Rock Engineering Issues in
Underground Urban Infrastructure Construction:
Workshop on Research Needs
INTRODUCTION
The American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) organized a workshop on Underground Space in the City: Rock Engineering Issues in the Development of the Urban Underground Environment prior to the 4th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium (NARMS) in Seattle, Washington. The workshop was held on 30 July 2000.
The workshop was organized to develop an agenda of topics that required further research in order to more efficiently construct underground in rock in densely populated cities. To that end, interested participants of the NARMS were invited to hear a series of international experts describe their experience in underground rock construction. These experts hailed from Finland, USSR, and Canada, as well as Boulder Colorado; Chicago; Minneapolis; New York City; and Seattle in the U.S. The audience then broke into two working groups to identify specific areas of need. This is a report from the workshop and is divided into three sections: Background, Presentations of Practice, and Recommended Action. The Background consists of a description of the differences between soil and rock excavation, and considerations of the general construction environment. The Practice section focuses on accomplishments in the area of rock construction from around the world. Finally, Recommended Actions of the workshop are given. Several of the practice reports, power point presentations, or photograph collections are excellent and can be seen at ARMA’s Web site. They are presented in their entirety on the website in order to include all of the detail, much of which is photographic in nature.
ARMA
Bernard Amadei, University of Colorado, Boulder,President of ARMA General results of two recent workshops developed by the American Rock Mechanics Association have broad implications for rock mechanics needs for urban rock construction. The first, held in 1998, focused on future research needs. Its four objectives were the identification of 1) a strategic vision for the future of rock mechanics, 2) critical issues facing rock mechanics, 3) the role of research in identifying these issues, and 4) critical areas of research. The second, held in 1999, focused upon partnering between academia, industry, and government. Four key questions were raised 1) what role does rock mechanics play in the mining, civil, and petroleum industries? 2) what are the needs in education and research? 3) how should rock mechanics be taught in a university system that is becoming more and more focused upon basic research? 4) what new trendsare emerging in the field of rock mechanics? Prior to the workshop, industry representatives were mailed a questionnaire that asked 1) what has rock