Seminars, Workshops and Conferences
June 23, 2003:
Seminar on 'Hydro and Engineering Geological Characterization of Tertiary Rocks in Oman' will be held at 11:00 a.m., room N250, North Academic Building. The seminar will be conducted by Dr. Tariq Cheema, Assistant Professor, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman
Abstract
Tertiary rocks in Oman are composed of limestone, dolomite, shale and marl. Good exposures of these rocks are present in southern as well as in northern Oman. Because of their extensive presence, they have been subjected to numerous studies focusing on the groundwater potential and the engineering geological characterization.
The karstic nature of the Tertiary limestone makes it an important groundwater resource in the southern Oman. In the absence of the present day recharge, the groundwater appears to be old but the groundwater quality falls well within the range of the international drinking water quality standards. The groundwater flow direction mimics the surface water and the potentiometric surface in some of the observation wells was found to be well above the ground surface. In the Central Oman, Tertiary aquifers serve as a host rock for the oilfired water injection that has resulted into the substantive deterioration of the groundwater quality.
In urban areas such as Muscat, Tertiary rocks along with the weathered ophiolites are often blasted, excavated and cut thus rendering many of the slopes unstable. Engineering geological investigation of those weak rocks reveals the uncertainty embedded in the compressive strength characterization and uses many other techniques to address the slope stability issues. Based on the geotechnical properties of the soft rocks and the discontinuity survey in the hard competent strata, a slope stability hazards map was prepared for the Muscat area. The study concludes that the instability in slopes in Muscat area is related to the man-made activities.
About Speaker
Tariq Cheema, originally from Pakistan, is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. He holds an MSc in Engineering Geology from Leeds and PhD in Geological Engineering
from South Dakota School of Mines. Before joining his present position at the Sultan Qaboos University in 1996, Dr. Cheema taught for two years at the University of South Dakota, USA and for five years at the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (Pakistan).
In the very early days of his professional career, Dr. Cheema worked on number of earthfill dam sites feasibility studies in Algeria that prompted him to go for higher studies in Engineering Geology. He has also worked with geoenvironmental consulting companies in the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania on number of landfill, road and building construction projects.
Dr. Cheema has given presentations and talks at various associations and institutions such as University of Canterbury at Christchurch NZ, University of Regina, Saskatchewan Canada, Colorado School of Mines at Golden and Colorado State University at Fort Collins, American Geophysical Union, Sans Francisco, AEG annual meetings held at Chicago, Williamsburg (Virginia) and has published 35 research papers in in many international journals and conferences.
At Sultan Qaboos University, Dr Cheema teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Engineering Geology, Hydrogeology, and Environmental Geology and supervises research projects related to geoenvironmental engineering. Dr. Cheema's presentation on the 'hydro and engineering geological characterization of Tertiary rocks in Oman' is a summary of the research being carried out by his students at the Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
June 30, 2003: Seminar on 'Constitutive Modelling of Sand Based on the Concept of Hypoplasticity' will be held at 9:00 a.m. in room N240, SCE Building. The seminar will be conducted by Prof. Erich Bauer, Ao. Univ.-Prof., Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Techn., Institute of General Mechanics, Graz University of Technology, Austria.
Abstract
A special class of a hypoplastic constitutive model is proposed to describe the mechanical properties of granular materials like sand. The concept of hypoplasticity differs fundamentally from the concept of elastoplasticity as no decomposition of the strain into reversible and irreversible parts is needed. Furthermore, the flow rule and the stress limit condition are not described by separate functions in hypoplasticity but they are included in the evolution equation for the state variables. With a unified description of the interaction between pressure level and density the model can be applied to a wider range of pressures and densities, using only one set of constitutive constants. Micro-properties of granular materials manifested during shear banding can be taken into account with an extension of the classical continuum approach to a micro-polar continuum. The advantage of the hypoplastic concept not only lies in the simple formulation of the constitutive equations and their implementation in a finite element code but also in an easy adaptation of the constitutive constants to experiments. It is shown by comparing the predictions with the experimental data on dense and loose sand that the hypoplastic constitutive model is capable of reproducing the essential properties of sand under drained and undrained conditions
July 1, 2003:
Seminar on the 'Role of Geology in Large Geo-Engineering Projects' will be held at 9:30 a.m., room E220, East Academic Building. The seminar will be conducted by Dr. Alberto S. Nieto, Emeritus Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A.
The presentation will review issues in the exploration and characterization programs required in site-selection, preliminary and final design, construction, and operation of large engineering sites. It will discuss in detail a generic dam site to illustrate the importance of applied geological studies. Discussions will focus on the principal features and processes that are known to control the response of sites to engineering activity. These include structural, lithological, weathering-related, groundwater-related, and
the spatial distribution as well as characteristics of genetically-related 'soils'.
About the Speaker
Dr. A. S. Nieto is an Emeritus Professor of Geology at the Civil and
Environmental Engineering Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign (USA). He joined the university in 1974 and was in charge of its
Engineering Geology Program from 1979 to 2000.
His professional practice revolve around the areas of geotechnical
characterization of rock and soil masses for hydroelectric projects (dams,
conveyance tunnels, large underground openings, and open cuts); problems
associated with mining-induced subsidence, open-pit slope stability, deep-well
injection operations (hazardous waste, gas storage, solution mining, and
environmental compliance); and the design of exploration and characterization
programs for other large engineering projects. He has had a number of
consulting works in the USA and South America.
July 2, 2003:
Seminar on 'Energy for Sustainable Development: Access to Information Resources.'
To effectively promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and environmental awareness, the academic sector in Thailand needs information. Information is important for development and decision-making especially in energy and environmental issues and has far reaching implications to society. Effective, efficient and regular communication of needed information is a must.
The Thailand Energy and Environment Network of the Asian Institute of Technology (TEENET-AIT) funded by the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) of the Royal Thai Government will organize on Wednesday, July 2, 2003, 8:30 a.m. a one-day seminar on 'Energy for Sustainable Development: Access to Information Resources.' The seminar -- to be conducted in English -- will be held at AIT Conference Center, Rm. B206.
The seminar aims to transfer the knowledge and information on energy for sustainable development. Topics to be presented include Sustainable Development: Issues and Options; Status and Development of Renewable Energy in Thailand and Asia; and Sustainable Energy Use in Buildings. Registration is free of charge including lunch and refreshments. A hands on access to TEENET-AIT information resources will also be provided.
Interested persons must register no later than June 30, 2003 to TEENET-AIT, Regional Energy Resources Information Center (RERIC), AIT, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120. Fax: 02 524-5439, 02 516-2126. Email: enreric@ait.ac.th
About TEENET
The Thailand Energy and Environment Network (TEENET) was established in 1997 as part of the Energy conservation program of Energy Conservation Promotion Fund of the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO).
TEENET serves as an information system to effectively educate and promote conservation, renewable sources of energy, and innovative technologies designed to achieve both sustainable economic growth and resolution of energy and environmental issues.
The network aims to link all sources of energy and environment information in Thailand; to broaden information needs; to reduce repetition in the collection of information resources; and to promote exchange of information in order to provide efficient services.
July 5, 2003::
Workshop on 'Workshop on Human Resources Development in Nanotechnology,' at the School of Advanced Technologies, AIT.
Organized by the Asia Pacific Nanotechnology Forum, AIT's School of Advanced Technologies, and the National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC), NSTDA, the workshop will include renowned Nanotechnology experts from Asia, Europe, and North America will present their insights on various issues related to Nanotechnology human resources development and deliver special workshop courses for further education in Nanotechnology.
The following Intensive short courses (5-6 hours) for small groups will also be organized on July 6: Nanomaterials in Nanotechnology, by Prof. Heinrich Hofmann, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Biomimetics & Supramolecular Chemistry, by Prof. Jons Hilborn, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Workshop registration fee is US$550 (incl. APNF Membership), intensive short course is only US$450, and combined is US$800.
For more details and application, please visit:
http://www.apnf.org/article.php?17.255
July 9-11, 2003: 'Rural Electrification and Distributed Generation for Sustainable Development' training workshop will be organized by Electric Power System Management, SERD, at the AIT Conference Center. Resource persons will be Prof. Surapong Chiratannon, Dr. Weerakorn Ongsakul, Dr. Mithulananthan N, Dr. S.N. Singh from IIT-Kanpur, and Mr. Alan D. Gonzales, EC-ASEAN COGEN Programme Phase III
Topics to be covered are:
- Rural Electrification and Its Need
- RE Schemes and Difficulties in Asia
- RE Supply Systems
- Social and Economic Benefits of RE
- Method of Demand Forecasting and Program Development
- Distributed Generation vs. Traditional Power Systems
- Cost and Economic Evaluation
- Wind Distributed Generation
- Cogeneration & Its importance
- Fuel Cell Powered Distributed Generator
- Solar-Thermal Power Generation
- Photovoltaic (PV) Generation
- Basic DG Case Example: What to Include and How?
- Grid Interconnection Option of DG
- Evaluation and Financing of DG Projects
A registration fee of US$150 (THB6,000) will be paid by participant. For attendees from government agencies, state enterprises, or universities, the registration fee is US$125 (THB 5,000). Details of the workshop and registration form can be downloaded from:
http://www.serd.ait.ac.th/ep/epsm/REDGSD.PDF
Jan. 14-16, 2004: International Conference on 'Electric Supply Industry in Transition: Issues and Prospect for Asia' will be held at the AIT Conference Center.
The conference are co-organized by Power Systems Engineering Research
Center (PSERC, more than a dozen leading universities in the USA, including
Berkeley), University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and Asian Institute
of Technology. The conference is coordinated by Professor Surapong Chirarattananon, SERD, AIT
The conference focus will be on 'Electricity Supply Industry in Transition':
pertinent issues and prospects for Asia. The topic is timely as most of
the utilities around the world, including developing nations, are changing
the way they do businesses in electricity supply. A variety of people, power
utilities, private power producers and academic institution, are expected to
benefit from this conference.
For further information please email: olivier@ait.ac