Management of a Highway Pavement for Subsidence Impacts from Longwall Mining
Henk Buys
The first of a number of planned longwalls directly beneath a freeway, southwest of Sydney has been completed. After a lengthy planning period, the risks to the highway pavement were successfully managed by the road authority, the mining company and a Technical Committee including specialists in the fields of pavement engineering, geotechnical engineering and subsidence.
This presentation provides information about how the measures to manage the potential impacts on the pavement were researched, developed and successfully implemented during mining. The techniques are believed to be a “world first” and included the use of pavement slots, extensive monitoring including optical fibre pavement sensors and on call response procedures. This work received the NSW Premiers Award for Infrastructure Innovation in 2011.
About the speaker
Henk Buys Technical Director - Ground Engineering, AECOM
Henk Buys is currently the Technical Director – Ground Engineering at AECOM, Sydney. He has a broad range of geotechnical engineering experience with a particular emphasis on infrastructure projects in Australia, South East Asia and South Africa. Prior to joining AECOM Henk has worked for RMS as Manager – Geotechnology.
In the technical sphere his experience includes slope stability, retention systems, cut and cover structures and heavy civil engineering works. In the asset management sphere his work has included development of risk based guidelines for the management of assets such as slopes and culverts.
Recent work has included adapting remote sensing, fibre optics and other leading technologies for geotechnical purposes, and assessment of surface impacts of longwall mining on major infrastructure corridors.
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