For Individuals ARE Prep ARE Prep Preview CSE Prep Continuing Education For Firms Firm Licenses Firm Pricing Firm Partners Resources ARE 5.0 Divisions Practice Management (PcM) Project Management (PjM) Programming and Analysis (PA) Project Planning & Design (PPD) Project Development & Documentation (PDD) Construction & Evaluation (CE) Study Materials 9 Tips for Passing the ARE Free ARE Study Session Tips for Studying ARE Score Report Calculator Blog Help Center

Soils: Risks, Data, and Decisions

Subscribe

Course Description

The course emphasizes the critical importance of understanding geotechnical data to prevent costly delays, unexpected challenges, and enhance structural integrity and safety. It includes real-world examples demonstrating the consequences of inadequately surveyed or misunderstood subsurface conditions. By the end of the course, learners will be equipped to have informed conversations with project stakeholders about soil conditions and their implications for construction projects.

In this course, you will learn how to interpret the data in soil boring logs and apply this knowledge to have informed conversations and informed decision-making about site preparation, foundation design, and overall project feasibility. Through interpreting these logs, you can anticipate and mitigate many common issues, ensuring that your projects are built on a solid foundation, both literally and figuratively.

Through careful analysis and application of soil data, common challenges - unexpected foundation issues due to irregular soils which lead to project delays and increased costs - can often be identified early and avoided. It is crucial to understand geotechnical data at least well enough to have informed conversations with other project stakeholders—not just for preventing costly delays and unexpected challenges but also for enhancing the structural integrity and safety of your designs.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify subsurface conditions where special considerations in foundation design are likely, to anticipate structural problems, account for cost risks, and achieve efficient, safe designs.

  • Explain how foundation problems related to substrate type can be avoided through foundation system selection for structural durability by considering information from soil boring logs.

  • Predict challenges in safe, effective foundation design from information presented in a soil boring log, to enable effective design of reliable structures.

  • Describe critical information contained in soil boring logs and its application to site planning and foundation design to identify appropriate locations for structures, plan for excavation and other site work, and mitigate problems with the site.

  • Summarize how soil boring logs are used to enhance designed safety and structural integrity.

Resources