NEWS 2010

Posted August 31, 2010 (Updated September 13, 2010)

Event: September 27, 2010

GSE: Annual Fall Wine & Cheese Event

Location: Faculty Club, University of Alberta

Time: 5:30 - 7:00pm

Cost: $5 Members, $10 Non-members, $5 Students
(Student cost includes membership for the year)

Confirm Attendance (By Sept. 23)

The 2010/2011 season will begin with the traditional Annual Wine and Cheese event. Come out and connect with students and colleagues in the local geotechnical community!

David Elwood, Ph.D. Student, Geotechnical Engineering, University of Alberta

Estimating Soil Properties Using Deformations Associated with Deep Excavations

Deformations were monitored for a recently completed deep tied-back excavation in the City of Edmonton. A 2D finite element model was used to back analyse the soil properties that provided the best agreement with the measured deformations. These values were then compared with the findings of previous laboratory, in-situ and back calculated parameters. These best-fit parameters will be used to estimate the surface settlement expected for the tunnels associated with the proposed extension of the City of Edmonton's North LRT.

Abraham Mineneh, Ph.D. Student, Geotechnical Engineering, University of Alberta

Relevance of Collisional Flow Mechanism in Dry Granular Flow

Experimental studies of dry granular flows on small diameter particles revealed the occurrence of collisional flow mechanism only at low stresses which may imply it has limited relevance in earth's granular flows. However, the mechanism is highly related to particle inertia, and thus both shear rate and particle mass play a crucial role in its occurrence. 3D-DEM simulations of plane shear flows conducted here for larger particles showed its importance at higher stresses. Its relevance in debris flows and avalanches is further investigated by assessing a range of values of vertical stress, flow velocity, and particle diameter required for rate-dependent flows.

The 2010 N.R. Morgenstern Student Award was presented to David Elwood at the close of this event: