Australian Geomechanics Society

Nominations for the John Jaeger Memorial Award

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:24:15 +0000

Nominations for the John Jaeger Memorial Award for lifetime commitment to the geotechnical profession close 31 March 2012

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Nominations for the Rocha Medal 2014

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:21:39 +0000

An invitation is now being extended to the whole Rock Mechanics community for nomination for the Rocha Medal 2014.

Nominations for the Rocha Medal for an outstanding doctoral thesis in rock mechanics closes 31 Dec 2012.

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AGS Geology for Engineers Course – Adelaide

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:39:42 +0000

Next proposed to run late September 2013
University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide and nearby field sites on the Fleurieu Peninsula and within the Adelaide Hills.

Good ground engineering models are essential. If you know how soil and rock materials and their defects are formed you can anticipate where they might occur (the site geology), their engineering properties and construction issues that might arise. The aim of this course is to give students enough basic knowledge and skills for them to have the confidence to apply geological principles and methods in their work and to continue to learn about geology so that they can make better engineering judgments and decisions.

View the course page →

AGS Engineering Geology Course – Wollongong

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:12:10 +0000

Saturday 22^nd September – Sunday 30^th September 2012
University of Wollongong, Wollongong and nearby field sites.

The principal objective of this course is to teach students how to apply geological skills in the field to help solve engineering problems. This will be carried out by using guided field exercises, in which the students learn by carrying out realistic project related work in the field whilst being supervised by very experienced practitioners.

View the course page →

46th Terzaghi Lecture – Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil: From the Experimental to the Familiar

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:33:05 +0000

The lecture begins with a historical review of reinforced soil technology, from the ancients, the developments by H. Vidal and K. Lee on Terre Armée and Reinforced Earth, the early uses of geosynthetics for soil reinforcement in France (Bidim), Sweden (Wager and Broms), and the USA (USFS, FHWA, J. R. Bell, T. A. Haliburton, B. R. Christopher and others).

The advantages and basic behavior of geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) are presented along with an overview of current design procedures, and with reference to UW analytical research results. Practical suggestions are given for dealing with creep, pullout, and backfill drainage. Geosynthetic properties and then discussed, again with reference to UW research results.

Although GRS is quite a mature development, a few technical and professional issues remain; primarily, too many failures of these structures occur. Reasons for these failures and some suggestions as to what the profession can do about them are presented.

The lecture ends with several examples of successful applications of GRS and reinforced soil technology.

Probabilities of Failure and Factors of Safety in Geotechnical Engineering

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:01:30 +0000

There has been a rapid growth of interest in both academe and industry in the use of probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering. In hindsight this is not too surprising, since soils and rocks are among the most variable of all engineering materials, and geotechnical engineers must often make do with materials they are dealt with at any particular site. This inherent variability makes geotechnical analysis highly amenable to a treatment based on statistically described input parameters. The outcome of a probabilistic analysis typically leads to a probability of failure as opposed to the traditional factor of safety, representing a fundamental change in the way geotechnical engineers need to think about the suitability of their designs. The presentation describes methods of analysis of highly variable soils by numerical methods, and the implications this may have for geotechnical design outcomes. The relationship between the probability of failure and the factor of safety is discussed, and some simple methods of probabilistic analysis are described. The presentation ends with a brief description of current research in probabilistic geotechnical engineering, and some free software is made available to the audience if they wish to have a go at some of the methodologies for themselves.

TBD

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 03:48:23 +0000

Inpex Oil and Gas Project

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 03:46:55 +0000

34th International Geological Congress

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:30:07 +0000

August 5-10, 2012 – Brisbane, QLD
Congress website
See Theme 31: Engineering Geology and Geomechanics
Abstracts due February 17 2012

18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE’13)

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:06:52 +0000

September 2-5, 2013 – Paris, France
18ICSMGE – Call for abstracts

The deadline for abstract submission to the AGS is 15 March 2012. Abstracts should be:

Submitted on this template
Comprise between 250-500 words
Use 10 pt Arial font
Not exceed one page
At least one author must be a member of the ISSMGE.

Please submit your abstract directly to the AGS Secretary, Peter Robinson (secretary@australiangeomechanics.org) and not via the conference web site. As per normal ISSMGE practice, the final papers will be limited to 4 pages and will be due on 15 January 2013.

Notification of abstract acceptance from the AGS will be given by 15 April 2012.