Downloadable Program Schedule (PDF)
National Symposium on “Geotechnical Challenges in Proposed Mega Projects of National Pride”
19 November 2018 (Monday) @Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur
Background
Despite strong need of developing geotechnology as one of the best practiced fields of engineering in geologically complex terrains like ours, for many different reasons, we are yet to bring forward a number of issues of geotechnical design and standards before doing any civil engineering projects in the country. Things have surely moved forward but compared to any other countries in the neighborhood or in Asia, the field of geotechnical engineering and associated survey and investigations, design standards and provisions, and so on in Nepal are still in preliminary stage. With the recent political changes and anticipated stability in the three-tier governance mechanism, the plans of some mega civil engineering projects such as international airports on difficult terrains, tunneled roadways, multi-lane fast track highways, extra high dams and thousands of watts of hydro-power generation stations, railways and metros, elevated roadways and monorails, and so many others will gradually turn into reality, and the role the geotechnical engineers will have to be playing in these projects will be just beyond our imagination! In this context, Nepal Geotechnical Society as a common forum of all geotechnical engineers and geotechnology-related professionals in the country must provide various occasions of technical and non-technical discussions as well as of exchange of knowledge and research findings. The organizers of this national symposium of Nepal Geotechnical Society appeal to all interested civil engineers, geologists, geotechnical engineers, professionals associated with geotechnology, and students of these fields for participation and presentation of any relevant research material or field practice-based content.
Call for participation and papers/presentations
General presentation papers are invited from young and practicing geotechnical or any interested professionals working in the field of geotechnical engineering or related topics in civil engineering, geology, earthquake and landslide disasters, and so on. It is desirable that all presentation topics are somewhat related with the main theme of this symposium, and may fall under one the following sub-themes.
1. Cut slopes in roadways and appropriate slope protection work
2. Tunneled roadways in fractured zones
3. High dams in seismic areas
4. Flattening mid hills and mountains for land reclamation
5. Elevated roads and underpass cuts on/in Kathmandu valley deposit
6. Subway metro/s in soft deposits
Important Dates
Symposium announcement: 10 June 2018
Extended abstract (1 page): 25 October 2018 (Please download Abstract_template!)
Acceptance notice: 31 October 2018
Pre-registration: 10 November 2018
Symposium date: 19 November 2018 (Monday)
Registration Fee (Pre-register from here)
Institutional: NRs. 10,000-
Individual: NRs. 5,000-
Students: NRs. 3,000-
Program Schedule
08:00 Registration starts (with Tea/Coffee and cookies)
09:00-09:45 Opening Program
Chief Guest: Honorable Barsha Man Pun, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation
09:50-10:10 Tea/Coffee Break
10:10-12:00 Keynote Lecture: Uncertainties in Evaluation of Soil Liquefaction Potential for Kathmandu, Prof. M. Okamura (Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory), Ehime University
11:00 Invited Lecture: Fundamentals of roadway tunneling and development of underground spaces in urban areas, Dr. N. Kinoshita, (Rock Mechanics Laboratory) Ehime University
11:30 Invited Lecture: Geotechnical challenges of mega projects: Role of a geotechnical engineer, Er. Naresh Koirala, NoDigSolutions, Principal, Vancouver, Canada
12:00-13:10 Lunch Break
13:00-15:10 General/Youth Presentation Session
Paper 1: Soft soil stabilization with alkali activated sugarcane bagasse ash (Er. Jeevan Rana Magar & Dr. Indra Prasad Acharya)
Paper 2: Assessment of liquefaction potential index along Bardibas-Inaruwa Railway Project (Er. Narayan Panthi & Dr. Indra Prasad Acharya)
Paper 3: Comparison of grid cells and slope units as mapping unit for landslide susceptibility analysis: A case study from Uttargaya municipality, Rasuwa district, Nepal (Badal Pokharel)
Paper 4: Assessment of liquefaction potential hazard at different shaking level in Dhanusha District (Er. Sanjiv Kumar Sah)
Paper 5: Design of tunnel support system: Shotcrete versus rock bolts in Middle Modi Hydroelectric Project (MMoHP) (Er. Milan Paudel)
Paper 6: Microtremor observation in Bhaktapur Municipality (Er. Amit Prajapati)
Paper 7: Ground investigation program for assessing and mitigating geotechnical risk in large hydroelectric projects (Subrat Subedi, Dr. Mohan Prasad Acharya, Prakash Man Shrestha, Yagendra Thapa, & Nawin Acharya)
Paper 8: Ultrasonic Wave Reflection method for predicting residual tension of ground anchors (Dr. Surendra Tamrakar & Tomoki Shiotani)
15:10-15:30 Short Break
15:30-17:30 Special Presentation Session
Special Lecture I: Rock fall hazard and its protection system in Nepal, Dr. Ranjan K. Dahal, Tribhuvan University
Special Lecture II: Geotechnical Challenges in Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectric Project 456 MW, Dolakha Nepal, Er. Sanjib Sapkota, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Limited & Er. Jyoti Kumar KC, JV Norconsult ASLahmeyer International GmbH
Special Lecture III: Detail Design of Nagdhunga Tunnel Road, Er. Ramesh Koirala, Nippon Koei Co. Ltd. & Dr. Vishnu Dangol, ICGS Pvt. Ltd.
Special Lecture IV: Tunnel design, problems and remedies: Melamchi Diversion Tunnel, Dr. Pawan Kumar Shrestha & Er. Bhoj Bikram Thapa (Deputy Executive Director), Melamchi Water Supply Development Board
Special Lecture V: Dealing with challenges of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Tunneling in Himalayan Geology: Case study of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project, Er. Sanjeeb Baral, Project Director, Bheri Babai Diversion Project & Er. Ajay Raj Adhikari, Senior Divisional Hydrogeologist
17:00-17:30 Closing Program
18:10-21:00 Interactive Dinner
Note: We are encouraging young geotechnical engineers and students of geotechnical engineering, engineering geology or geosciences to present their research work in this symposium. Depending on the number of papers received we will decide the presentation time later. Desirable presentation time will be 10 minutes for a student’s presentation including the question/answer time. We also have plans to award Certificates of Presentation and Best Presentation through proper evaluation system.
