Young Geotechnical Professionals’ Seminar & The 22nd Dr Baden Clegg Award

Shengsheng Fan, Wilson Jiang and Sam Shahin

The WA Chapter of the AGS invites participants for the 2023 Young Geotechnical Professionals’ Seminar Evening & The 22nd Dr Baden Clegg Award on Tuesday 11 July 2023. 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.

Format

Three speakers have been chosen to give 15-minute presentations, based on a one-page abstract on their preferred geotechnical topic. The Dr Baden Clegg Award will be presented to the best contribution.

Prizes

$1500 total prize value for participants

About the speakers

Shengsheng Fan Fugro

“Understanding the effect of monopile installation process on the subsequent lateral response through experimental and numerical approaches”

Monopiles used as fixed-bottom foundations of Offshore Wind Turbines can be installed using different methods including jacking, impact driving, and vibratory driving. To date, monopile−soil interaction under lateral loading is mainly characterised using the improved p-y methods developed through the PISA (Pile Soil Analysis) joint-industry research project. However, the effect of the installation process on the subsequent lateral response of a monopile under the in-service condition has generally been ignored in the design despite design guidelines (e.g. from DNV, API) acknowledge the importance of the installation effect. There is no clear guidance on how to account for the installation effect in the design guidelines. A knowledge gap exists in the understanding of the effect of installation on the design. This presentation will brief some insights from experimental and numerical investigations to fill the knowledge gap in understanding the effect of pile installation process on the design of lateral loaded monopiles.

Wilson Jiang Water Corporation

“Clay liner construction challenges and lessons learned”

The Carnarvon Wastewater Treatment Pond was recently remediated to improve the performance of the clay liner. The remediation involved increasing the liner thickness with clay material to achieve a permeability of 10-9 m/s.  During construction, the Contractor had difficulties achieving the specified compaction criteria and the clay was placed too dry and insufficiently compacted. It was decided that the liner had to be ripped up, re-moisture conditioned and re-compacted.  Several adjustment were made during the rework.  The adjustments made worked well and the reworked liner achieved the target permeability of 10-9 m/s.  The above-listed adjustments form the lessons learned from this project.

Sam Shahin Rio Tinto

“Structural analysis and modelling in an evolving mineral resources operation”

Optimising pit slope stability and reducing strip ratio of a mining operation are two key tasks in geotechnical engineering. Structural geologists can influence both tasks with suitable orebody knowledge and risk characterisation. With a growing demand for minerals and an increasing cost associated with extraction, mining companies are constantly re-evaluating the viability of historic mineral deposits and challenging their geological understanding.  Within the Geotechnical Engineering department at Rio Tinto Iron Ore, the Structural Geology (SG) team collect critical data, such as point based orientations (utilising drone photogrammetry), pit mapping and geological inferences from adjacent pits to re-model ore deposits where previous interpretations have failed to account for structurally controlled slope failures. By utilising innovative data collection methods and findings from these historic slope failures SG will address the root causes of slope instability, focusing on structural understanding as opposed to destructive testing methods associated with drilling.

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.