Young Geotechnical Professionals’ Seminar & The 21st Dr Baden Clegg Award

Daniel Goldstein, William Hermans and Colm O'Beirne

The WA Chapter of the AGS invites participants for the 2022 Young Geotechnical Professionals’ Seminar Evening & The 20th Dr Baden Clegg Award on Tuesday 12 July 2022. This annual event gives a platform for our younger geo-professionals to present their work, gain feedback from experienced colleagues and become involved in AGS activities.

About the presenters

Daniel Goldstein Rio Tinto

“Rock Mass Characterisation using Measure While Drilling Data”

The pre-excavation prediction of rock mass conditions strongly influences open-pit mining safety and operational efficiency. Due to the high expense of exploration drilling, pre-mining geotechnical characterisation is too dispersed to accurately represent the condition of single and multi-batter scale rock masses. Inaccurate predictions lead to the selection of suboptimal pit wall design parameters, and the resulting slope instability may cause fatalities or a substantial financial loss. Measure-While-Drilling (MWD) is currently utilised on most mine production drill rigs to record drilling outputs, such as the penetration rate. The MWD drilling data acquired during the mining process is objective and dependable. The examination of MWD datasets can accurately forecast geotechnical conditions before mining.

William Hermans WSP

“A case study approach to predicting induced settlement from impact rolling on landfill and non-engineered fill”

With increasingly limited space available for infrastructure development, engineers are forced to infill in less desirable areas such as landfill sites. Landfill is prone to decomposition and is highly heterogenous, resulting in significant differential settlements when subjected to development loads. Ground improvement via impact rolling is a practical tool geotechnical engineers can employ to manage these difficult ground conditions. Impact rolling densifies the near surface material and collapses voids, reducing potential differential movements. This method is commonly used for shallow embankment infrastructure such as roads and runways. Predicting the settlement induced from impact rolling can be challenging due to high variability in landfill materials, limited empirical relationships, and a lack of a standardised design methodology.

Colm O’Beirne UWA

“Protecting offshore pipelines — innovative physical modelling undertaken at the NGCF”

Offshore pipelines require protection from external impacts and from their own misbehaviour (such as global buckling and axial walking). Various projects recently carried out at the National Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility (NGCF) will be showcased. The presentation initially focuses on protection from drag anchor impacts — a problem near ports and along shipping lanes. Applications of rock berms to keep pipelines from suffering large axial displacements and consequential failures (at end termination facilities and manifolds) will then be discussed. Finally, a test campaign helping to validate the Pipe-Clamping Mattress (PCM) in various soil types will be presented.

Prizes

$1500 total prize value for participants

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.