Subsurface Databases in GeoEnvironmental Engineering

Abstract

Stricter geotechnical and geoenvironmental regulations, large projects and sustainable design initiatives that dictate an interdisciplinary approach in design and maintenance of geoenvironmental and civil engineering structures impose a large amount of data that must be collected, analyzed, processed, reported, coordinated and interchanged among various stakeholders. Experiences of geoenvironmental companies and their methods of managing subsurface data is discussed and evaluated. Based on these experiences, a database management approach is presented as a means to aid and advance traditional practices in geoenvironmental engineering and enable easier interoperability with other engineering disciplines. The presentation reveals how field and lab data, when properly managed in geoenvironmental database can be easily turned into information and supplied to engineers in various disciplines in a form they expect and they can easily interpret. Furthermore, a properly designed centralized subsurface database allows for what-if scenarios and supports interoperability with Computer-Aided Design (CAD) applications for 2D site maps and 3D subsurface modelling, Geographic Information System (GIS) applications, Geoenvironmental Analysis and Design applications, Road Design applications, and Hydrology and Hydraulics applications. The paper concludes with how subsurface database management fits into or complements the traditional procedures, and provides notable enhancements in understanding and interpreting Site Investigation and Testing data, both in geoenvironmental engineering and in civil engineering disciplines that depend on geoenvironmental data.