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Employee Profiles: Principals
Patrick O. Shires
 President
Principal Geotechnical Engineer
Principal Geophysicist
Registration
Registered Geotechnical Engineer in California,
RGE 770
Registered Geophysicist in California, RGP 879
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in California, RCE 26397
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Colorado, PE 17099
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Hawaii, PE 7474
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Idaho, CE 4513
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Oregon, CE 11478PE
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in Washington, CE 16992
Education
M.S., Civil Engineering: Stanford University,
Stanford, California, 1975
B.S., Stanford University, Stanford, California, 1972
Areas of Specialty - Engineering
Landslide mitigation and flooding and levee stability;
earth movement expert; dams, waterway and coastal engineering and design;
foundation design; geotechnical design for water and wastewater
facilities; retaining wall design; grading (filling & excavation)
design and practice; expansive soil design; roadway, parking, pavement
and drainage design; construction inspection/testing; litigation
and mediation support
Areas of Specialty - Geophysics
Seismic and radio detection surveys for buried pipelines; gravity
and seismic surveys for tunnels; surface surveys for regional seismic
analyses; magnetic and earth resistivity surveys; reflection surveys
for fault investigations for environmental hazards exploration;
surface and downhole seismic surveys for landslide investigations;
seismic studies of waste disposal landfills and tailings dumps;
downhole, crosshole and/or surface seismic surveys for over 30 dams
Representative Experience
As Principal in Charge of all CSA civil and geotechnical
engineering projects, Mr. Shires’ responsibilities range from
investigation, analysis and product review to final design participation
and project management for large projects. Mr. Shires remains actively
involved in the engineering investigation, design, construction,
and review for technical investigations. In addition, he is qualified
as an expert witness in Civil/Geotechnical Engineering and has testified
at over 74 trials and binding arbitrations as an expert witness,
including trials resulting in landmark legal decisions involving
natural watercourse and earth movement issues.
Mr. Shires has over 35 years of professional experience
in the fields of civil and geotechnical engineering throughout the
western United States. In the early part of his career, he supervised
the technical investigation and engineering analyses for many water
and wastewater treatment and distribution facilities, dams, nuclear-
and fossil-fuel power plant and high-rise building sites throughout
the western United States. He investigated over 50 dam sites and
was the chief design engineer for a 160-foot high rockfill dam in
Arizona.
At his present position, Mr. Shires has specialized
in slope stability investigations on over 400 landslide projects,
40 of which have been in southern, 20 in central, and over 350 in
northern California, and nine in Hawaii. He has supervised many
major landslide investigation projects, including the Big Rock Mesa,
Rambla Pacifico, and Anaheim Hills landslides in southern California;
the Love Creek, Permanente Quarry, Codorniu Napa and hundreds of
other landslides in northern California; and the Manoa, Ailuna-Leighton
and other landslides in Hawaii, as well as flooding issues associated
with major storm events on the big island of Hawaii. In addition,
he has specialized in the investigation of failures associated with
river and creek flooding, including levee failure and design issues.
Mr. Shires regularly participates in International Field Workshops
on Landslides, including workshops in Japan, Australia, New Zealand,
Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Spain
England, and Norway. He is experienced in the use of sophisticated slope
stability analysis tools, including two- and three-dimensional limit
equilibrium methods and finite element modeling.
Mr. Shires has specialized in the design of remedial
measures for dealing with slope stability problems, including the
design of grading plans, retaining wall structures, shear pins,
tiebacks and extensive drainage works. He has been the chief design
engineer on over 120 landslide repair projects, including designing
a coastal revetment to protect the Esplanade Avenue bluff in Pacifica
and extensive slope repairs to protect homes below the Knockash
Hill rockslides in San Francisco. He investigated landsliding for
the Yangtze Water Resource Commission's Three Gorges Dam project
in China and is the MTA geotechnical engineering expert for their
Redline Tunnel distress litigation in Los Angeles.
Professional History
President, Principal Engineer, Principal
Geophysicist, 1983 - Present; Cotton, Shires and Associates, Inc.,
Los Gatos, California
Supervising Geotechnical Engineer and Geophysicist, 1972-1983; Earth
Sciences Associates, Inc., Palo Alto, California
Professional Affiliations
American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society
for Testing and Materials
American Underground Association, California Geotechnical Engineers
Association
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Bay Area Geophysical Society
Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Consulting Engineers Association
of California
Appointments
Industrial Research Associate: United States Geological
Survey, Menlo Park, California
Past Member /Chairman: Architectural Site Control Commission, Portola
Valley, California
Expert Consultants Panel Member: City of Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Arbitrator: California Ridge Development, San Jose, California
Independent Geotechnical Expert: Rancho Solano Development, Fairfield,
California; Knockash Hill Rockslides, San Francisco, California;
Buck Center/Partridge Knolls Landslide, Novato, California; Jackson
Meadows Subdivision Slope Stability, Morgan Hill, California
Publications
Author or co-author of more than 20 technical
publications and abstracts (publication list is available on request)
Expert Testimony
Court appearances in Federal and Superior Courts;
depositions; settlement/mediation conference presentations
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