Events

On-line Short Course and Workshop on Design of Machine Foundations

Monday, May 17, Tuesday, May 18 and Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Instructor:  Dr. Hesham El Naggar, PhD, P.Eng., FEIC
Geotechnical Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering
Western University, London, Ontario N6A 5B9

COURSE OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION

The online short course and workshop should be of interest to geotechnical engineers and civil engineers who wish to have a better understanding of the current state-of-the-art with respect to the analysis and design of flexible, rigid and pile foundations subjected to all types of dynamic loads. All key concepts and terminology will be explained, and emphasis will be placed on the practical application of the information provided.

DESCRIPTION

Soil dynamics is the branch of soil mechanics that deals with the behaviour of soil under dynamic loads. Different types of foundations are used to support structures subjected to dynamic loads or vibration producing machines. This course will focus on the analysis and design of these foundations. Topics to be discussed include:

Introduction
Design objectives, design procedure, basic notions, mathematical models, DOFs, types of dynamic loads, foundation types, excitation forces of machines, dynamic soil properties.

Shallow Foundations
Definition of stiffness, damping and inertia, circular shallow foundation, non-circular foundation, embedded footings, impedance functions of a layer on half-space.

Pile Foundations
Pile applications, mathematical models for pile analysis, stiffness and damping of piles, pile groups, interaction factors, impedance functions of pile groups, pile batter.

Dynamic Response of Machine Foundations
Response of rigid foundations in 1 DOF, effects of vibration, response of rigid foundations in 2 DOF and 6 DOF, response of structures on flexible foundations.

Pump Foundations Workshop
Vertical Pump; Horizontal Pump; Slurry Pump; Pump-Motor-Gear Box System; Multiple Pumps on Same Foundation; Pumps on Flexible Foundation

Computer Workshop – DYNA6.1
Types of foundations, types of soil models, types of load, types of analysis and types of output, practical considerations, computer work on DYNA6.1.

 

The GRC Awards Ceremony was held online on Friday, January 29, 2021

For the PowerPoint presentation click here 

For videos from the Award winners click here

On-line Short Course and Workshop on Design of Machine Foundations

The online course was held Monday, November 30, Tuesday, December 1 and Wednesday, December 2, 2020.  The instructor was Dr. M. Hesham El Naggar, PhD, P.Eng., FEIC. 

2019 GRC Awards Ceremony held November 15, 2019

Pictures of the 2019 GRC Awards Ceremony - Click here

Western Geotechnical Centrifuge Opening and Symposium

It was our pleasure to hold the official opening and international symposium to celebrate the commissioning of our new Western Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility in the Geotechnical Research Centre, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Western University. The opening and a tour of the facilities took take place on Thursday, May 2, 2019, followed by an international symposium on geotechnical centrifuge technology on the afternoon of Thursday, May 2 and throughout Friday, May 3, 2019.

Pictures taken at the Opening and International Symposium click here.

The keynote speaker's presentations exemplifies the use of centrifuge technology in geotechnical engineering. Also, several Western researchers provided an overview of the state-of-the-art techniques being developed in the new facility.  The event showcased the use of scaled physical modelling for geotechnical design, construction and practice across a range of industry sectors.

Symposium for New Research in Groundwater Science

RENEW/SyNRGS (Symposium for New Research in Groundwater Science) 2019 was held on November 7 & 8, 2019 at Western Engineering and was hosted by the Geotechnical Research Centre and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.. The event was coordinated alongside the 6th Annual Meeting of RENEW (Remediation Education Network), an NSERC CREATE consortium of universities and companies.  Leading the event locally is the Research for Subsurface Transport and Remediation (RESTORE) Group at Western in coordination with the RENEW lead organization University of Toronto.

The symposium's objective was to bring together researchers, industry and government experts to discuss innovative projects related to;

  • Contaminant transport in the environment
  • Soil and groundwater remediation
  • Site characterization techniques

RENEW/SyNRGS invited all Ontario and vicinity groundwater contamination and remediation researchers (broadly defined) to share ideas, collaborate and give feedback to students in an informal setting. This was an excellent opportunity for new graduate students and researchers to network and share their research.