Nepal Geotechnical Society (NGS) has successfully organized the fourth Monthly Lecture Series on 7th Feb 2019. Delivered lectures were reflective of high quality research work and were very informative. It was a two-hour lecture program and around 80 participants were present in the program. Some. The organizers regretfully apologize for limited number of seats because some of the participants were unable to sit in the lecture hall.
First lecture was delivered by Dr. Chhatra Bahadur Basnet, who has recently finished his PhD research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) under Prof. Krishna K. Panthi. He talked partly about his PhD research related to applicability of unlined/shotcrete-lined pressure tunnel in hydropower projects of the Himalaya. Since the roughness of tunnels is one of the decisive parameters for tunnel optimization, he focused his lecture on the roughness evaluation of the shotcrete-lined pressure tunnel from two of the running hydropower projects in Nepal. NGS believes that the proposed equations for the roughness evaluation will certainly help the design engineers and researchers who are working in the hydropower sector.
Second lecture was delivered by Er. Bigyan Upadhaya and Er. Vivek Bhusal. They are working for SMEC International Pty. (SMEC MWH JV Consultant for Nalgad Hydropower Project 417.0 MW as senior Geotechnical and Structural Engineers. Among very few tunnel designers in Nepal, they are young engineers involved in Hydropower tunnel designing. Their lecture primarily focused on two design approaches for tunnel with examples and about construction practices in soft ground tunneling: 1) Bedded beam spring model for shallow soil tunnel (using FEM Software SAP2000) and 2) Convergence Confinement Method for deep tunnel in weak rock and soil (using {Phase2).
NGS extends its sincere thanks to the lecturers and participants for making this talk series a successful event. The organizers are especially grateful to Er. Tuk Lal Adhikari (Immediate Past President of NGS), Dr. Ranjan Kumar Dahal (President of Nepali Engineering Geologists Society), Dr. Indra Prasad Acharya (Program Coordinator MSc Geotech, IoE Pulchowk Campus), Dr. Pawan Shrestha, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, Dr. Mohan Prasad Acharya Senior Engineer of NEA Engineering Company, Dr Ravi Lal Sharma, Senior Geotechnical/Structural Engineer and all respected senior Engineers/Geologists for their motivation and presence in the program. We would also like to thank Kathmandu Engineering College and NEA Engineering Company Ltd. for financially supporting us and providing the venue respectively.
Last but not the least, the organizers would like to thank all who are directly and indirectly involved in making this event a grand success.
Thank you.
NGS Monthly Lecture Series Team