Announcing the 2016 ARMA App!
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Technical Session Schedule (06/13/2016 version)
CLICK HERE to download technical session schedule.
Program at a Glance
CLICK HERE to download Program-at-a-Glance
Keynote Speakers
Sunday, 26 June MTS Lecture
Underground Rock Engineering to Match the Rock’s Behaviour
-A fresh look at old problems-
Peter Kaiser, Professor Emeritus, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada
In the spirit of the conference theme of the 50th US Rock Mechanics Symposium, this lecture will address one of many prerequisites for “exciting advances in rock mechanics”, i.e., the need to fully comprehend the rock mass behavior before solving “practical issues” in rock engineering. In most engineering fields it is possible to select the best fitting, artificial materials for a given engineering solution. In rock engineering however, a misfit between the behavior of a natural material, the rock, and a chosen engineering solution often leads to serious complications with costly project delays or rehabilitation works and sometimes with unacceptable safety risks. Proper rock engineering means to fit the engineering solution to the actual rock mass behavior!
Overcoming the challenge of matching the rock behavior with meaningful engineering models and design parameters is therefore a prerequisite for advances in rock mechanics and for successful rock engineering. This lecture will highlight some recent advances in understanding rock mass behavior for the design and construction of underground excavations. By building on recent experiences, the lecture will focus on: rock mass behavior of highly stressed ground, including stress and strength variability in heterogeneous rock masses; challenges in obtaining meaningful design parameters for suitable modelling tools; and deformation-based design principles for support design in stress-fractured ground. The audience will be challenged to achieve the theme of the conference by following both a qualitative and quantitative observational path of discovery, as originally promoted by Ralph Peck in 1969, i.e., to follow an “old approach” to overcome “new challenges”.
To read biographical sketch, CLICK HERE
Sunday, 26 June Guest Speaker
Engineering in Fractured Rock Masses
Charles Fairhurst, Senior Consultant, Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis; Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
In October 2015, the Earth Resources Engineering Section of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering held a one-day seminar to discuss opportunities and challenges presented by the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Subsurface Technology and Engineering Research, Development, and Demonstration (SubTER) program which has been established to address major technical and socio-political issues regarding energy production and storage and the management of energy waste streams in the subsurface. Dr. Fairhurst will report on a symposium sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) regarding the challenges and opportunities presented by SubTER.
Impressive developments in understanding of the response of rock masses to stimulation and practical applications (e.g., to production from oil shales) are already taking place. The author will draw on the symposium report and his awareness of these applications to offer his personal views on how to progress most effectively towards effective development of subsurface engineering.
To read complete abstract, CLICK HERE
To read biographical sketch, CLICK HERE
Monday, 27 June Keynote Address
Jean-Claude Roegiers, Professor Emeritus, Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman
In the past fifty years, geomechanics played an important role in the development of subsurface resources. In particular, the last three decades have witnessed rapid growth in applications in the energy sector, from exploration to abandonment. A selected number of diverse case studies will be presented to highlight the impact and valuable lessons that have been learned; including some technical innovations as well as observations still ‘crying’ for an acceptable scientific explanation.
Tuesday, 28 June First ARMA Distinguished Lecture
Comments and Observations on the Analysis of Discontinuous Rock Masses in Rock Engineering
Richard Goodman, Cahill Professor of Geotechnical Engineering Emeritus, University of California–Berkeley
Wednesday, 29 June Keynote Address
Managing the Hazard of Induced Earthquakes in a Changing World
William L. Ellsworth, Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, California
Industrial activities have the potential to induce earthquakes as an unintended consequence of a wide range of actions including impoundment of water, creation of voids, and the extraction or injection of fluids in the subsurface. They cause earthquakes by disrupting the balance between the natural forces that promote and resist fault slip.
Earthquake activity in the central U.S. increased dramatically since 2009 as a consequence of changing practices for the production of oil and gas from low-permeability formations. Although hydraulic fracturing has been widely discussed as a cause, it does not appear to be a significant contributor to the increased seismic activity. Rather, these induced earthquakes are caused by disposal of unprecedented volumes of wastewater by injection into deep, undepleted formations.
Unlike the hazard of natural earthquakes, the hazard of induced earthquakes and the risk they pose can be managed. A key challenge is to develop an operational earthquake forecasting capability that anticipates where activity may either initiate or shut-off in response to changing industrial drivers. This will require a deeper understanding of the physical processes and conditions that link human perturbations to the Earth system to its response in seismic events.
To read a biographical sketch, CLICK HERE
