Leeds University seminar on geo-risk
30 May 2018Great Britain – The University of Leeds hosted a seminar on geo-risk, rock behaviour and underground space last month. Presented by Chrysothemis Paraskevopoulou, Leeds University and Mark Diederichs, Queens University (Canada), the day-long event was also supported by the BTS Young Members.
The approximately 35 attendees came from a variety of backgrounds. Predominantly tunnel engineers, there were also a number of geologists who said an increase in underground engineering work lead them to attend the seminar as a refresher.
The event covered the nature of uncertainty and its role in decision making; adverse tunnel behaviour; significant geo-risk in tunnelling; qualitative and quantitative assessment; design methods – empirical/analytical and model-based; quantifying uncertainty; costs and rockmass assessment; sensitivity and reliability in design analysis; instrumentation and monitoring; and case histories.
The event covered a lot of ground and a lot of detail in one day, and a theme was the importance of a precise understanding of the theory, as well as the practical limitations in reality.
The speakers wanted to particularly emphasise that “experience can just mean repeating the same mistake over and over.”
They also wryly highlighted past failings of industry (and the field) from their own experience. On one notable job, it was recalled, project documentation helpfully advised that RQD ranged from 0% to 100%.
It is expected that more events will be seen outside of the UK’s capital as work becomes more distributed throughout the country.
