This award supports the PI and graduate students from the Northwestern University in a collaboration with Tom Lunne of the Offshore Geotechnical Engineering Division of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Oslo, Norway. The collaboration will advance the state of the art in how soft soils are sampled, the degree of sample disturbance is measured, and effects of disturbance on measured behavior are evaluated. The research program will also bring the state of US sampling practice in this area from one that has remained essentially constant for the past 50 years to one that is at the forefront of present capabilities. A great part of the uncertainty in geotechnical design and research comes from sample disturbance and current methods of sampling and testing cause a wide range of sample disturbance that affects material behavior. The US-Norway collaboration gives the US group access to the premier geotechnical research institute in the world, and can only add to the success of the domestic research.
The project also fulfills a training objective. The international project will allow graduate students involved to benefit from performing research in another country. They will develop a heightened appreciation of the world around them while also learning important new technical skills.
