Dear clients,

We are delighted to inform you that the Itasca office in the UK, Itasca Consulting Ltd, is now part of the European Newsletter. This quarter, we present some consulting projects from the Swedish and UK offices, along with software news and upcoming training and seminars. We also list some conferences that Itasca will be attending. We want to draw special attention to the Itasca Symposium to be held in Lima, Peru, in March, 2016. There is still time to submit an abstract - we hope to see many of you there!

Kind regards,

The European Itasca team

Consulting

Itasca Sweden has conducted an analysis of the Hagastaden metro station, which is part of one of three new metro lines that will be built in Stockholm. The analysis comprised 3D-modeling using FLAC3D to assess the stability conditions for the planned station and provide input to the continued design work. The model included two parallel tunnels, with interconnecting service tunnels, and a station area, and was excavated sequentially. In addition, foundation loads from buildings (transferred through piles) were applied to the rock surface, see figure on the right. Model construction was performed using the CAD-program Rhino and the Itasca pre-processor KubrixGeo. A parametric study of different initial stress states was conducted, and results were evaluated in terms of rock stresses, extensional strains, and displacements under the surface loads. This work was carried out as a sub-contractor for WSP, a large international consulting firm, which is tasked with doing the overall design of the metro line.

Itasca UK recently completed a project for Posiva, Finland's Nuclear Waste Management organisation, in which ultrasonic velocity surveys were applied to image the Excavation Damage Zone in a test niche at Onkalo's storage facility.

P-wave tomographic measurements were carried out in a 9m x 2m sample section using our trigger acquisition and surveying system. The system was used previously on the site for the monitoring of heat-induced spalling around a test canister deposition hole. Acquisition was performed across short boreholes, spaced in a regular grid of 1 m spacing, complemented with surface sensors, providing a dense network of raypaths for high resolution tomography.

Results from the inversion of P-wave transmission velocity were used to interpret the in-situ fabric, stress-induced anisotropy and the extent and degree of changes in the EDZ.

Software

Training & Seminars

Conferences

Itasca is hosting the 4th Itasca Symposium on Applied Numerical Modeling in March next year. The event will be held in Lima, Peru, and we invite papers on practical applications of all numerical modeling software developed by Itasca.
Abstracts are due March 31, and should be submitted on-line: http://www.itascasymp2016.com/abstract-submission .

Itasca will also be attending the following conferences:

Recent Publications

Moreno J., Senis M. and Olalla C. (2015) "Aspectos necesarios a introducir en la modelización numérica 3D de las presas de escollera con pantalla de hormigón para reproducir correctamente las tensiones en el elemento de impermeabilización ", In X Jornadas Españolas de Presas, Spancold, Sevilla (18-20 February 2015)

Graf F., te Kamp L., Auer M., Acharya M. and W. Wu (2015) – “Soil aggregate stability in eco-engineering: comparison of field and laboratory data with an outlook on a new modelling approach”, in Recent Advances in Modeling Land-slides and Debris Flows. Springer Series Geomechanics and Geoengineering, pp. 29-47.

Wu W., Switala BM., Acharya M., Tamagnini R., Auer M., Graf F., te Kamp L. and W. Xiang (2015) – “Effect of vegetation on stability of soil slopes: numerical aspects”, in Recent Advances in Modeling Landslides and Debris Flows. Springer Series Geomechanics and Geoengineering, pp. 163-177.

Amo A., Silvestre A., Prieto V. and P. Velasco (2014) - "Modelling in L.A.", in Tunnels and Tunnelling (October-November 2014), pp. 42-47.

Tran, V.H., Vincens E., Morel J.C., Dedecker F. and HH. Le (2014) – “2D-DEM modelling of the formwork removal of a rubble stone masonry bridge”, in Engineering Structures, 75, pp. 448-456.

Oetomo J., Vincens E., Dedecker F. and J.C. Morel (2104) – “Discrete Element Method to assess the 2D failure of dry stone retaining walls” in Proceedings, 9th IMC (7-9 July, 2014, Guimaraes, Portugal), paper 1432.

Maillot, J., P. Davy, R. Le Goc, C. Darcel and M. Stigsson. (2014) – “Comparison between Poissonian and mechanically-oriented DFN models for the prediction of permeability and flow channeling”, in Proceedings, Discrete Fracture Network Engineering(Vancouver, Canada, October 19-22, 2014).

Le Goc, R., C. Darcel, P. Davy, M. Pierce and M.A. Brossault. (2014) – “Effective elastic properties of 3D fractured systems”, in Proceedings, Discrete Fracture Network Engineering(Vancouver, Canada, October 19-22, 2014).

Davy, P., R. Le Goc and C. Darcel (2014) – “A non-Poissonian, likely-universal, fracture model for hardrock DFN”, in Proceedings, Discrete Fracture Network Engineering(Vancouver, Canada, October 19-22, 2014).

Darcel, C., R. Le Goc, P. Davy and I. Olofsson (2014) – “Including variability into a quantitative DFN modeling approach – application to SKB sites”, in Proceedings, Discrete Fracture Network Engineering(Vancouver, Canada, October 19-22, 2014).

Sjöberg, J. and T. Savilahti (2014) – “Caving in the Fabian Orebody - from Mining Stope to Cave Crater in Malmberget”, in Proceedings 8th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium. Rock Mechanics for Global Issues – Natural Disasters, Environment and Energy (14–16 October, 2014, Sapporo, Japan), Shimizu, N., Kaneko, K. Kodama, J. (eds.), pp. 1421–1430.

Vatcher, J., S. D. McKinnon and J. Sjöberg (2014) – “Mine-scale numerical modelling, seismicity and stresses at Kiirunavaara Mine, Sweden”, in Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining (16–18 Sept, 2014, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada), Hudyma, M., Potvin, Y,. (eds.), pp. 363–376.