSVP to Bonnie Whitley, bonnie@gtiaz.com, by Tuesday November 2nd.


“Evaluation of Earthquake Damage to a Flood Protection Levee System at a Central
American Banana Plantation”



Abstract:

A seismic event located off the northeastern coast of Central America resulted in damage to an earthen flood protection levee system. An insurance claim by the owner provided anassessment of areas within the levee system that warranted repairs. The purpose of our services was to evaluate the insured’s categorization of damages and to provide an independent opinion based upon our observations. Our assessment of the site conditions involved walking approximately 60 kilometers of the levee system, photographically documenting our observations, and using global positioning system (GPS) devices for location purposes. Our conclusions generally concurred with the owners initial assessment and actually provided additional lineal footage of the levee system to be included for repairs.

Bios:

Mr. Robert W. McMichael, P.E. was educated at Purdue University, and earned a B.S.C.E. in 1985 and an M.S.C.E. in 1986. He possesses more than 25 years of geotechnical and environmental consulting experience in the western, midwestern and southern United States, and internationally. His experience includes many hundreds of design phase (pre-construction) studies, construction-phase support projects, and postconstruction (forensic) studies. He is the Chief Engineer and Managing Principal of Ninyo & Moore’s operations in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. He provides expert or “forensic” geotechnical consulting services, including expert testimony. He also has specialty expertise in the geotechnical evaluation of environmentally contaminated sites, as well as the analysis and design of dams and levee systems.

Mr. Kenneth J. Turner, R.G. was educated at Northern Arizona University, and earned a B.S. in Geology with an engineering emphasis in 1998. He possesses more than 11 years of geotechnical consulting experience in the southwestern United States and internationally. He is a Senior Engineering Geologist with Ninyo & Moore. As Senior Engineering Geologist for Ninyo & Moore, Mr. Turner's responsibilities include managing forensic; construction service; and geotechnical design projects; authoring geotechnical reports; reviewing boring logs and inspection reports; and also providing guidance and technical advice to junior staff. He has expertise in conducting forensic geotechnical evaluations related to construction.

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