Am. Society of Civil Engineers
Coastal sediments '07; proceedings; 3v.
Appropriately held in New Orleans, the 6th International Symposium of Coastal Engineering and Science of Coastal Sediment Processes (May 2007) heard a keynote address from a representative of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources regarding recent hurricane damage. Following are 197 peer-reviewed papers offering basic research as well as case studies and practical engineering solutions concerning sediment transport fundamentals, shoreline change, gravel coasts, dunes, deltas and river mouths, storms, tsunamis, sea level rise, wind-blown sand, mud coasts, and estuaries, dredging, and beach nourishment and structures, among other topics. The contributors represent 24 countries and a diversity of ideas, viewpoints, and experiences. Arrangement is in three volumes; the index is included in each volume for convenience. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Environmental and water resources; milestones in engineering history.
The history of water engineering could be summed up as the account of the efforts of a small number of experts to make sure all of us get not too much water and also not too little. These 18 papers, many of which were presented at the Environmental and Water Resources Institute Congress held May 2007 in Tampa, Florida includes fascinating insights into how those few experts managed to pull off such feats as the Hoover Dam. The aforesaid includes field photographs taken by Ansel Adams but the others or no less impressive, covering historic small-scale projects by the Maya, the originators of San Antonio's water system and the folks who brought you Versailles, the results of Florida's statewide water management history project, histories of experimental watershed research in the US, and two papers on historic floods and the resulting action and research. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Geotechnical baseline reports for construction; suggested guidelines.
Focusing on underground construction, this report examines the role of the Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR) as a tool in allocating and managing risks associated with subsurface construction. The suggestions here augment those previously published and include justification for review of the GBR, the purpose of the GBR, shortcomings of previous practice, the contents of the GBR, including data and memoranda for design, creation of the "differing sites conditions" clause, the concept of a baseline, preparation of a GBR, applications for excavations and foundations, design-build procurement, owner perspectives, roles and responsibilities, and details of lessons learned in the preparation of this document. Read this and know before you go below. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
GEO-Denver 2007; new peaks in geotechnics; proceedings.
The Geo-Denver 2007 Congress, of February 2007 covered recent developments in virtually all fields of geotechnical engineering. Attendees comprised practitioners, manufacturers, contractors, researchers, and students. The theme of the Congress was inclusiveness, innovation, and development for practical engineering applications. For the first time the technical sessions at the Symposium were organized and chaired by the Geo-Institute's Technical Committees themselves. Nearly 300 papers in 60 technical sessions have been organized into 18 Geotechnical Specialty Publications including computer applications; deep foundations; earth retaining structures; dynamic response and soil properties; embankments, dams and slopes; the New Orleans levee failures; problematic soils and rocks and in situ characterization; geoenvironmental engineering; innovative applications of geophysics in civil engineering; geosynthetics in reinforcement and hydraulic applications; soil erosion; grouting for ground improvement; probabilistic applications; shallow foundations; soil improvement; measurement and modeling of soil behavior; and designing underground space. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The New Orleans hurricane protection system; what went wrong and why.
This report, from the American Society of Civil Engineers Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel, describes what went wrong with the levee system during Hurricane Katrina, focusing on the devastation to New Orleans and southeast Louisiana. At its request, the panel reviews the work of the US Army Corps of Engineers Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce. The report details a variety of problems with the levees, including direct physical causes and contributing factors to the hurricane protection system failures. They provide details about New Orleans and the hurricane, the protection system, how the levees failed, the human, financial, and cultural impacts, and direct causes and contributing factors such as overestimation of soil strength, water-filled gaps, inoperable pump systems, and under-appreciated risk to the city. They end with a number of calls to action relating to lessons learned from the disaster. Many color photos are incorporated. The intended audience is scientists, engineers, and laypeople. There is no index. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Ports 2007; 30 years of sharing ideas...1977-2007; proceedings. CD-ROM
ASCE Publications describes this CD-ROM thus: Ports 2007 focuses on improving port, waterway and harbor facilities worldwide through sharing and encouraging technological advancements.133 papers were prepared and presented in 36 technical sessions related to the following topics: Port Planning; Environmental Issues & Mitigation; Waterways & Channels; Landside Transportation; Terminals & Specific Facilities; Specific Technical Topics; Security; Life-Cycle Management; and Non-Traditional Projects. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings.
The Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers presents their nationally applicable standards for the seismic rehabilitation of buildings, together with commentary explaining the presented technical requirements. Covering both the overall structure of a building and nonstructural components, the standards are arranged such that four analysis procedures can be used: linear static procedure, linear dynamic procedure, nonlinear static procedure, and nonlinear dynamic procedure. In presenting the standards, both the International System of Units and customary units have been employed. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Snow loads; guide to the snow load provisions of ASCE 7-05.
Nine of the chapters in this handbook elucidate the corresponding sections 7.2 to 7.10 of ASCE 7-05, and provide several examples for each type of roof and snow load. Complete snow design examples of a gable roof metal building with a roof step, a pole barn with a hip roof, and a single-family residence round out the book. The author has taught civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers; v.171; 2006.
This volume from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) compiles abstracts for all articles published in ASCE journals in 2006. The listings are grouped by journal (of which there are forty) and include entry numbers, author affiliations, and bibliographic information. Special publications and manuals and reports are listed separately. A subject heading index and author index are provided. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007; restoring our natural habitat; proceedings. (CD-ROM)
Presented here on CD-ROM are the proceedings of the 2007 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, whose theme "Restoring our natural habitat," states an urgent task for engineers and other resource professionals. Specialists share their work and speculations on environmental and water resources issues in a meeting that sets a new direction for EWRI. Instead of starting with the built environment, EWRI approached the conference from the perspective of natural resources, examining how to mitigate human impact upon natural resources. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
