June 4 , 2007 - Geotechnical Engineering on the Moon?

At the beginning of his engineering career in July of 1966, Ed Nowatzki took a position with Grumman Aircraft Engineering Company, NASA's prime contractor for the lunar excursion module (LEM or LM) for the Apollo missions. While there he worked on the geotechnical aspects of the LM as a member of the Apollo 11 team, which ultimately produced first successful landing on the Moon. Ed recently wrote a retrospective article for publication at GeoPrac.net on this work entitled The Greatest Geotechnical Engineering Challenge. We are pleased to offer a PDF version of this fascinating article for download here on the NCS Web site.

May 8, 2007 - LRFD for Bridge Substructures Presentation

Naresh Samtani, PE, PhD gave a presentation titled LRFD for Bridge Substructures to the Bridge Technical Committee of the Arizona Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (AzSCE). You can download the slide notes from our downloads section. Note: Slide notes were updated on May 18, 2007.

May 1, 2007 - New Downloads and LRFD Corner

LRFD is a hot topic in geotechnical engineering right now, and NCS is at the forefront on both a national, and local level. We have added the LRFD Corner section on our home page to call attention to new developments and downloads on this topic. You can still visit our LRFD page for more details and resources.

Two new downloads have been posted in our Downloads Section:

• LRFD Article 1: LRFD for Substructures - Limit States and Interaction between Structural and Geotechnical Specialists - by Naresh Samtani. Revised May 8, 2007 (R0). NCS Article #: 01-0507-R0. HTML version also published at GeoPrac.net.
• Geotechnical Remediation for a Highway Crossing an Earth Fissure (November, 2006) - Slide notes from a Naresh Samtani

March 1, 2007 - Ed Nowatzki receives Southern Arizona Engineer of the Year Award

Congratulations to Ed on this very prestigious award! He was selected from a distinguished field of nominees by a committee from the Arizona Society of Professional Engineers. The actual award was presented at the Southern Arizona Engineer's Week Banquet on February 20, 2007. Read more on our awards page.

January 4, 2007 - Soils and Foundations Reference Manual available for download

The Soils and Foundations Reference Manual published by the Federal Highway Administration is available for download here on the NCS website. Naresh Samtani and Ed Nowatzki of NCS are the authors of this manual, a comprehensive update to the previous versions. Read more about the manual. Don't forget to take a look at the other downloads we have to offer on the NCS website.

January 4 , 2007 - Happy New Year to all our colleagues and friends!

2006 was a fantastic year for NCS, and we look forward to the many exciting and challenging projects of 2007. Here are two highlights from the end of 2006.

• NCS is pleased to announce that Randy Post has passed his GIT Exam, and is now a Geologist In Training in Arizona in addition to being a registered Civil PE. Congratulations Randy!
• In late October, NCS and the rest of the project team for the SR 264: Second Mesa Project were awarded the 2006 ACEC Grand Award by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona. We invite you to read more about the award or about the project.

October 13, 2006 - New Featured Project: SR 264 at Second Mesa, Geofoam Wall

How do you build a retaining wall out of styrofoam? That is essentially what was done on the SR 264 project at Second Mesa. A complex hybrid system with geofoam fill, a soil nail retaining wall and a precast concrete facing wall was used...all on a steep side hill, with full traffic loading above it. Read more about the latest featured project on the NCS website.

October 5, 2006 - Many Announcements!

It has been a while since we posted any news or announcements, so there is a great deal to report!

• Several new featured projects have been added: The US 60: Pinto Valley project, the Ft. Grant TI deep soil mixing project, and the Mt. Lemmon Emergency Retaining Wall and Slope Repair Project. We also added a few projects to the Brief Project Overviews, and updated the U of A Science Center Project page.
• NCS has been working on a complete and comprehensive revision of he FHWA Soils & Foundations Manual, the "textbook" for the course of the same name that is one of the FHWA's most popular geotechnical courses. The manual is now over 1,000 pages and is nearing completion. The pilot presentation of the new course will be December 11-15 in Baton Rougue, LA in a course for the LADOTD. Watch here for a download link once the manual is made public or read more about the manual.
• NCS has been awarded the 2006 Marvin M. Black Award by the Associated General Contractors of America. Read more on the awards page.
• We are pleased to welcome Juan Lopez to our full-time staff! Juan has been working part time with us since 2004, and is very near completion of his M.S. Thesis.
• NCS is leading the team for Ryan R. Berg and Associates, Inc. that was selected to teach the LRFD for Highway Bridge Substructures and Earth Retaining Structures courses for the FHWA National Highway Institute (NHI, course No. 130082).
• Finally posted a few photos from the Red Mountain Freeway Earth Fissure Field Trip promised 2 months ago!

June 29, 2006 - Earth Fissure Field Trip

NCS, with the permission of ADOT, conducted a field trip on 6/29 to view the exposed earth fissure at the project site of the Red Mountain Freeway (Loop 202) between University Dr. and Southern Ave. in Mesa, AZ which is currently under construction. Groups/agencies that attended included ADOT, AzGS, ADWR, AEG, ALSG, ASU, Maricopa County, City of Goodyear, City of Scottsdale and personnel from over 10 local consultants. Download the fieldtrip handout or read more about the project. Look for photos next week.

June 14 , 2006 - FHWA Document: Hollow-Core Soil Nails State-of-the-Practice

Naresh Samtani and Ed Nowatzki have authored a document for the FHWA commenting on the use of hollow-core soil nailing based on their experience.

June 14 , 2006 - New downloads page

We have added a new downloads page that collects all the various downloads scattered around our site into one location. You can download technical papers, presentation handouts and other good stuff. In the fall of 2006, look for downloads related to ADOT's implementation of the AASHTO LRFD code.

February 21 , 2006 - Website Updates, New Featured Projects

We just finished a round of updates to our website, including the addition of three more featured projects: U of A Science Center, MC Contract, and US 191 Coronado Trail. We also added some new photos on the I-10: St. Mary's to 29th St. Project and several projects and some new photos on the Brief Project Overviews page.

January 10, 2006 - LRFD Presentation at AzSCE Bridge Technical Committee Meeting

Thank you to everyone who attended the presentation by Naresh Samtani on the topic of "A Primer on LRFD ". Feel free to download a copy of the presentation handout (3.8 MB).

January 6, 2006 - Wolfgang Fritz, PE!

NCS is very pleased to announce that Dr. Wolfgang Fritz has passed his PE Exam, and is now a registered Civil Engineer in Arizona! Congratulations Wolfgang.

November 21, 2005 - NCS Recognized for VMO Project

At the dedication ceremony of the Veterans Memorial Overpass in Tucson, NCS was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for their contributions. Read more on our awards page.

November 10, 2005 - ADSC GEO³ Paper

Download a copy of "Integrity testing of drilled shafts - existing and new techniques" by N.C. Samtani, F. Jalinoos and D.M. Poland. The paper was presented by Dr. Samtani at ADSC's GEO³ conference in Dallas, TX November 6-9, 2005.

November 7, 2005 - NCS President & Principal Honored

At the Centennial Celebration of the University of Arizona's Civil Engineering department, two members of NCS were honored with awards. Read more on our awards page.

October 7, 2005 - NCS Has a New Office!

As-of Monday October 3, 2005, NCS is located at 1840 E. River Road, Suite 201, Tucson, AZ 85718. Our phone and fax numbers have not changed, and our primary contact address is still 640 W. Paseo Rio Grande, Tucson, AZ 85737.

July 12, 2005 - AzSCE Bridge Technical Committee Meeting

Thank you to everyone who attended the presentation by Naresh Samtani on the topic of "ADOT and MSE Walls - What is the latest?". Feel free to download a copy of the presentation handout (3.1 MB).

May 9, 2005 - Roads & Streets Conference Wrap-up

Thank you to everyone who attended the session presented by Ed Nowatzki on the Veterans Memorial Overpass (VMO) project. And a special thank you to those who accompanied us to the site to see what properly constructed mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls can look like! You can download the notes from Ed's presentation or read more about the project at our VMO project page.

May 2, 2005 - Announcing Geotechnical Training Courses

NCS has developed and conducted geotechnical training courses for a variety of agencies. Read more on the Training Courses page, or download our PDF Geotechnical Training Courses brochure.