Australian Geomechanics Society Victoria – 2002 Meetings

• February 13, 2002

  Lime Stabilisation of Subgrades for Subdivisional Roads

  Vorobieff G, Vido O

• March 13, 2002

  Proposed New Constitution & Videos of Geotechnical Failures

  Dr Bill Bamford

• March 21, 2002

  Suez Canal

  Hamza M

• April 10, 2002

  Alice Springs to Darwin Railway

  Underhill N

• April 23, 2002

  Public Liability & Professional Indemnity Insurance Seminar (Melbourne Town Hall – AusiMM)

  AusiMM, M&EC

• May 8, 2002

  What Makes for Successful Piling – Joint Seminar with Structural

  Various

• June 12, 2002

  Site Contamination / Hydrogeology, Two Case Studies

  Dr Fouad Abo

  Fouad will discuss the rehabilitation of a former landfill for future high value development. This rehabilitation was a challenge in terms of contamination, geotechnical issues, community perception, shallow groundwater and obtaining approvals. He will outline the integrated methodology that was adopted for the soil, groundwater, landfill gas, and geotechnical investigations as well as linking the assessment to a conceptual development plan for the site. The presentation will illustrate the benefit of basing the development plan on the findings of the environmental assessment rather than the reverse.

  David Lam & Andrew Labbett

  David and Andrew will discuss the processes involved in using the LNAPL remediation system with a particular semi–confined shallow basaltic aquifer in western metropolitan Melbourne. The presentation examines the different factors contributing to the success of the strategy ultimately adopted at this site.

• July 10, 2002

  Landslide Risk Management “Roadshow” – Seminar

  Andrew Campbell, B Walker, Prof Robin Fell, I Stuart, Michael Broise, Neil Benson, Amanda Nicholls, Peter Dahlhaus, Robert Wilson

• August 14, 2002

  Yarra Delta Lecture and Workshop

  Bernie Joyce, Max Ervin, Peter McDonald, Andrew Campbell

  Re–development of the Docklands precincts, which cover 200 hectares of land and water, is actively underway with several building projects at or near completion stage. Ultimately the Docklands will become a diverse community with residential, commercial, entertainment and restaurant facilities. A complex and variable suite of sediments underlies the Docklands, including the highly compressible Coode Island Silt, presenting many geotechnical challenges that designers and constructors have to face. Recent projects have introduced new and innovative solutions to overcome the difficult ground conditions as will be explained by the presenters. In addition, a hands–on workshop will provide an opportunity to inspect and discuss the full sequence of the Yarra Delta and related sediments.

  • Bernie Joyce – Geological Setting of the Yarra Delta Sequence
  • Max Ervin – Challenges of the Crown Casino basement excavation
  • Peter McDonald – Bolte Bridge Foundations
  • Andrew Campbell – Site Investigation Practices in the Yarra Delta
• September 11, 2002

  Earthquake Seismic Design of Earth Structures

  Gary Gibson

  Over the past few years there have been many developments in the estimation of earthquake hazard due to earthquake ground vibration. Among the topics to be discussed will be recent developments in the definition of earthquake source regions (including active faults), improved methods of quantifying the seismicity in these regions, developments in spectral attenuation functions, methods of dealing with sites having soft surface sediments or steep topography, and practical ways of computing ground motion recurrence by including some information about the structure to be designed.

  Dr Gamini Adikari

  Gamini will discuss the use of seismic parameters in embankment dam engineering. He will explain the ANCOLD guidelines as applied to seismic assessment of dams and present a case study on a dam rehabilitation project to illustrate them.

  Dr Edward Kavazanjian, Jr

  The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has recently published the new draft “Guide Specifications for Seismic Design of Highway Bridges”. Dr Kavazanjian will briefly outline the new design requirements, focusing on their advantages over current requirements, and then discuss in more detail the foundation and liquefactions design provisions.

• October 9, 2002

  Soil Improvement/ Grouting

  Trevor R Osborne

  Various "geotechnical" methods have been employed to alter the properties of soils in order to provide enhanced capacity to support "structures", as an aid to excavation or for other purposes such as reducing water flows. These methods include vibro compaction, vibro replacement, dynamic compaction, explosive compaction, soil mixing, grouting, pre loading, sand and wick drains and soil reinforcement The objet of "improvement" may be to increase strength, to reduce settlement or to change soil permeability. In many instances the use of ground improvement may result in considerable cost savings compared to more conventional "structural" solutions such as piling.

  This presentation will give a general description of various ground improvement techniques along with selected samples from Trevor Psborne's experience spanning a period in excess of 30 years. Examples to be presented include:

  • stone columns loaded to over 600 kN/m2;
  • use of vibro flotation as an aid to excavation; and
  • grouting of mine waste to minimise settlement.
• November 13, 2002

  AGM followed by Chairman's Address and Annual Dinner

  Andrew Campbell–Proposal to Move Education Forward

  Andrew Campbell will discuss the role of the AGS in continuing professional development for geo–professionals and outline proposals for an extension course for 2003.

  Ian Plymer–Annual Dinner After Dinner Presentation: Greenhouse–a load of hot air

• November 16, 2002

  Field Excursion Royal Park

  Andrew Campbell

  The railway cuttings in Royal Park provide type exposures of the Tertiary materials and their contact with the underlying Melbourne Mudstone. The cutting at Manningham St provides exposures of the Green Gully limestone member and Older Volcanics. The cutting near Royal Park station provides a full exposure of the Brighton Group contact with the Melbourne Mudstone. Background information and details on geological and geotechnical properties will be discussed at the AGS technical meeting on 13 November 2002 (refer separate flyer).

  The excursion will be lead by a number of experienced geologists including Bernie Joyce, Rob Wilson and Michael Broise. The two cuttings and drill core will be viewed with opportunities to map the exposures and discuss the engineering implications of the different materials.