Geotechnical Society of Ireland Chairman s Report

Transcription

1 Geotechnical Society of Ireland Chairman s Report Fintan Buggy, Chairman GSI AGM 23 April 2015

2 Ground Investigation Specification Revisions to the 2006 Specifications GSI sub committee lead by Paul Quigley IGSL, Maurice Ryan BLP, Cormac Reale UCD, Brian Byrne IT Carlow. Work ongoing and Draft for Comment to be issued in May / June 2015 to consultants / GI contractors / ICE London. Major revisions to sections on geophysics, health & safety, environmental contamination sampling and testing with input from key specialists in Ireland. Hope to publish final documents in summer 2015 and launch at GSI event in Autumn 2015

3 ISSMGE / ECSMGE Edinburgh September GSI / EI members encouraged to join ISSMGE 30 annual fee. Membership of Technical Committees. Ireland has current members on following TCs: TC306 Bryan McCabe; Brian Byrne TC202 Fintan Buggy TC102 & TC214 Mike Long TC209 & TC212 Ken Gavin TC205 Trevor Orr Publication of papers at ISSMGE conferences. Ireland has 14 papers accepted for ECSMGE Edinburgh, focussed on following areas: Peat / organic soils (5); development in Dublin Boulder Clay & vibro stone columns (3); site investigation / case histories (3); slope stability / Eurocodes / Tunneling (1 paper each)

4 EYGEC Durham University, September GSI ran a competition in March and selected two winning entries. Thanks to Engineers Ireland for providing financial support to both candidates Patrick Heck, BG Consulting Engineers, Lausanne, Switzerland. Anchor-Jet the ultimate anchoring solution? Gerry Murphy, UCD. Experimental testing and FE modelling of hybrid foundation systems for offshore wind turbines. Other submissions received and presented: Paul Kissane, Roughan & O Donovan. Construction over a glacio-lacustrine deposit in the Irish midlands Paul Stephenson, Byrne Looby. Design and monitoring of a deep basement excavation in central Dublin supported by single propped and cantilever secant walls. Posters of selected papers are on display outside lecture theatre

5 GSI Lecture / Seminar Programme GSI has held the following lectures and seminars in season: Hydrogeologic assessments for shale gas exploration by Jenny Lightfoot, Arup, Leeds U.K. EI Clyde Road, March 2015 (jointly with IAH) Corib Gas Project by Paul Kiernan UCG April 2015 (jointly with Western region) GSI Seminar 3 lectures EI Clyde Road, April 2015 Rapid Landslides, Prof Alonso; Corrib Gas Pipeline Tunnel, Paul Kiernan; Corrib Tunnel Launch & Reception Shafts, David Gill & Pat McAndrew

6 Ground Engineering Register GSI / IGI joint working group has been investigating this issue since January Fintan Buggy ROD; Paul Quigley IGSL; Paul Doherty GDG; Eric Farrell AGL; Marie Fleming Arup / IGI; Tom Moore SLR. UK has a Register of Ground Engineering Professionals RoGEP since Germany has a registration system in process of adoption by individual states. Wind energy sector has recently required RoGEP for projects in RoI. No equivalent registration system in Ireland, difficult to join RoGEP (MICE / IoMMM / Geologic Society membership is required) Consultation with various stakeholders is ongoing further discussion at GSI AGM with input from members welcome.

7 Named Lecture - Proposed Amendments to GSI Statutes Clause 7 Meetings. Additional sub clauses shall be added as follows: 5. The Committee shall arrange every two years for an Honorary Lecture to be given by a candidate to be selected by the Committee, normally in April coincident with the AGM. 6. The candidate shall be an engineer, geologist or scientist who has made a significant contribution to the field of geotechnical engineering or related science and who has either worked in Ireland, is Irish by birth or of Irish descent or has contributed to a major project or research activity in Ireland. 7. The Committee may confer upon the candidate a memorial medal or other commemorative gift to be funded from GSI in recognition of the candidates achievements. 8. The Biennial Lecture shall be named after a prominent Irish engineer, geologist or scientist who has made a historical contribution to the theory or practice of geotechnical engineering or a related science. The selection of the name given to the Biennial Lecture shall be by vote at an AGM. The Committee shall approve a minimum of two candidate names for consideration by the members at the AGM. Approval of the name at an AGM shall be by a simple majority of members present.

8 John Neville, MIEI, MRIA (c ) Born County Limerick Education and Training in engineering - little is known. Father was architect, worked on Shannon Navigation Athlone and as a road contractor Appointed Louth County Surveyor in 1840, resigned in1886 due to ill health. Elected MRIA 1844; FRGSI; MICEI 1845; Council member & vice-president Neville supervised construction of county road system and in 1847 temporarily employed 6,400 people on famine relief schemes. He designed Aclint Bridge 1842; St. Dominick s bridge 1863 & St. Mary s Bridge, Drogheda ; and Obelisk Bridge, Oldbridge across River Boyne Enforced the reconstruction of two railway bridges and alteration to several others on Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway 1840s. Dredging, training walls, and graving dock Dundalk Responsible for design of Louth County Gaol, Dundalk 1853, Neville also had a thriving architectural practice: Martin s Wine Stores Dundalk; private homes Shanlis House 1858, Dowdstown House and Cardistown House 1865; and five convents for Sisters of Mercy , where both his daughters were members. Publications include papers on water pressures on cofferdams 1840; forces acting on earth retaining walls 1845 & 1847; road cross sections 1846; hydraulic tables 1853 (reprinted in 1860 & 1875) and a hydrodynamics pamphlet in Married with two daughters and three sons.

9 John Neville, MIEI, MRIA (c )

10 Prof. Eamon Hanrahan, Ph D., D Sc., MIEI ( ) Born Limerick City Obtained BE in Civil Engineering UCD 1939 Worked in England in 1940s ME 1946; Ph D 1954; D Sc 1983 from UCD. Retired in Developed research into geotechnical engineering at UCD from 1950s. Introduced first post graduate course in soil mechanics in Ireland in1955. Primary research areas were in peat / soft soils but other interests were glacial tills; tunnelling and pressures in silos. Published over 30 papers in major journals / conferences between 1952 and 1994 including Transactions of Institute of Civil Engineers of Ireland, Geotechnique, ASCE JGE, ICSMFE & ECSMGE, Int l Peat Symposia, An Foras Forbartha. Married with three children.

11 Prof. Eamon Hanrahan, Ph D., D Sc., MIEI ( ) Primary research achievements were in the characterisation and fundamental behaviour of peat. In Geotechnique, 1954 concerning index properties, shear strength, permeability, compressibility and rate of consolidation of peat. In Geotechnique, 1964 Hanrahan reports a case history investigation into the partial failure of a road in County Offally reconstructed in 1953, founded on 7.5m deep peat. Paper covers the effects of preloading and lightweight fill using peat bales and a comparison of predicted and long term observed deformations. In ASCE JGE 1981, the same case history and updated field data was reanalysed using the e g e k method that Hanrahan developed during the late 1960s, first published in detail at the Roscoe Symposium, Cambridge in 1971 and later in his text book The geotechnics of real materials: the e g e k method by Elsevier in The e g e k method was not widely adopted for general use with soft soils, but remains a valid theoretical approach which claims to overcome several limitations of classical consolidation theory.