ISRM Newsletter No. 59 - September 2022

 

Message from the President

Dear Colleagues,

The last year Covid19 lockdowns and travel restrictions also continued. Therefore, we had to comply with the new living circumstances and adjust the activities of ISRM, including all ISRM symposia, Board, Commissions and Council meetings, to the new situation with the help of our National Groups. Since they all were given in Volume 24 of ISRM News Journal and ISRM Newsletter No. 56, I don’t repeat our achievements in 2021 in this message. However, as a result of a rapid increase in the rate of vaccination with the determination and dedication of the scientists, since the spring season in 2022 a considerable increase in normalization occurred in the whole World and this positive situation encouraged the societies like ISRM to restart face-to-face meetings and conferences.

This year ISRM is the sponsor of nine conferences. Eight of them are Regional Symposia and Specialized Conferences and one is the International Symposium (LARMS2022, Asuncion, Paraguay). Five of these conferences were held between the end of March and mid of September 2022, and except one (RocDyn4, virtual), the other four symposia (TuniRock2022 - Tunisia, 5th MAG - Macedonia, 9th Brazilian Rock Mech. Symp. and EUROCK2022 - Finland) were successfully organized as face-to-face ISRM events and provided us a great opportunity to see our friends and colleagues from our society again about two years after the face-to-face ISRM Workshop that was held in Slovenia in the beginning of February 2020. I participated to TuniRock2022 virtually and to the other two events physically with a great happiness. The number of attendees to 5th MAG and EUROCK-2022 was 220 and 300 from 30 and 40 countries, respectively. In addition, before EUROCK2022 a workshop entitled “Recent ISRM Suggested Methods and Future Prospects” was organized by the ISRM Commission on Testing Methods. In this event nine presentations were carried out and 42 colleagues participated.

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Join us at the ISRM 2022 International Symposium – LARMS IX, Asunción, Paraguay, 16-19 October 2022

We extend a warm invitation to attend the 2022 International Society of Rock Mechanics International Symposium, the 9th Latin American Rock Mechanics Symposium (LARMS IX), which will be held in Asuncion, Paraguay, from October 16-19, 2022. The venue of the event is the Bourbon Hotel and Convention Center.

The theme for LARMS IX is “Challenges in rock mechanics: towards a sustainable development of infrastructure”. This event will provide a unique opportunity for meeting international experts from around the world and exchanging new ideas and exploring the future directions in the fields of rock mechanics, rock engineering, and geological engineering. Confirmed keynote speakers are Antonio Bobet, Antonio Samaniego, Doug Stead, Ismet Canbulat, Nick Barton, Norikazu Shimizu, and Xia-Ting Feng. Professionals from América, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia will meet, together with young researchers and students.

The symposium will be preceded by two days of the following short courses:

  1. Rock fracture grouting.
  2. Characterizing, tunneling (D+B or TBM) and pre-injecting in jointed rock masses. Q, NMT, Qtbm, QH2O, shear strength, joint modelling.
  3. 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional Slope Stability Analysis.

There will also be an industrial exhibition and post-conference technical tours are being arranged.There will also be an industrial exhibition and post-conference technical tours are being arranged.

Another exciting feature of the congress is the RockBowl competition, an interesting competition among university students who will be answering technical questions related to rock mechanics.

Visit the conference website for complete details on the event and registration.

Asuncion is ready to receive you with open arms and much to offer!

José Pavón

Chairman of the Organizing Committee of LARMS IX
ISRM Vice President for Latin America

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15th International ISRM Congress, Salzburg, Austria – deadline for submission of abstracts is 31 October 22

The Austrian Society for Geomechanics is happy to invite you to the 15th International ISRM Congress in Salzburg, Austria in October 2023. Salzburg is the city where the ISRM was founded in 1962.

The ISRM Congress will be held in conjunction with the 72nd Geomechanics Colloquium, which has always been a perfect and prestigious meeting place for researchers and practitioners since its foundation in 1951. The success of this concept is reflected not only in the continuous meetings over more than 70 years, but also in the regular attendance of about 1000 participants.

Since 2020, we have been hosting our conferences digitally in addition to the on-site event - so the ISRM Congress will also be a hybrid event.

Due to several reasons, the organizing team has decided to extend the submission deadline for abstracts to 31 October 22! We look forward to your contributions and encourage especially young engineers and scientists to actively participate and to submit papers.

Do you want us to keep you updated? Join the mailing list here.

If you have questions, ask us. We are ready at www.ISRM2023.com.

If you want to see the venue of the Congress and the city click here.

Wulf Schubert
President of the Austrian Society for Geomechanics
Chairman of the ISRM Congress 2023

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39th ISRM online lecture by Prof. Bruce Hebblewhite

The 39th ISRM online lecture was delivered by Emeritus Professor Bruce Hebblewhite, from Sydney Australia. The title of the lecture is: “Non-conventional surface subsidence – a challenge for an improved fundamental understanding”. It was broadcasted on 22 September 2022, 10 A.M. GMT at www.isrm.net.

Bruce was appointed as an Emeritus Professor on his retirement from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney in December 2020 after 25 years at the university involved in education, research and consulting for the mining sector.

Bruce gained his PhD in deep mining rock mechanics investigations at the Boulby Potash Mine in the United Kingdom in 1977, while enrolled at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He has worked within the Australian mining industry from 1977 to the present time, through several different employment positions. Throughout this period, he has been actively involved in all facets of mining industry operations. In addition, he has visited and undertaken consulting and contract research commissions internationally in such countries as the UK, South Africa, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Turkey, Canada, Chile, Namibia, Austria, USA and Kazakhstan. For the majority of his 17-year employment period with ACIRL Ltd (1977 to 1995) he had management responsibility for ACIRL’s Mining Division which included specialist groups working within both the underground and surface coal mining sectors.

His initial appointment to the University of New South Wales in 1995 was as the inaugural Kenneth Finlay Chair of Rock Mechanics in the School of Mining Engineering.  In 2003 he was appointed as Head of the School and Professor of Mining Engineering.

His academic career has included development and delivery of a wide range of mining systems, mine safety and geotechnical engineering education programs for the mining sector. Research and consulting interests have included ground control in underground mining, caving mechanics in both coal and hard rock, mine subsidence and many other related topics.

Bruce is a member of the Australian Geomechanics Society and ISRM; a member of the SME (USA) and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (AusIMM). In 2012 he was awarded the Syd S Peng Ground Control in Mining Award (from SME) – “in recognition of his long and distinguished career conducting research, providing instruction and applying practical solutions in the field of ground control”. In 2017 he received the Ludwig Wilke Award (from the Society of Mining Professors) – “for his pioneering work as a researcher, his accomplishments as a global educator, and his leadership and vision as Secretary-General of the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP)”. In 2017 he also received the SME’s annual Rock Mechanics Award – “for his significant contribution as an educator, researcher and consultant in rock mechanics and ground control”. In 2020 he received the AusIMM’s highest award, the Institute Medal – “for contributions to the mining industry and profession through education, research and training”.

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12th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium - ARMS12, Hanoi, Vietnam, 22-26 November

On behalf of the Vietnam National Group of ISRM - Vietnamese Society for Rock Mechanics (VSRM), we take honor to invite all of you to attend the ISRM sponsored Regional Symposium, the 12th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium - ARMS12, to be held on 22-26 November 2022 in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, with imperial citadel of Thang Long - the world’s heritage. The theme of this ARMS12 edition will be “Rock Mechanics & Engineering – Contemporary Issues”. 

The Symposium topics are:

  • Physical properties of Rocks – Testing Techniques
  • Rock Mechanics & Engineering in Petroleum Engineering
  • Rock Mechanics & Engineering in Civil Engineering and Mining
  • Rock Mechanics applied to the Protection and Reinforcement of Global Geoparks, Ancient Sites, ...
  • Numerical Methods in Rock Mechanics and Numerical Modeling
  • Geodynamic Hazards - Reinforcement and Prediction
  • Geo –disaster Prediction and Monitoring System
  • Application AI and IoT in Rock Mechanics and Engineering

For more information, click here to visit the ARMS12 website. 

We are looking forward to seeing you attend ARMS12 in Hanoi, Vietnam, 22-26, Nov. 2022.

The ARMS12 Organizing Committee

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AusRock 2022, Melbourne, 29 November-1 December - an update


The Australasian Ground Control Conference (AusRock 2022), hosted in partnership with AusIMM and UNSW Sydney, is being held in conjunction with the International Society of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering as a Regional Symposium for Australasia, from 29 November - 1 December 2022 in Melbourne, Australia and online.

A vehicle for information exchange between various industry experts and academia, AusRock2022 will focus on new technologies and developments, current and future industry needs, operational problem solving, and practical case studies.

The current progress is as follows:

  • The list of keynote speakers has been established and invites have been sent out. All keynote speakers have accepted to join us.
  • The Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (JRMGE) will be the official partner to publish some of the good quality papers in the journal.
  • We have arranged three excellent free webinars on (1) digital rock characterisation, (2) future of rock mechanics, and (3) technologies in visualisation and data analytics. The purpose of those webinars was to promote AusRock 2022 and initiate the early discussion on those topics. We have attracted over 350 people to those webinars.
  • All other preparations are progressing well.

For more information about AusRock 2022, or to sign up to receive a reminder, visit https://www.ausimm.com/conferences-and-events/ausrock/

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CouFrac 2022, 14-16 November, Berkeley, California, USA 

CouFrac2022 will take place on 14-16 November 2022 in Berkeley, California. 

Why CouFrac 2022?

What is new and special?

  • Mengsu Hu and Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte have organized a Special Session on Machine Learning for Coupled Processes in Earth Sciences and Engineering. Six Distinguished Invited Lecturers have been invited to deliver state-of-the-art machine learning applications.
  • The conference will be held in person in Berkeley, with online options available for participants who are unable to travel.

For more information, please visit our conference website.

We look forward to your participation! We look forward to your participation!

Jonny Rutqvist, LBNL, Chair
Mengsu Hu, LBNL, Carl Steefel, LBNL, Ki-Bok Min, SNU, Antonio Rinaldi, ETH, Pengzhi Pan, CAS, Hideaki Yasuhara, Ehime University, Co-Chairs

Workshop of the Commission on Testing Methods in Eurock 2022, Helsinki

The presentations of the Workshop of the Commission on Testing Methods held during Eurock 2022 in Helsinki, September 2022 are available on this page.

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ISRM Rocha Medal 2024 - nominations to be received by 31 December 2022

Nominations for the Rocha Medal 2022 are to be received by the ISRM Secretariat by 31 December 2022. The winner will be announced during the 2023 ISRM Congress on Rock Mechanics in Salzburg, Austria, and will be invited to receive the award and deliver a lecture at the ISRM International Symposium in 2024.

The Rocha Medal has been awarded annually by the ISRM, since 1982, for an outstanding doctoral thesis in rock mechanics or rock engineering, to honour the memory of Past President Manuel Rocha while stimulating young researchers. Besides the Rocha medal awarded to the winner, one or two runner-up certificates may also be awarded.

Click here to download the announcement with details on the Rocha Medal 2024.

ISRM Sponsored Conferences

Click here to open the conferences webpage

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