The Geotechnical Society of Edmonton is pleased to present Dr. Kevin Biggar

Date: April 3, 2024
Time: 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: La Cité Francophone (8627 Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury, Edmonton)
Cost: GSE/CGS Members $30, Students $15, Non-members $40

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Registration @ 5:30 PM; Dinner @ 6:00 PM; Presentation @ 7:00PM with networking to follow.

Abstract

Most of what we do as a profession we do very well. I’m in a rather unique position wherein all I see are problems associated with geotechnical poor performance. Some problems are small, and a few are very large. However, there are similar elements worth considering in all of our projects. Additionally, when insurance companies and lawyers get involved, other issues become relevant that are not purely technical, that may also be important when considering our involvement in projects. The talk will describe elements of geotechnical forensic investigations, some examples where the investigation revealed unexpected results, and provide some food for thought to practitioners to avoid becoming the subject of an investigation.

Bio

Dr. Biggar served 20 years in the Canadian Military Engineers where in addition to building and blowing up bridges, jumping out of airplanes, and overseeing multimillion dollar construction projects he obtained his PhD from the U of A. He was subsequently a professor in Civil Engineering for 4 years at Royal Military College in Kingston, ON, and then joined the Geotechnical Engineering Faculty at the U of A for 12 years. He then spent 9 years as a principal consultant with BGC Engineering, and has been working as an independent consultant since 2015. His experience includes permafrost engineering, geo-environmental engineering, dam design and construction, dam safety, HDD applications and implementation, mine waste management and reclamation, assessments of slope stability, foundation and retaining structures, groundwater flow and dewatering, geotechnical instrumentation, and pipeline crossings. His current work is focused on forensic geotechnical engineering i.e. examining geotechnical failures.