2016 Young Geotechnical Professional’s Night

The 2016 Young Geotechnical Professionals’ Night is an opportunity to see four selected presentations by young geotechnical professionals discussing interesting and challenging aspects of their work. After the presentations, you will have a chance to catch up with friends and the presenters over drinks and food provided by the committee.

Presentations

The following presentations will be given during the evening.

Agnes Varo

Aurecon

Use of Numerical Modelling in Tunnel Design – Case Studies

Numerical analysis is considered the state-of-the-art tool in geotechnical engineering and tunnel design. Various software developed for geotechnical and tunnel design purposes are based on finite element, finite difference, discrete element and boundary element methods. The many aspects of modelling, selection and comparison are discussed through a series of case studies of tunnels designed in London Clay, blocky granite in Hungary and Hong Kong and sandstone in Sydney.

ANH Duc Tran

Pells Sullivan Meynink

Making sense of rock fall trial measurements

The Transmission Gully PPP Project (TG) is a major 27 km motorway that will form a vital link connecting Wellington Northern Corridor, New Zealand. This project involves major cuts within the Torlesse Rocks with the cut height up to 70 m posing several challenges to both design and construction. As part of the study, a rock fall trial was carried out in an active quarry with roughly formed production batter Torlesse slopes. The aim of the trial was to gain an understanding about rock fall behaviour on a Torlesse Rock slope to inform the TG cut slope design.

Visvalingam Suthagaran

WSP – Parsons Brinkerhoff

Performance of pile foundation adjacent to ground improvement

The proposed expansion of the Port of Odisha, India is comprised construction of ten (10) coal stacking bunds, five (5) Stacker Reclaimer (S/R) lines along with conveyors, transfer towers and other utility services including internal roads and railway lines. Based on the available investigation data, it is identified that the in-situ ground generally consists of very soft clay up to approximately 15m below existing ground level overlying stiff to hard clay. In the recent years the ground level has been raised by approximately 3m by filling with dredged mud (very soft clay). The ground improvement for the proposed development by vacuum consolidation using a membrane type vacuum system with Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVBD) was selected proposed to improve the ground.

Brad Azari

AECOM

Assessment of long term soft soils behaviour improved with preloading and vertical drains capturing reduced shear strength zone

Soil disturbance induced by the installation of vertical drains reduces horizontal soil permeability and shear strength in the disturbed zone. Consequently, the soil disturbance contributes to the reduced over consolidation ratio (OCR) of the soil in the vicinity of drains, influencing soil deformation. Even though substantial amount of research has been carried out on the effect of permeability variations in the smear zone, the influence of the reduced shear strength in the smear zone on the soil behavior has not been investigated.

This event is sponsored by:

Engineers Australia members participating in AGS technical sessions can record attendance on their personal CPD logs. Members should refer to Engineers Australia CPD policy for details on CPD types, requirements and auditing guidelines.