A geotechnical drilling rig extracts a $1.5 \text{ m}$ ($150 \text{ cm}$) run of NX-size rock core from a limestone formation. The driller lays out the recovered core pieces in the core box. The lengths of the intact pieces (measured along the centerline axis of the core) are as follows, in order from top to bottom: $12 \text{ cm}$, $8 \text{ cm}$, $25 \text{ cm}$, $5 \text{ cm}$, $14 \text{ cm}$, $9 \text{ cm}$, $32 \text{ cm}$, $11 \text{ cm}$, $4 \text{ cm}$, and a final piece of $18 \text{ cm}$. The remainder of the $150 \text{ cm}$ run consists of completely crushed rock and drilling mud that washed away. Calculate the Rock Quality Designation (RQD).

A driller advances the core barrel exactly $2.0 \text{ m}$ ($200 \text{ cm}$) into a highly fractured zone of schist. When the barrel is pulled to the surface and opened, only $1.4 \text{ m}$ ($140 \text{ cm}$) of physical core material is recovered in the box. The rest was ground up and washed away by the drilling fluid. Of the $140 \text{ cm}$ recovered, the lengths of the intact pieces $\ge 10 \text{ cm}$ sum up to $85 \text{ cm}$. Calculate both the Total Core Recovery (TCR) percentage and the RQD.

During a $1.0 \text{ m}$ ($100 \text{ cm}$) core run through a massive granite formation, the drill bit jams, and the driller must use heavy wrenches to forcibly snap the core inside the barrel to pull it out. When laid in the box, the core is broken into three distinct pieces: a $35 \text{ cm}$ piece, a $45 \text{ cm}$ piece, and a $20 \text{ cm}$ piece. The logging geologist carefully inspects the two fractures separating the pieces and notes that they are rough, fresh, unweathered, and physically fit perfectly back together. Calculate the true RQD of the rock mass.

A major real estate developer rapidly acquires a large, seemingly pristine tract of flat, open land on the outskirts of an old industrial city to build a dense residential neighborhood and several mid-rise apartment complexes. Before authorizing expensive physical drilling rigs (Phase 3), the lead geotechnical engineer mandates a thorough Phase 1 Desk Study.

A civil engineering firm is tasked with designing the deep foundation piers for a new suspension bridge crossing a deep, fast-flowing river. The preliminary geological model suggests the riverbed consists of $20 \text{ m}$ of loose, saturated gravel and cobbles, underlain by massive, highly competent granite bedrock.