Lecturers of the event in the order of their intervention
Dr. Parker is an independent consultant with over 45 years of engineering experience on the design and construction of numerous tunnels of all sizes, types, and geology. In addition to his geotechnical expertise, he is consulting now on issues involving general tunneling design, environmental, risk management, planning, cost, public relations, and safety issues from an international perspective. He has been primarily engaged as a member of a Board, an expert, or in a senior review capacity on planning, design, and construction of major facilities for highway, transit, railroad, water and wastewater, hydroelectric, port, defense, and development of surface and underground schemes in over a dozen countries.
Dr. Parker is a recognized leader in the tunneling industry and is especially active in the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) where he served 3 years as President. He has published extensively on geologic investigations for underground works including a chapter in the Tunnel Engineering Handbook and numerous papers and lectures on the subject worldwide
Robert Galler
Robert Galler graduated from the Mining University of Leoben in 1993 with a Dipl.-Ing. equivalent to MSc. in Mining and Tunnelling. From 1993 to 1997 he did a doctoral thesis (PhD) in studying geotechnical conditions for open hard rock tunnel boring machines.
From 1997 to 2007 Robert GALLER was working for GEOCONSULT, an international design consultant, on projects like the High Speed Rail (HSR) link Cologne – Frankfurt in Germany – a high speed railway line with about 30 tunnel projects characterized by very low overburden mainly in soil and strongly weathered rock formations. After being the responsible geotechnical engineer at the HSR Ebelsfeld – Erfurt, Tunnel Sandberg, Germany, further more being involved in the design for Tunnel La Linea, Colombia and the Metro Porto, Portugal and the Semmering Base Tunnel (27km long alpine tunnel) he became project leader for the tender design of several tunnel projects along the northern access route to the Brenner Base Tunnel. From end of 2004 to mid of 2007 GALLER became the project manager of an international design JV for the Brenner Base Tunnel with a length of about 57km including all fields of tunnel design from tunnel safety, aerodynamics, electrical design to civil- and environmental design.
Eivind Grøv
Eivind Grøv graduated from the University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (previously NTH) in 1983, with MSc. degree in Geotechnical Engineering and Rock Mechanics. Grøv has since graduation been working in the tunnelling industry mainly within the consulting business covering a wide range of tunnelling and underground projects including oil and gas storages, hydropower projects, road and railway tunnels including various subsea tunnels in rock. His experience covers also a wide range of expert services provided to projects abroad, like 6 years working in Saudi Arabia, but also Singapore, China, Chile, Russia, India, Hong Kong and many more countries, including also the Nordic countries.
Grøv is now Chief Scientist with SINTEF Infrastructure heading major research works. Grøv is appointed Professor in engineering geology and rock mechanics at the University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, NTNU lecturing and supervising both domestic students and foreign students at scholarships to Norway. He has held lectures and keynote speeches on several international conferences.
Grøv is the recent past President of the Norwegian Tunnelling Society. He is also a past Vice President of ITA (the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association) concluding a period of 6 years in the Executive Council.
After graduating in Civil engineering, with a focus on Geotechnical Engineering, I started my working career, at that time, for the largest hydropower development in Brazil, the São Simão scheme. Later, I started to work in the tunnelling industry, following the design of a network of railway tunnels built in several different rock masses.
After ten years at private companies, I started working for a state company, responsible for the design and construction of one of the largest hydropower caverns in Brazil, the Serra da Mesa scheme. In addition to being responsible for the design, I also followed this cavern construction in periodical visits to the site. Meanwhile I have been in charge of several other hydroelectric schemes.
In the development of Serra da Mesa I performed many research tests connected to themes such as shear strength of concrete-rock joints, inverse techniques for interpreting in situ stress, and large excavation instrumentation.
I was also responsible for the design of a sequence of 30km water tunnels and channels, conveying water to the scheme powerhouse.
For many of these hydroelectric schemes I was in charge of the design and construction of many Pressure Tunnels and Penstocks.
I am now acting on a problem related to the excavation of roadway tunnels beneath an old water tunnel that is responsible for supplying water to the city of Rio de Janeiro. Blasting vibration control and instrumentation design, in situ investigations, numerical modelling are the major points of this work.
While working in the design and construction of the Serra da Mesa cavern, I was assigned to take an MSc course in the Imperial College of Science and Technology, in London. Later, while still working for the state company, I decided to take a PhD as an external student. This research was performed simultaneously with all other engineering activities. I was one of the few students to enter this programme that was successful and obtained the degree.
Andrew Wilson
Andrew is a Civil Engineer with 22 years of experience. He is a member of the International Tunnelling Association’s Working Group 3, which specialises in Contractual Practices for underground works. He is currently a Major Projects Director: Hydropower of the Resources division of GHD in Australia. He specialises in dams, underground works and hydroelectric power plant planning, design and project management. He has extensive experience in Southern Africa and internationally, having worked in Europe and Asia GHD, 180 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne Vic 3000, Australia.
Jenny Yan is the Deputy General Manager of China Railway Southwest Research Institute Co.,Ltd. She graduated in BSs in Engineering (Specialization in Engineering Geology), from the Chengdu Geology College, P.R.China, 1984. Shen then earned her Master in Engineering from the Southwest Jiaotong University, P.R.China, in 1997 with a specialization in Tunnel Engineering. She has won several prizes such as winner for Tip-top talent by the Ministry of Railways, P.R.China (2000), winner for the 5th Talent Prize of Zhantianyou Development Foundation for Railway Science and Technology (2008), Expert for enjoyment of the State Council Special Allowance for Outstanding Contribution to Engineering in 2011 & winner for 2012 China Economic Female Entrepreneur Figures. Her extensive work experience have been providing consulting services, mainly as team leaders, for major railway tunnels, highway tunnels, metros and hydropower tunnels for nearly 30 years. Jenny is also the ITA tutor of Working Group 17 Long Tunnels on Great Depth.
Lok Home is the President of the Robbins Company in Solon, Ohio, USA & began his more than 45-year career in the tunneling and mining industry after graduating with a degree in mining technology from the Haileybury School of Mines in Ontario, Canada. Between 1965 and 1968, Lok worked as a project manager at several Canadian mines, before joining The Robbins Company as a Field Service Manager.
Lok served as president of Atlas Copco Jarva from 1980 to 1985, then founded Boretec, Inc. Boretec later acquired Robbins in 1998 and unified the two companies under the Robbins name. Today, The Robbins Company is a worldwide manufacturer of tunnel boring machines and underground equipment, with 12 international subsidiaries and representation in over 35 countries.
Karin graduated as a civil engineer from Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany (today KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and completed post graduate studies with her PhD topic “Development of a two-component dynamic grouting system for tailskin injected backfilling of the annular gap for segmental concrete lining in shielded tunnel boring machines” at the Colorado School of Mines, USA. She joined Herrenknecht in 1997 and since then has specialized in geotechnology, research and development. Since 2008 Karin has managed the Geotechnical and Consulting department for the Traffic Tunnelling Division at Herrenknecht’s head office in Schwanau, Germany. She is an invited lecturer for postgraduate degrees at Universities in France, Germany, Italy and the USA on the topic of Tunnelling and Tunnel Boring Machines.
Johan Jonsson has a Master in Science from Luleå University of Technology and started his career in Atlas Copco, working for the Norwegian Customer Center in Oslo. After working tree years with the Norwegian tunnelling industry, Johan moved back to Sweden and Atlas Copco’s main factory in 2010. Today Johan is responsible for the marketing and development of the underground face drilling equipment range within Atlas Copco.
Ari Laitinen
Ari Laitinen earned his Master degree in Civil Engineering from the Tampere University of Technology in 1987-1990 (Geotechnics, engineering geology and rock engineering). Before then, he graduated from the Wärtsilä Institute of Technology in 1982-1985, with a Bachelor of Science in Civil engineering, in road and water construction technology. From 2008 up to date, he works for Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy, Tampere, Finland as the area manager in construction tunneling.
Michael Rispin
Rispin was born in Montreal, Canada in 1961. Growing up in a bilingual culture, in both urban and rural environments, a variety of factors led him to pursue Mining Engineering at McGill University. His Bachelor’s degree (B.Eng. – Mining) was completed in 1985, along with a Minor in Management.
Deciding to combine his education with a penchant for people interaction, he embarked upon a Technical Representative assignment for DuPont Canada Ltd.’s Explosives Division. This led to a series of movements within the company including area sales management, technical service, R&D and production support management, marketing and finally business management for ETI Explosives (acquisition). His 12 year career with explosives concluded with a stint with Austin Powder Canada. Throughout this period, Rispin was primarily involved with underground applications in mining and tunneling construction.
In 1996, Rispin shifted focus to construction chemicals, accepting the position of Mining Manager with Master Builders Inc., in Cleveland, OH. This began an involvement with sprayed concrete initially focused on propagating the benefits of the technology to North American mining. The experience allowed him to progress through various positions with the company over 13 years including responsibility for the Allentown Equipment Division, Manager of Underground Construction for North America, and culminating with an assignment in Switzerland with BASF (acquisition). Again, the focus was almost exclusively tunneling and underground mining, and had both domestic and international involvement.
Rispin joined Normet in North America in 2009. Since 2013, he is Senior Vice President for Normet Group globally, responsible for the Americas, Rock Reinforcement, Business Development and Marketing, and also serves as President of Normet Americas, Inc. and Normet Canada Ltd. Normet is a manufacturer/supplier of equipment and construction chemicals for tunneling and underground mining and is also heavily invested in the processes of sprayed concrete and explosives charging.
Rispin is a member of Professional Engineers Ontario, UCA of SME, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the International Society of Explosives Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, and the American Shotcrete Association (where he previously served as Chair of the Underground Committee). He has published a multitude of papers regarding explosives, sprayed concrete and equipment. Enduring over 29 years of work is a passion for underground.
Professor Celestino was the past Brazilian Tunnelling President from 2006 – 2010. He earned his doctorate degree in Civil Engineering (Rock Mechanics) from the University of California, Berkeley (1981). He is currently employed by the Themag Engenharia Ltda., São Paulo (Brazil), one of the leaders in Geotechnical Engineering, Engineering Geology & Transportation Engineering Design Groups. He is also responsible for the geotechnical designs of several hydroelectric power plants, subways, highways etc., including major underground works (since 1990). Professor Celestino continues to contribute his valuable knowledge for the graduate courses & research areas on Rock Mechanics & Underground Works, at the São Carlos Engineering School, University of São Paulo & for ITACET Foundation.
Mr. Amberg holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. He is the President of the Amberg Group (Amberg Engineering Ltd, Amberg Technologies Ltd & Hagerbach Test Gallery Ltd). He also holds several other positions such as the treasurer & member of the ITA ExCo, Tutor of the ITA-COSUF Committee, ITA Tutor WG 12, Secretary & member of the ITACET Foundation Council, Former Swiss Tunnelling Society President, and President of the CUC Foundation & L-SurFFoundation. His special knowledge focuses on Road & Railway tunnel construction, Special Construction, Material Technology, Measuring Equipment for State Assessment of Tunnels, Project Management & Safe & Security.
Brad Grothen has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Design and Manufacturing and a minor in Material Science Engineering from Washington State University. Brad has been working in the areas of custom industrial and construction equipment for 14 years in a variety of roles, including mechanical and electrical design and project management. Since starting with Robbins he has worked as a Sr. Design Engineer, Project Engineer and is currently the Engineering Manager for the Robbins Kent, Washington, U.S. location.
Dean Brox is a graduate from the Geological Engineering Program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and from the Engineering Rock Mechanics Master’s Program from Imperial College, University of London. Dean has 29 years of experience in design and construction for over 1000 km of major tunneling and underground infrastructure projects around the world. Dean has been a key member of the planning, design and construction teams as well as technical advisor for peer/independent review and constructability/risk assessments. Dean has particular experience in the design and construction of hydropower pressure tunnels including the performance evaluations of operating tunnels and the completion of unwatered tunnel inspections using remote operated submersible vehicles. In the past few years Dean has been involved with the forensic investigations of recent hydropower pressure tunnel failures and collapses. Dean is also a specialist in the application of tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) for long and deep tunnels and the evaluation of overstressing and impact to constructability.
Matt Ross has been part of the Construction Chemicals team since 2004. Initially employed by Degussa, Matt moved along with the acquisition of Degussa by BASF in 2006. Prior to his work with this team, Matt was involved in a number of construction projects, initially as a site engineer, working through different positions such as Design Management and Project Co-ordination, resulting in a career spanning 20 years in the construction industry in Europe and Asia Pacific After graduating from Leeds University in the UK with a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering, Matt worked in the tunnelling industry in the UK before moving to Singapore in 2000 to join Samsung Corporation's Construction Division.
During the four years he was with them, Matt held roles as a Project Co-ordinator and Design Manager with Samsung on three projects . In August 2004, he joined Degussa Construction Chemicals as their Business Manager for ASEAN responsible for the underground construction portfolio.
Under Matt's leadership, the business grew from 3 to 5 million Euros, whilst the team was rebuilt. Matt's remit was broadened in 2009 to encompass the Asia Pacific group of countries and was promoted to Senor Manager within BASF who had acquired the division in 2006. Over a four year period, the Asia pacific business doubled in size through organic growth along with an acquisition further doubling business. Matt relocated to Germany in September 2013 to head up BASF's global team in underground construction.
Davide Michelis gathered his experience in underground work starting from his school career getting the Master of Science in Geo engineering with the specialization in tunneling and underground work. Since 2006 he started to work directly in geotechnical field as site manager for an Italian drilling company dealing with soil stabilization, ground improvement, consolidation of tunnels and underground structures. Since 2010 he started to work for MAPEI Underground Technology Team, the technical staff completely dedicated to provide technical assistance in underground construction projects and to develop new products together with the full assistance of Research and Development laboratory. He was a speaker in 2011 during Sixth International Symposium on Sprayed Concrete in Tromso and he has been teaching in 2012 at Politecnico di Torino with a contribution on the use of injection method in weak soils.
Professor Broch was born in Arendal, Norway 01.05.1938. Graduated as civil engineer (M.Sc. equiv.) from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) in 1961, obtained a M.Sc. in Engineering Rock Mechanics from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London in 1971 and a Doctor Ingeniør in Engineering Geology from Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1977. Associate professor of Geological Engineering in 1972, full professor 1984-2008 at Norwegian University of Science and Technology,(NTNU). He was the dean of Faculty of Applied Earth Sciences 1996-98 and is an elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences in 1986. Professor Broch was the past President of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA), 1986-89. He was a Member of the Executive Council from 1979-92. He was a senior editor of "Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology", Elsevier, 1986 – 2011 & Co-editor of proceedings from six international symposia. Author or co-author of more than 100 published scientific papers. Professor Broch has given lectures at universities and/or in professional societies in twelve countries in Europe, several states in USA, in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Egypt, Morocco, South-Africa, Turkey, India, Malaysia, Nepal, China, Taiwan, Japan, South-Korea and Australia.
Professor Broch has as consultant and technical advisor participated in the design and construction of a wide variety of projects, mainly related to tunnelling and underground works. He has been sole engineering geological consultant and advisor to all phases of planning and construction for more than 10 Norwegian hydropower projects, and has carried out pre-investigations and/or given advice on support and rock improvement for another 15 hydropower schemes. Other Norwegian projects are approximately 25 road tunnels with lengths from 100 m to more than 5 km, 4 water storage caverns, 2 water supply tunnels and 5 other caverns in rock.
His activities outside Norway have focused on investigations and design advice have been given to hydropower projects in Iceland (Blanda and Fljotsdal), USA (Tyee Lake), Nepal (Andhi Khola), China (Ming Tombs, Xiaolangdi, Baise, Jinkang, Mugeceo, Nuozhadu), Chile (La Higuera, La Confluencia, Alto Maipo), Colombia (Chivor, Mesitas, Guavio and La Miel II), Sri Lanka (Kukule Ganga), Malaysia (Bakun), Laos (Nam Leuk), Germany (Goldisthal), Iran (Masjed-e-Soleiman), Italy (Pont Ventoux), to water supply tunnels in Colombia (Chingaza) and Nepal (Melamchi), to a highway tunnel in Canada, and to metro tunnels in Taiwan (Taipei).
Volker Wetzig
Author, presentation given by Mr. Felix Amberg.
With an interdisciplinary education as mining engineer, Volker Wetzig has always a holistic approach when handling tasks or answering questions. Actually as deputy managing director of Hagerbach Test Gallery he is responsible for testing and investigation of construction materials and underground construction processes. One focus is on cementious based materials. To improve system and technologies always the material itself, the boundary conditions and the application including the staff has to be taken into account. Volker Wetzig is also active in organizations like ITA-CET, EFNARC, S-Cert, which are focusing on education and/or standardization of processes. The aim is always that procedures will be applicable in the daily business at jobsites.
Graduated in Civil Engineering by Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Master
of Science by COPPE/UFRJ and Doctor of Science by COPPE/UFRJ with
credits at the University of Minnesota ( USA ) . Occupied different positions in
Petrobras, as technical adviser to the E&P Director and today technical adviser
to the President of Petrobras. Responsible for the development of new technologies
and simulators in computational mechanics , used by PETROBRAS and Universities ,
with application in offshore structures , foundations of fixed platforms ( patent) ,
fixed points of anchoring of offshore platforms ( patent) , stability of continental
slopes , stability of pre and post salt wells ( patent) , offshore and onshore pipelines , reservoir
geomechanics , hull design of platforms , lines and risers , etc. . With experience of over 30 years on
the geomechanical behavior of rock salt has been participating in the projects of the pre-salt wells ,
defining the project methodology and providing for the company simulators which are used in the
design of the pre-salt wells . Adviser of several master and doctor of science thesis in different areas
and participation in more than 150 exam committee of master and doctor of science thesis. Author
and co - author of more than 80 papers in national and international conferences and indexed
technical journals. Coordinated the Network for Excellence in Naval and Oceanic Engineering and
creator of the Galileo Network in Scientific Computing and Visualization.