Landslide Stability Assessment, Monitoring and Control
Landslide stability monitoring, assessment and control are the focus of several current research projects. The GIST project, funded by CCRS and GEOIDE, and supported by the GSC and BC Hydro, comprises several areas of focus:

• Development of geotechnical rules for specific landslide failure modes, based on numerical analysis of instrumented slope instability case histories (with Prof. M. Diederichs, Queen's and Prof. D. Martin, University of Alberta);
• Definition of decision support systems for assessing geotechnical data from landslides and provision of early warning capabilities (with Prof. P. Graniero, Brock University and R. Harrap, Queen's);
• Development of geospatial analysis tools for GIS with data compilation, presentation, assessment and rule development capabilities (with R. Harrap and D. Ball, Queen's GIS Lab).

Crown Pillar Stability Assessment, Monitoring and Control
Crown pillars are horizontal pillars of rock and soil left above underground stopes mined near the ground surface. These pillars may fail, sometimes suddenly and catastrophically, leaving a hole through to the ground surface. There are a number of issues related to crown pillars that require research, including:

• Location of the voids using geophysics (ongoing research project with Prof. G. Cascante, Dept of Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo);
• Assessment of geotechnical material characteristics for near-surface and long-term structures;
• Evaluation of the current and long-term stability of the rockmass;
• Assessment of effectiveness of rehabilitation solutions through monitoring; and
• Evaluation of the state of stress within the crown pillars.

Site Investigation
How much is enough? The amount of site investigation and the techniques utilized depend a great deal upon the inherent geological variability on a site, as well as the spatial extent of the planned excavation or construction. Research work into quantifying the variables and considering site investigation design from a risk perspective is ongoing.

Risk Management
How do we assess the probability of failure, including considerations of the natural variability inherent in geological materials and the difficulties with accuracy in sampling? How do we assess the consequence of failure, especially for long-term considerations of mine closure planning? What are tolerable risk levels and how can they be achieved? Research into this subject is ongoing, and has potentially very wide application in geo-engineering and assessment and control of natural hazards.

Other areas of research interest include:

• Cablebolt Design and Verification (with Dr. M. Diederichs, Dept. of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University)
• Rock Support Design
• Design and Performance of Artificially Frozen Soil Structures
• Geological Engineering Education

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