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his study investigated the lower limb biomechanics during downhill and uphill running in habitual forefoot strike and habitual rearfoot strike runners. Fifteen habitual forefoot strike and fifteen habitual rearfoot strike recreational male runners ran at 3 m/s ± 5% during level, uphill and downhill overground running on a ramp mounted at 6° and 9°. Results showed that hill running had similar impacts on joint angles in rearfoot strike and forefoot strike runners, causing a decrease in hip flexion at initial contact during downhill running, an increase in knee flexion angle at initial contact during uphill running and a decrease in peak hip flexion angle. In addition to differences in ankle joint angle due to landing pattern difference between rearfoot strike and forefoot strike runners, forefoot strike runners had a more flexed hip angle during downhill running. Forefoot strike runners had an absent impact peak in all running conditions, while the impact peaks only decreased during the uphill conditions in rearfoot strike runners. Active peaks decreased during the downhill conditions in forefoot strike runners while active loading rates increased during downhill conditions in rearfoot strike runners. Compared to the level condition, parallel braking peaks were larger during downhill conditions and parallel propulsive peaks were larger during uphill conditions. Peak hip flexion moment was significantly greater while peak knee flexion moment was significantly lower in both groups during the downhill 9° condition. Forefoot strike runners had larger peak plantar flexion moments and peak ankle power absorption compared to rearfoot strike runners during all conditions. Forefoot strike runners had decreased peak power absorption at the knee joint during downhill and level running conditions. Combined with previous biomechanics studies, our findings of no impact peak in forefoot strike runners suggests that this landing pattern may have potential in reducing overuse running injuries. Forefoot strike running reduces loading at the knee joint and can be used as an effective strategy to reduce stress at the knee joint experienced with rearfoot strike running.

Mines have an inherent risk of geotechnical failure in both rock excavations and tailings storage facilities. Geotechnical failure occurs when there is a combination of exceptionally large forces acting on a structure and/or low material strength resulting in the structure not withstanding a designed service load. The excavation of rocks can cause unintended rock mass movements. If the movement is monitored promptly, accidents, loss of ore reserves and equipment, loss of lives, and closure of the mine can be prevented. Mining companies routinely use deformation monitoring to manage the geotechnical risk associated with the mining process. The aim of this dissertation is to review the geotechnical risk management process to optimize the geotechnical risk management analysis. In order to perform a proper analysis of slope instability, understanding the importance as well as the limitations of any monitoring system is crucial. Due to the potential threat associated with slope stability, it has become the top priority in all risk management programs to predict the time of slope failure. Datasets from monitoring systems are used to perform slope failure analysis. Innovations in slope monitoring equipment in the recent years have made it possible to scan a broad rock face in a short period with sub-millimetric accuracy. Instruments like Slope Stability Radars (SSR) provide the quantitative data that is commonly used to perform risk management analysis. However, it is challenging to find a method that can provide an accurate time of failure predictions. Many studies in the recent past have attempted to predict the time of slope failure using the Inverse Velocity (IV) method, and to analyze the probability of a failure with the fuzzy neural networks. Various method investigated in this dissertation include: Minimum Inverse Velocity (MIV), Maximum Velocity (MV), Log Velocity (LV), Log Inverse Velocity (LIV), Spline Regression (SR) and Machine Learning (ML). Based on the results of these studies, the ML method has the highest rate of success in predicting the time of slope failures. The predictions provided by the ML showed ~86% improvement in the results in comparison to the traditional IV method and ~72% improvement when compared with the MIV method. The MIV method also performed well with ~75% improvement in the results in comparison to the traditional IV method. Overall, both the new proposed methods, ML and MIV, outperformed the traditional inverse velocity technique used for predicting slope failure.

On Monday, 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. gulf coast. The storm caused damage to 169 miles of the 284 miles that compose the Hurricane Protection System (HPS) of the area. The system suffered 46 breaches due to water levels overtopping and another four caused by instability due to soil foundation failure. The Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) conducted a study to analyze what happened on the I-wall breach of the various New Orleans flood control structures and looked for solutions to improve the design of these floodwalls. The purpose of the investigation, describe in this document, is to evaluate different methods to improve the analysis model created by IPET, select the best possible analysis techniques, and apply them to a current cross-section that did not fail during Hurrican Katrina. The use of Finite Element (FE) analysis to obtain the vertical total stress distribution in the vicinity of the I-wall and to calculate pore pressures proved to be an effective enhancement. The influence of overconsolidation on the shear strength distribution of the foundation soils was examined as well. / Master of Science

The Hamersley Province, located approximately 1200 km north of Perth, Western Australia forms part of the southern Pilbara craton, an extensive area of Band Iron Formations (BIF). The area has a high economic significance due to several enrichment stages of the country rock (BIF) resulting in several large high-grade iron ore deposits. Mount Whaleback near Newman and Mount Tom Price are the largest deposits, where reserves have been estimated at 1400 Mt and 900 Mt respectively. These ore bodies have been quantified as being high grade resources at approximately 64 % iron, with a high lump to fines ratio, and low impurities. The Mount Tom Price ore body is a hematite-rich ore, associated with a variety of shale and some dolomitic units (MacLeod et al., 1963, MacLeod, 1966, Taylor et al., 2001, Morris, 1980). The local hydrogeology of the Mount Tom Price area involves two main aquifer systems. The Dales Gorge member of the Brockman Iron Formation with contributions from the upper mineralised section of Footwall zone make up the main semi confined aquifer within the area. The underlying low permeability Mount McRae Shale and Mount Sylvia Shale lithologies separate a secondary aquifer which is located within the Wittenoom Formation. A dewatering program within Mount Tom Price has been ongoing since installation in 1994. Within the open pit mining industry, pits depths are increasingly being deepened as the easily accessible surface ore has been removed. This involves excavating pit walls below the existing groundwater table, which can lead to instabilities within pit walls. Added to this is the timing and economic considerations which need to be accounted for in a working mine. As dewatering and depressurisation are pivotal to the extraction of ore resources below the groundwater table, there can often be considerable time pressures to maintain planned mine developments (Hall, 2003). The South East Prongs pit, located within the Mount Tom Price mine, holds some of the most valued low impurity, high grade hematite ore. Structurally the South East Prongs is unique as the deposit lies in the base of a steeply dipping double plunging syncline, intersected by the Southern Batter Fault which runs parallel in strike to the Turner Syncline. The current pit floor of South East Prongs is located at 600 mRL. The long term development plan for the western end of this pit includes a further 30 m of excavation to a final depth of 570 mRL. This currently poses a number of stability issues that require resolution before any development can be undertaken. A conceptual understanding of flow dynamics within structurally complex wall rock environment has been generated through the utilisation of finite element numerical modelling. The complex structural setting within the northern wall of the South East Prongs has shown to interact with high conductivity lithologies to promote preferential flow of groundwater from the underling Wittenoom Formation aquifer. Recharge to the semi confined DG aquifer occurs as groundwater travels up shear zones within the South East Prongs Fault Zone before migrating along Brunos Band. An investigation into alternative methods of depressurisation has been recommended to ensure the ongoing management of pore water pressures within the northern pit wall during planned pit cut backs. Limiting recharge from the WF to the pit through stated preferential flow paths has been identified as a potential issue when the remaining DG aquifer is removed. Maintaining the proposed dewatering buffer will be difficult to achieve using the current system. The ability to design optimal pit shells for access and ore recovery as well as an effective dewatering and depressurisation system relies heavily on the a sound geological model. Further to this, time allocations to ensure forward planning deadlines are met can be significantly interrupted if adjustments to initial plans are required.

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nÃo hà / A evoluÃÃo das anÃlises de estabilidade de taludes na Engenharia GeotÃcnica segue de perto o desenvolvimento da MecÃnica dos Solos. Escorregamentos de taludes sÃo uma das formas mais frequentes de movimento de massa. No caso de barragens de terra, trÃs dificuldades sÃo encontradas quando se analisa a estabilidade de taludes: a) a variabilidade dos parÃmetros de resistÃncia do solo; b) dificuldades de se prever as condiÃÃes de fluxo de Ãgua e as pressÃes piezomÃtricas resultantes, e c) dificuldade de antecipaÃÃo das formas mais provÃveis de ruptura, as superfÃcies potenciais a elas associadas e os mecanismos de ruptura envolvidos. Essas dificuldades refletem diretamente no nÃmero de falhas em barragens de terra, que responde por 66% dos acidentes em barragens em todo o mundo. Dados da AgÃncia Nacional de Ãguas apontam que entre 2002 e 2010 foram registrados 800 incidentes com barragens. Como acidentes de grandes proporÃÃes, cita-se a ruptura da barragem de rejeitos de Cataguazes (MG), em marÃo de 2003, que deixou milhÃes de pessoas por semanas sem abastecimento, em razÃo do lanÃamento de soda cÃustica no rio ParaÃba do Sul, bem como o rompimento da barragem de AlgodÃes, em maio de 2009, no PiauÃ. Dessa forma, em razÃo das inÃmeras incertezas nos projetos das barragens, à necessÃria a utilizaÃÃo de metodologia que leve em consideraÃÃo a variabilidade dos componentes envolvidos nas anÃlises de estabilidade de taludes, uma vez que essas incertezas nÃo sÃo consideradas nos mÃtodos determinÃsticos. A anÃlise probabilÃstica de estabilidade de taludes, utilizando o mÃtodo de Monte Carlo, torna-se uma importante ferramenta durante a construÃÃo, enchimento e operaÃÃo de barragens de terra. PropÃe este trabalho uma metodologia simplificada para estimar os parÃmetros hidrÃulicos do solo mediante a retroanÃlise das condiÃÃes de fluxo, comparando as cargas piezomÃtricas medidas no maciÃo, com as calculadas por um programa de computaÃÃo comercial, para, em seguida, estimar a probabilidade de falha nos taludes da barragem de terra. A probabilidade de falha do talude de jusante, anÃlise na condiÃÃo de cheia mÃxima e anÃlise de estabilidade do talude de montante na condiÃÃo de rebaixamento rÃpido, foram realizadas para o caso da barragem Olho dâÃgua, no Estado do CearÃ. / The evolution of slope stability analysis in geotechnical engineering has followed closely the development of soil mechanics . Slope landslides are one of the most frequent forms of mass movement . In the case of earth dams, three difficulties are encountered when analyzing the slope stability: a) the variability of soil strength parameters, b) difficulty of predicting the conditions of water flow and resulting piezometric pressures, and c) difficulty in predicting the most probable forms of rupture, the potential surfaces associated to them, and the rupture mechanisms involved . These difficulties reflect directly on the number of failures recorded with dams, which accounts for 66 % of accidents in dams around the world. Data from the National Water Agency of Brazil show that between 2002 and 2010, 800 incidents were recorded dams. As major accidents, the rupture of tailings in Cataguazes dam in the state of Minas Gerais in March 2003, which left millions of people without water for weeks , due to leakage of caustic soda in the ParaÃba do Sul river , as well as the failure in the AlgodÃo Dam, in May 2009, in Piauà state in northeastern Brazil may be mentioned . Thus, because of the many uncertainties in the projects of dams, the use of a methodology that takes into account the variability of the components involved in the analysis of slope stability of dams is necessary, since these uncertainties are not considered in deterministic methods. The probabilistic analysis of slope stability using the Monte Carlo method, turns out to be an important evaluating tool during construction, filling and operation of earth dams. This work proposes a simplified methodology for estimating soil hydraulic parameters, by means of back-analysis of seepage conditions, comparing the pressure heads measured by standpipe piezometer in the dam, together with those calculated by commercial computing program to, then, estimate the dam slopes probability of failures. The reliability analysis of the downstream slope of the dam in the high level of water condition was done, such as the backslope stability analysis during rapid drawdown of the Olho dâÃgua dam in the State of CearÃ, Brazil.

The Antarctic continental margin contains a diverse range of continental slope morphologies, including iceberg keel marks, gullies, channels, mass-wasting features (slides, slumps), ridges, furrows, mounds and trough mouth fans. These features vary significantly in morphology, with bedforms varying in size (width, amplitude and length), shelf incision, sinuosity, branching order, spatial density and cross-sectional shape. The processes which form these features and the environmental controls influencing their morphology are not well documented or well constrained. Understanding the processes operating on the Antarctic continental margin is essential for interpreting seafloor erosion patterns, continental margin evolution, slope instability and sediment core records from the continental slope and rise. Through quantitative analysis of multibeam bathymetric data along >2670 km of the outer shelf and upper-slope of high latitude continental margins, five distinct Antarctic gully types are identified. Gully morphology was found to vary with local slope character (slope geometry, gradient), regional factors (location of cross-shelf troughs, trough mouth fans and drainage basin size), sediment yield and ice-sheet history. Most gullies are likely formed by: (1) flows generated as a result of the release of subglacial meltwater from beneath an ice-sheet grounded to the shelf edge during glacial maxima; (2) turbidity currents initiated by intense iceberg scouring; or (3) small-scale mass-wasting. Erosion by cascading dense water overflow does not form the deeply incised and V-shaped gullies that occur over much of the Antarctic continental margin. A comparison of some Arctic and Antarctic gully morphologies shows that the Antarctic gullies have much deeper mean incision depths and greater shelf-incisions, suggesting that they either formed over significantly longer periods, or by a greater release of meltwater in the areas with greater gully incision depths. The first morphological analysis of the southern Weddell Sea outer shelf and upper slope is presented. Two large and relatively recent submarine slides occur on the Crary Fan, the first Quaternary slides to be documented on an Antarctic trough mouth fan. These slides provide evidence for recent large-scale mass-wasting events on the Antarctic continental margin. The interpretation of bedforms on the outer shelf of the southeastern Weddell Sea provide insight into the timing and extent of past ice and points to grounded ice near to the shelf edge during the Late Quaternary.

The geometric alteration of slopes is a reality that can be observed in several districts of the Peruvian capital. The construction of houses, roads, and other infrastructure can produce some slope instability and cause tragic events. Thus, a stability analysis was carried out for a slope located in the San Juan de Lurigancho district, specifically in the Virgen de Fátima sector. Therefore, for the present investigation, two models were made with the help of Phase2 software to identify the resistance reduction factors (SFR), which is a finite element-based program. To start the analysis, possible failures were identified, demonstrating that the slope does not present any possibility of failure. For the first model, we worked with a dip of 30° and identified an SFR = 19.26 for static conditions and an SFR = 9.66 for pseudo-static conditions. For the second model, we worked with a dip of 55°, this change in slope geometry shows a possible wedge failure, according to the kinematic analysis. Also, an SFR = 0.89 was identified for static conditions and an SFR = 0.48 for pseudo-static conditions. The results show very considerable changes and are due to the geometry of the slope, the presence of discontinuities, and the participation of seismic forces.