Award winners Professor Buddhima Indraratna (left) and Dr Cholachar R...

International geotechnical community honours UOW academics

Two academics from UOW’s School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering are to receive international awards for their geotechnical research.

The International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) will officially announce during its conference (to be held in Goa, India, from 1-6 October) that the Head of the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, Professor Buddhima Indraratna, and Dr Cholachar Rujikiatkamjorn have been honoured with two significant awards.

Professor Indraratna will receive the “Excellent Contributions Award: Regional” given to individuals who have made significant contributions over the years in research, academic activities and professional service in the interdisciplinary area of geomechanics, while Dr Rujikiatkamjorn will receive his award for the best contribution via scholarly Journal publications in the young professional category.

Dr Iathurai Sathananthan of Coffey Geotechnics (Sydney) a 2005 PhD graduate of UOW supervised by Professor Indraratna will also share the same award in the young professional category for their contributions to ground improvement research.

These awards are announced every four years by the IACMAG and they are decided by international committees comprising of six individuals who are prominent in the field of geomechanics. The 12th international conference to be held in India will address recent developments and relevant issues in computer methods, constitutive models and applications to different areas of geomechanics. The special theme for the conference has been chosen as ‘Geomechanics in the Emerging Social and Technological Age’.

Professor Indraratna will also present an Invited Theme Paper at the conference on the topic of Modelling of Soil Improvement through Native Vegetation in Australia.

This research has been driven by the rail industry through the Co-operative Research Centre for Rail Innovation for stabilising rail tracks in many parts of Australia, focusing on cost-effective natural soil stabilisation (in lieu of chemical stabilisation) apart from promoting the novel environmental concept of 'green corridors' for railways.

The CRC-Rail is focusing on improving railway efficiency through engineering and information technologies. The cutting-edge research conducted at UOW under the leadership of Professor Indraratna will directly contribute to enhancing track capacity building to cater for future high speed trains in Australia through innovations in ground improvement especially in the coastal regions.