EDUCATION
1978 M.S. - Civil Engineering - Utah State University
1976 B.S. - Engineering - Humboldt State University
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION
Professional Engineer - Washington
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Couvrette has been practicing geotechnical engineering, mainly in the
greater Puget Sound region, since 1978. One and a half of those years were spent
in the construction industry working for a drilling and shoring contractor. The
remainder of that time has been spent as a geotechnical consultant.
Mr. Couvrette’s experience as a consultant includes participation in the
design and construction of commercial, industrial and residential projects.
Included in this is the design of numerous warehouse facilities, many of which
required construction over soft ground and the need for surcharges or preloads
with occasional pile support for specific sensitive areas of the warehouse.
Other projects include a 5-story community hospital, a large grandstand
facility, apartment complexes, schools, office buildings, and manufacturing and
testing facilities. These projects have required foundation systems that vary
from shallow spread footings to driven precast concrete, timber and steel piles.
He has also been involved with auger cast pile and drilled pier foundation
design and construction. Experiences with residential developments include
design of road subgrades, fill embankments and reinforced soil walls, in
addition to deep foundations where soft soils or non-compacted fills are
encountered.
Large residential developments can impact and be impacted by ground water
conditions. At Utah State, Mr. Couvrette studied ground water flow with his
thesis topic being unsaturated flow. As a consultant, he has performed hydrology
studies to evaluate the effects of ground water on the development and ways to
mitigate negative impacts. These studies include estimates of intercepted
volumes to be expected for storm water detention design and conducting field
permeability testing. He has also evaluated runoff and recharge volumes for
water balance analyses for residential developments.
Mr. Couvrette has provided services for soldier pile wall design and
construction monitoring of temporary shoring and permanent retaining walls. The
permanent walls typically have been required for fill slope embankments and
landslide repair. He has also provided consultation for landslide repair using
buttress slopes and dewatering.
While Mr. Couvrette worked in the foundation drilling industry, he performed
engineering design of soldier pile retaining systems, estimated and secured
construction contracts, and was an on-site engineer and superintendent. His
primary projects included the Westlake Station and entrance to the Convention
Center Station of the Seattle Metro Bus Tunnel. He was also the project
manager/engineer of a two-square block, 28-foot-deep tieback shoring wall in
Eugene, Oregon.
Using the skills established with his design and construction experience, Mr.
Couvrette has provided forensic evaluation of geotechnically-related damage to
structures and hillsides. These services have been provided primarily to the
insurance industry.
