Conference Summary

Tunnelling Association of Canada
15^th Canadian Tunnelling Conference

Conference Summary

The Tunnelling Association of Canada held its 15^th Canadian Tunnelling Conference in Vancouver from 23 to 26 September 1998. The conference was held jointly with the 8^th Congress of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment. A total of 91 delegates from 9 countries attended the TAC Conference, and ? delegates from ? countries attended the IAEG Congress.

The technical program consisted of 40 presentations that were divided into the themes listed below. Approximately one-half of the presentations were from each of TAC and IAEG delegates.

Tunnel boring machines and engineering geology

TBM design and performance prediction

Investigations and characterization

Soft ground and weak rock

Recent contracting practices in tunnelling

Projects-Europe

Projects-International

Projects-Canada

Satoshi Mitani of Japan presented the keynote address titled, The state of art of TBM excavation and probing ahead technique.

The conference proceedings are published in the TAC journal Canadian Tunnelling Canadienne 1998. All existing TAC members will be receiving their copy of the journal shortly. Non-members can purchase the journal from Erika Partsis, the TAC Treasurer, at 1-905-474-9267 (fax).

The following companies were exhibitors at the conference.

A.A. Balkema Publishers

Atlas Copco Robbins *

BC Hydro *

BiTech Publishers

Brookville Mining Equipment

Castrol

Dywidag Systems International

Elsevier Science

Geological Survey of Canada

Geotech AB

Golder Associates *

Herrenknecht Tunnelling Systems USA

IAEG - AEG

Klohn Crippen Consultants *

Lovat *

Malcolm Drilling

Multiurethanes *

National Mine Services *

Ontario Hydro Technologies

RST Instruments

Slope Indicator

Springer Verlag NY

Synthetic Industries

UBC Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences

Westbay Instruments

* TAC Corporate Member

The conference also included a workshop on Tunnel Inspection, which included the following presentations:

Safety in Tunnel Inspections

Gary Kreller

Inspecting Microtunnels

Steve Klein

Inspecting Drill and Blast Tunnels

Dave Jurich

Inspecting Machine Excavated Tunnels

Rick Gomez

Remote Tunnel Inspections

Carmen Sferrazza

Special Access Tunnel Inspections

Special Access Methods, Angus Borland

Wahleach and Whatshan Case Study, Paul Rapp

A field trip to the Stave Falls Hydroelectric Project was held. Attendees visited the existing 87 year old powerhouse, the new power facilities under construction, including the powerhouse, tunnels and intake.

Stave Falls Site

(Existing powerhouse in upper left, new powerhouse excavation in lower right)

TAC President Boro Lukajic at the TAC luncheon presented the following TAC members with dedicated service awards.

Murty Devata
Erika Partsis
Garry Stevenson
Duncan Wyllie

TAC Awards
(L to R: Stevenson, Devata, Wyllie, Partisis, Lukajic)

The TAC announced the following upcoming events.

A Microtunnelling Workshop will be held in Edmonton in Fall 1999. Details can be obtained from Frank Policicchio at 1-403-944-7743 (fax)

The 16^th Canadian Tunnelling Conference will be held in Montreal in 2000.

Special thanks to Lovat Inc., who provided significant financial support for the 15^th Canadian Tunnelling Conference.

Conference

Tunnelling Association of Canada 15th Canadian Tunnelling Conference

Tunnelling Association of Canada
15^th Canadian Tunnelling Conference