Newsletter Newsletter Issue 9 Winter... · 2020-01-14 · EDF, ACCIONA, Iberdrola and OWA on the development and optimisation of novel substructure systems and innovative methods

As we kick off the new year, itprovides a good opportunity toreflect on the year gone by andthe positive outcomes from2016! The past 12 months hasseen incredible progress forGDG as a company, with someof the highlights includingproject successes, new staffhires, office openings, and thecompany expanding intotechnical fields.

From a commercialperspective, last year saw morethan a 40% increase in revenue,which continues our trend ofdouble digit annual growthfrom company inception to thepresent day.

In terms of geographical reach,we continued to invest in ourUK operations throughout 2016with the opening of strategicoffices in Belfast and Edinburghand the appointment of a UKdirector, Gerry O’Sullivan.

To accommodate our growingIrish team, we also moved ourmain office in Dublin to a newlyrefurbished building based in

Rathfarnham, where peoplehave more space to deliverquality services to our clients.

Our workload in 2016 providedmany interesting challenges tosolve, including several noveland innovative engineeringprojects. Offshore monopilesgreater than 7m in diameter,deepwater berths andquaywalls, massive basementconstructions in constrainedurban sites and jetties inAfrican mangrove swampswere just some of the projectsadded to our portfolio last year.

We have also started to getnational and internationalrecognition for the technicalexcellence within GDG. Wereceived multiple nominationsfor the Engineers Irelandexcellence awards and werethe winners of the GeoscienceIreland category.

Newsletter Issue 9 | Winter 2016/2017

Paul Doherty Managing Director

Providing efficient and reliable geotechnical solutions for the most challenging projects

Welcome to the ninth edition of theGDG Newsletter, January 2017

CONTENTS:

New Projects

• Killeen Slip

• Thames Water Sewer

Checks

• Royal Albert Hall

• Design Services to

Roadbridge L&M Keating

at Dublin Port

• Design Optimisation at

Cross Beth Quay

Ongoing Projects

• LEANWIND

• GoSAFE RAIL

General News

• Speaking Engagements

and Conferences

• Publications

• New Appointments

• Memberships

• Events/Awards

NEW PROJECTS

Slope remediation measures designed by GDGfor Iarnród Éireann have recently beenconstructed at Killeen, Co. Kerry. The largecutting on the Tralee to Mallow line failedsuddenly during heavy rains last winter.

GDG worked closely with Iarnród Éireann todesign a remedial solution that would make thecutting less susceptible to future slips andprovide a more resilient infrastructure for railtravellers.

GDG provided ground investigation, design,tender and construction support. Remediationmeasures included regrading the slopes and

installation of an interceptor and herringbonedrainage system to lower ground water levels.

Killeen Slip Remediation Works

GDG was appointed by Farrans Constructionto provide a ground movement prediction foran excavation overlying a Thames Watersewer in the London area. As the excavationwill impinge on the 15 m vertical exclusionzone additional checks were required byThames Water to satisfy them that the sewerwould not be adversely affected by the works,Figure 1.

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GDG Newsletter Issue 9 Winter 2016/2017

Thames Water Sewer Checks

Figure 1: Extract from cross-section drawingillustrating the geometry of the analysis, DoranConsulting.

The additional checks included a check onthe confinement pressure ratio, themaximum diametrical distortion, theminimum radius of curvature and themaximum gap opening in the lining wedgeblocks. A line and level survey was carriedout in conjunction with a CCTV damagesurvey and the results of these wereincorporated into the checks carried out byGDG engineers.

GDG experience was coupled with refinednumerical analysis to carry out the requiredchecks and to satisfy Thames Water that thetunnel would not be adversely affected,Figure 2. The confinement pressure ratiowas found to be above 1.33

North facing view of slope remediation works at Killeen Co. Kerry

South facing view of slope remediation works at Killeen Co. Kerry

NEW PROJECTS Continued


Figure 2: Sewer alignment in the numerical model

The minimum radius of curvature was foundto be greater than 15km, Figure 3 and themaximum opening in the wedge block liningwas found to be less than 0.5mm.

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Figure 3: Radius of curvature shown to be always above the minimum required by Thame

Royal Albert Hall

The London Clay underlying the historicGrade I listed building was examined by GDGduring excavations of the south westquadrant basement to assess the proposedunderpinning design.GDG has developed extensive experiencedesigning deep basements in London Clay,and devised innovative short-term plate loadtest procedures to derive ground parametersin consideration of stringent timeconstraints. Darren Kelly (GDG DesignEngineer), who has specialist experience ingeotechnical testing, oversaw the works toensure quality control. It was important thatthe existing basement structure and RoyalAlbert Hall foundations were not damagedduring testing, particularly by the reactionplates used to prop off the underside of thefoundations.

The test results were interpreted by GDG toprovide an allowable bearing pressure rangeand an ultimate bearing pressure for theLondon Clay. The results from the plate loadtest was coupled with GDG’s experience inthe Kensington area to determine stiffnessvalues for the strata. This was used todetermine the level of movement anticipateddue to the stress level changes duringinstallation of the underpinning. The long-term settlement was also estimated duringthe analysis. It was determined that thestress increase following installation of theunderpinning is within the allowable bearingpressure range and safely below the ultimatebearing pressure. The settlement expectedto occur is small both in the short-term andthe long-term.

GDG was delighted to work with ConisbeeConsulting Engineers to provide specialistservices in the redevelopment of the historicRoyal Albert Hall.

The Royal Albert Hall is currently beingextended to provide additional undergroundspace on the southwest side of the building,creating a unique area for artists, promotersand staff. Plate load test

Royal Albert Hall

GDG Provide Design Services toRoadbridge L&M Keating at Dublin Port

Dublin Port’s Alexandra Basin Redevelopment

(ABR) project is one of the most strategically

important developments underway in Ireland.

This initiative will deepen the navigation

channel at the port to provide access for bigger

container and cruise ships and ultimately

enhance the Port’s capabilities.

This capital project made significant strides in

2016 with the commissioning of the

Roadbridge L&M Keating joint venture to

undertake the construction of over 160m of

new quay wall at Cross Berth Quay (CBQ).

When complete, CBQ will incorporate some of

the deepest port facilities in Europe. GDG

worked closely with the contractor consortium

at tender stage to investigate value engineering

alternatives to the specimen design.

Dublin Port

The design team at GDG were delighted to

team up with Roadbridge and L&M Keating,

where their past experience working on

complex marine projects allowed the

development of optimum engineering

solutions for the project.

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GDG have been appointed as the maindesigners following award of the CBQ deepwater quay wall construction project to theRoadbridge L&M Keating joint venture (RBLMK)earlier in 2016. GDG are working closely withthe contractor, who brings a wealth ofexperience in marine construction, to progressthe engineering of an efficient quay wall.

Piles for Dublin Port

The overall design philosophy has been to focuson big ticket items and reduce costs throughmore advanced modelling techniques. Forexample, the use of combined soil-structureinteraction analysis allows very efficient designsto be considered, which ultimately offer valueto all parties involved.

The GDG engineering team use tools such asthree-dimensional finite element modelling toconsider the impact of the staged constructionprocess on the quay wall design.


Design Optimization at Cross BerthQuay (CBQ)

NEW PROJECTS continued

Pile Driving CFA Rig

ONGOING PROJECTS

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GDG leading GoSAFE RAIL Project

Addressing the Safety of the European RailNetwork:

GDG are leading the Global Safety Frameworkfor Rail Operations (GoSAFE RAIL) project, a 3year research project funded by the Shift2Railjoint undertaking as part of the Horizon 2020programme.

The project addresses the call S2R-OC-CCA-04-2015 – Safer infrastructure – improved objectdetection and prevention of safety criticalevents and integrated mobility-, that was apart of the Shift2RAIL 2015 call for projects inthe Infrastructure pillar.

The consortium comprises ten organisations,including six SME’s: Gavin and DohertyGeosolutions (GDG), Roughan O’DonovanInnovative Solutions (ROD), InfraplanConsulting (IF), Contecht, Open Track RailwayTechnology (ORT), Virtus IT (VT), CroatiaRailways (HZ), Irish Rail (IE), NorwegianGeotechncial Institute (NGI) and University ofZagreb (UZ).

LEANWIND 4th General Assembly Meeting

GDG participated in the LEANWIND annualgeneral assembly which was hostedby University College Cork (UCC) and NationalMaritime College of Ireland (NMCI) on the29th and 30th of November 2016.The main objective of the EU-funded Leanwindproject is to reduce the Levelised Cost ofEnergy (LCOE) of offshore wind by facilitatingthe industrial application of innovativeconcepts with cost-saving potential across thewhole supply chain.

The general assembly meeting was held withthe aim of finalising future plans for the lastremaining year of this research project.The meeting was well attended withrepresentatives participating from all thirtyone academic and industrial partners acrossEurope. Progress made during 2016 waspresented and directions for upcomingactivities and collaborations between the tenwork packages involved were discussed.

Yeganeh Attari represented GDG as the leaderof Work Package 2, ‘Construction, Deploymentand Decommissioning of Substructures’. Forthis work package GDG is collaborating withEDF, ACCIONA, Iberdrola and OWA on thedevelopment and optimisation of novelsubstructure systems and innovative methodsof transport and deployment for the nextgeneration of wind farms.


In particular, results of an extensive study ofthe optimisation of an offshore buoyantgravity base foundation (GDG & ACCIONA)and a novel concept design of floating jacketstructures (GDG & EDF) were presented.

Leanwind meeting group photo

Leanwind meeting at University College Cork

The GoSAFE RAIL project started on October1st 2016 with the project partners holding akick-off meeting at the University of Zagreb.See pictures below.

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The project focuses on three key areas:

1. Safety: Improvement of the managementof the safety of the railway system based on arisk assessment approach - Project partnersGDG, ROD, IF, CT and VT will develop riskbased approaches for assets includingtunnels, bridges and earthworks consideringthe use of the near-miss concept formodelling training purposes. Asinfrastructure managers keep better digitalrecord, the possibility of using minor eventsto predict much bigger safety critical eventswill be developed in order to establish stateof the art safety management methods basedon a global approach.

2. Integrated Mobility (Smart Planning):The project will contribute to theimprovement of basic micro-level simulationmodels and demonstrate this on operationalrail lines. Project partner ORT, IE and HZ willdemonstrate the optimization scenarios onrail lines in Ireland and Croatia.

3.Object Detection: A safety critical issue forrail operations relates to obstructions on thetrack. Project partners UZ will develop a trainmounted multiple sensor system to detectthe presence of animals and humans on thetrack (See Figure 1), whilst NGI will use anetwork of embedded geophones to detectavalanches through the generated seismicwaves.

ONGOING PROJECTS Continued


Partners:

1. Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions(Coordinator), Ireland

2. Irish Rail (IÉ), Ireland3. Roughan O’Donovan Innovation

Solutions (ROD), Ireland4. Infraplan Consulting (IF), Croatia5. University of Zagreb (UZ), Croatia6. Croatian Railways (HŽ), Croatia7. Norwegian Geotechnical

Institute (NGI), Norway8. Contecht (CT), Germany9. Open Track Railway Technology (ORT),

Austria10. Virtus IT (VT), United Kingdom

Figure X Train mounted object detection systembeing developed at UZ

Kick-off meeting at the University of Zagreb

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Irish Ministerial Trade Mission toScotland

Gerry O’Sullivan presented an overview ofGDG at the Ministerial Trade Mission eventon the 8th November in Edinburgh andattended a networking session later in theevening.

Gerry was caught on camera here withMinister Joe McHugh, Irish Minister of Statefor the Diaspora and InternationalDevelopment, Mr. Sean Finlay, GeoscienceIreland and Mr. Danny Glynn of Byrne Looby.

The event was hosted by EnterpriseIreland and Irish Business NetworkScotland (of which Gerry is treasurer and acommittee member). It was attended by ahost of Scottish and Irish companies whoshared their expertise and practicalexperience of doing business and undertakingprojects in Scotland.

instability has had a devastating effect ontransport networks, causing roads to collapseand trains to derail.

With this in mind, GDG has been undertakingsignificant research to help predict landslidesin advance of their occurrence. This work hasgenerated significant in-house expertise,created custom analysis procedures anddeveloped bespoke software for landslidesusceptibility mapping.

An overview of this work has recently beenpublished in the journal of ’EngineeringGeology’ with an article titled ‘Development ofa landslide susceptibility assessment for a railnetwork’.

The paper, co-authored by Karlo Martinović,Ken Gavin and Cormac Reale, presentsadvanced statistical methods to predict whichcuttings and embankments on a selectedsection of the Irish Rail network are the mostsusceptible to slope instability. This analysisand associated recommendations could be ofinterest to road and rail earthwork assetmanagers.

GENERAL NEWS


GDG Demonstrates World LeadingExpertise in Landslide SusceptibilityAnalysis

Over the past five years we have seen asignificant number of extreme weatherevents impacting on infrastructure systemsacross Europe.Intense rainfall has created flooding andlandslide issues and in several cases slope

Gerry O’Sullivan (second from right)

Landslide on a rail a, embankment b, cutting

NEW APPOINTMENTS

GDG Delivers Joint Presentation withIrish Rail at the TII Annual Conference

The Transport Infrastructure Ireland TIIAnnual Conference was held in Mullingar lastweek and was a resounding success. Withseveral hundred attendees present from localauthorities and national road design officesacross the country, the event was primed fora busy two days of technical discussion andlively debate.

The conference agenda included a range ofnational and international speakers whoaddressed a wide variety of issues frominvasive species to road alignments. GDG wasdelighted to be provided the opportunity todeliver a joint presentation with Irish Rail,‘Asset Management of the Irish Rail SlopeNetwork’.

GDG has been working closely with Irish Railover the past two years to enhance the sloperisk modelling procedures for cuttings andembankments. This is a topic that has directrelevance to Irish roads where geotechnicalslope and rock stability can be a concern,particularly on older routes in rural terrain.

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GENERAL NEWS Continued

GDG's Design Engineer, Dr. Luke JPrendergast Features in TheEconomist

GDG’s Design Engineer, Dr. Luke J Prendergastrecently featured in an article in TheEconomist on vibration-based bridge scourmonitoring.

Malahide Viaduct Collapse 2009

Dr. Prendergast discusses a method whichrelies on the use of accelerometers fixed toa bridge structure above the waterlinewhich measure changes in the structure’sdynamic characteristics due to loss offoundation stiffness caused by scour.

The method is an improvement on existingtechniques which broadly revolve aroundplacing instruments in the river bed todirectly detect scour or undertaking highlysubjective diving inspections.

Scour is responsible for the majority ofbridge failures in bridges located overwaterways and is a notoriously difficultprocess to predict and monitor. It cancause sudden failure with limited to nowarning and represents a significant costburden on infrastructure managersbetween replacement, inspection andrepair strategies.

GDG is delighted to welcome on boardtwo new members who brings a diverserange of geotechnical experience to theDublin office providing timely support tohelp deliver an increased workload acrossIreland, the UK and central Europe.

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Soroosh has recently submitted his PhD thesisat University College Dublin where he studiedthe behaviour of a novel foundation technologyfor floating wind turbines through advancedFinite Element modelling and large-scaleoffshore field testing.

He was the chief scientist on board the MarineInstitute’s sponsored cruise that involved theassessment of the behaviour of a noveldynamically-installed anchor foundation incollaboration with universities in Ireland, theUK, and the U.S.

Soroosh completed his M.Sc. degree inStructural Engineering in 2012 and his B.Sc.degree in Civil Engineering in 2009 from SharifUniversity of Technology, Iran. Soroosh has abroad range of expertise in foundationengineering and structural design.

The Republic of Ireland committee ofthe Institution of Civil Engineers(ICE) represents the oldest and largestprofessional body of engineers in world at thenational level in Ireland. GDG senior engineersPaddy Curran and John O’Donovan wererecently elected to serve as committeemembers.

New Appointments Continued


Soroosh JalilvandDesign Engineer

Steve SumnerPrincipal Engineer(Structures)

With 27 years engineering expertise in heavycivils structures having previously worked forMouchel and Arcadis in Birmingham andManchester and Byrne Looby, MaloneO’Regan and RPS in Ireland Steve brings awealth of experience to the role.

Steve is a Chartered Engineer with theInstitution of Civil Engineers and hasexperience in the design of highwayinfrastructure, ports and water retainingstructures. Steve also has amassed significantexperience of delivery of design and buildpackages for contractors and has worked on anumber of frameworks for the inspection,assessment and remediation of aged assets.

Projects include designs for variousmotorways and primary road upgrades; thedesign of a 190m wharf extension for BelviewPort, Design Manager for structures forOsberstown WWTP upgrade, and StructuresLead for the Manchester Smart MotorwayScheme.

Steve brings significant structural expertise,which he will apply across a wide range of soil-structure interaction problems at GDG.

MEMBERSHIP

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The committee organises ContinuingProfessional Development events, talks andlectures, social events and facilitates the annualICE Presidential visit to Ireland. There is anAgreement of Cooperation between ICEand Engineers Ireland so that joint events canbe run between the Civil Division of EngineersIreland and ICE.

More information about ICE news and events inIreland can be found at the website below:

https://www.ice.org.uk/near-you/europe/republic-of-ireland

MEMBERSHIP Continued


GDG Scoops Prize at Engineers IrelandExcellence Award

The Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards wereheld on the 4th of November, to celebratemajor engineering achievements of 2016.

This annual event provides an opportunity toshowcase projects of major significancecompleted in the preceding twelve monthperiod.

This year GDG had two separate projectsshortlisted within the Geoscience category andwere delighted to win the Engineers IrelandExcellence Award despite stiff competitionfrom several other interesting nominees.

The winning project was a joint entrantbetween Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions Ltd.and Irish Rail for the development of a Cutting& Embankment Decision Support Tool. Thisproject is the culmination of over two years ofhighly technical geo-engineering and thisaward provides recognition of the efforts anddedication of all those involved.

Kevin Murphy wins Cunningham Award

The Cunningham award is an annual prize,established in memory of Dr Mark Cunningham,ex-Assistant Director of GSI. The awardrecognises the continuing importance of fieldmapping in developing observational andinterpretative skills in geology.

EVENTS AND AWARDS

Two prizes of equal standing are awarded eachyear to the best field mapping projectsexamined in Irish 3rd level colleges. GDG’sKevin Murphy was awarded the 2016 prize forhis work mapping a remote Scottish Island.Congratulations to Kevin!

Kevin Murphy

Engineers Ireland Excellence Award

https://www.ice.org.uk/near-you/europe/republic-of-ireland


GDG Events

Christmas 2016!

As the year drew to a close, the GDG team took time out to celebrate the festivities.

This year the Christmas party kicked off on the 16th of December at our new office in Nutgrovebefore heading to the Bottletower to continue the celebrations with Christmas dinner. Great funwas had by all as can be seen from the attached photos. Best wishes to all for 2017.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Newsletter Newsletter Issue 9 Winter... · 2020-01-14 · EDF, ACCIONA, Iberdrola and OWA on the development and optimisation of novel substructure systems and innovative methods

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