9712602 This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) award is funded to initiate efforts to provide guidelines for assessing, controlling, and monitoring ground movements and building damage that are direct and uncomplicated, that will be accepted by contractors, designers, and preservationists, and that will aid in the provision of improved, adequate, and economic protection of structures. The research will develop model tests involving four large tieback walls, which will be extensively instrumented and monitored during testing by excavation. Models will be used also to investigate scaling relationships and interaction between ground, retaining walls, and surrounding structures, during and after excavation. Results of analyses will be compared with data from previous and current field cases. These efforts will be used to support the development and assessment of guidelines for controlling damage. By capitalizing on their strong existing cooperative efforts with industry, the principal investigators will formulate new criteria that will result in safer, more realistic, and more economical control of ground movements, while providing a higher level of protection for historic and urban structures. ***
