NEWS 2015

Posted October 2, 2014 (Updated November 12, 2014)

Event: May 12, 2015

GSE/CGS Cross Canada Lecture Tour: Dr. Nick Sitar, P.Eng., University of California, Berkley - On the Importance of Kinematics in the Analysis of (Large) Landslides

Location: Saskatchewan Room, Faculty Club, University of Alberta (11435 Saskatchewan Drive)

Time: 11:30am Registration, 12:00pm Lunch, 12:30pm Presentation

Cost: $10 Members, $10 Non-members, $5 Students

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Many embankment dams completed during the first six decades of the 20th century have been found deficient relative their ability to resist currently anticipated levels of seismic shaking and probable maximum flood. In this Fourth Victor de Mello Lecture, two recent case histories are described. One is a hydraulic fill structure completed in 1920 that is founded on alluvial material, some zones of which are susceptible to liquefaction. The other is a zoned earthfill dam completed in 1956 that is founded over a channel filled with loose, uncompacted, hydraulically placed tailings from gold mining operations.

Nicholas Sitar, Ph.D., P.Eng. is the Edward G. Cahill and John R. Cahill Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. He received his B.A.Sc. in Geological Engineering from the University of Windsor in 1973, and his M.S. in Hydrogeology in 1975 and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering in 1979, both from Stanford University. He taught in the Geological Engineering Program at UBC from 1979 to 1981. He joined the faculty in Geotechnical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1981. Most recently he served as the Director of the University of California Earthquake Engineering Research Center from 2002 to 2008.

Dr. Sitar’s professional and research interests include engineering geology, geotechnical earthquake engineering, rock mechanics, groundwater modeling, groundwater remediation and the application of numerical and stochastic methods to engineering analysis. He is the author and co-author of over 170 publications in geotechnical engineering, engineering geology, groundwater and groundwater remediation. His particular interests in geotechnical earthquake engineering include seismic slope stability, seismic response of retaining structures and mechanically stabilized walls, and the performance of improved ground. In engineering geology he has concentrated on the influence of the depositional environment on the properties of coarse sediments, debris flow initiation, and modeling of jointed rock masses.

His awards include the Huber Research Prize from ASCE in 1993, the Presidential Young Investigator Award from NSF in 1984, the Douglas R. Piteau Award from AEG in 1986, the James M. Robbins Excellence-in-Teaching Award from the Pacific District of Chi Epsilon in 1998, a Chancellor’s Professorship from UC Berkeley 1998-2001, and the endowed Edward G. Cahill and John R. Cahill Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Most recently, he presented the Korean Geotechnical Society Award Lecture in 2012, the Hilf Memorial Lecture at the University of Colorado in 2012, as well as keynote lectures at the ASCE Geo-Congress in 2012 and Chilean Geotechnical Society Congress in 2014.

The CCLT is organized by the Canadian Geotechnical Society, with funding through the Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique.

Sponsorship provided by:

• KGS Group Consulting Engineers
• Tetra-Tech EBA
• Thurber Engineering Ltd.
• GEO-SLOPE International