CEE Seminar: Geotechnical Engineering at Kennedy Space Center

Abstract: NASA is renovating the infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center to accommodate a new generation of heavy-lift space vehicles that will exceed the demonstrated capacity of existing infrastructure components. This presentation focuses on overall stability of the transporter that carries heavy-lift vehicles along the crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pads, crawlerway surface treatment for track-mounted and rubber-tired transporters, Vehicle Assembly Building foundations and stabilization of slope protection slabs to resist shaking from rocket blasts.

Bio: George Filz is the Charles E. Via Professor of Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he has been teaching and conducting research in geotechnical engineering for 27 years. Before this, he worked in private engineering practice for eight years. His bachelor's and master's degrees are from Oregon State University, and his doctorate is from Virginia Tech. Filz's teaching, research and practice interests include foundation engineering, soil-structure interaction, ground improvement and seepage barriers. He has been recognized with several awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, including the Middlebrooks Award, the Croes Medal, the Florida Project-of-the-Year Award and the Wallace Hayward Baker Award. He is the 2016-2017 Cross-USA Lecturer for the ASCE Geo-Institute.