Half-day short course by Nick Barton

1.  Q after 50 years with Q_TBM and Q _SLOPE

This first lecture will summarize some key technical findings related with the widely used Q-parameters and their application when logging core, exposures and in tunnel follow-up for selecting tunnel and cavern support/reinforcement class. Cooperation with Eystein Grimstad will be highlighted. Q-value or Q-parameter relationships will be shown: with overbreak, frictional strength, tunnelling time and cost, deformation, and as Qc, with deformation modulus and seismic velocity, the latter two both stress-dependent. Some indications that ‘c’ and ‘ϕ’ are case-record based components of Q, specifically Qc may surprise. Two important applications of Q with additional or modified parameters are Q_TBM and Q_SLOPE. Concerning TBM there will be brief case-record based treatment of PR, AR and Time prognoses, generally for hard jointed and faulted rock, with special focus on delays in fault zones. Open-gripper and double-shield results, and world records, will each be addressed. Finally there will be a brief description of case-record based Q_SLOPE with treatment of the environmentally exposed slope-specific J_WICE and three slope-focussed SRF, plus wedge orientation modifications for Jr/Ja. Thanks to extensive case record collection by Neil Bar there are now more than 600 case records and users in dozens of countries.

COFFEE BREAK

2.  Thirty years of nuclear waste disposal experiences at ten hard-rock sites in five countries, with details of ignored thermal over-closure (TOC) phenomena

During a central 30 years of the lecturer’s career, extensive involvement in nuclear waste related rock mechanics has been an important enrichment of experiences, first in the USA at multiple sites, in Sweden at multiple sites, in Canada just briefly, in the UK extensively, and in Norway just briefly. Specific locations as follows: unique heated in situ block test in Colorado with TerraTek colleagues, BWIP basalt waste isolation project in Hanford, BB-modelling reporting with Bakhtar for AECL/CANMET, and fifteen years later Yucca Mountain reviews of two DoE consortia, where thermal over-closure was identified. In Sweden for SKB: involvement first with NGI colleagues and after 2000 as NB&A: Stripa SCV site characterization and validation, Äspö HRL Hard Rock Laboratory and APSE Pillar drift characterization, Simpevarp and Forsmark surface logging and deep-hole core logging (4 x 900m) using Q-histogram method. In the UK: Sellafield site characterization: six years as project manager for NGI’s largest project including lab testing of joint sets and 10km of core characterization, and extensive UDEC-BB modelling of caverns, while acting as geotechnical consultant for UK Nirex. Finally brief support for local community objection to the poorly-planned Himdalen disposal project in Norway, also in Storting. A project finally abandoned after 30 years due to inevitable leakage.

Short course lecturer: Nick Barton | nickrbarton@hotmail.com (www.nickbarton.com)
Registration fee: € 50