SwRI: Underground Engineering: Geotechnical and Mining Engineering Services

	SwRI staff members extensively instrumented sites to aid the design of an underground hydropower facility.
	SwRI staff have experience applying numerical modeling to the design analysis of Transformer Hall and Machine Hall in an underground cavern.

Comprehensive studies are conducted by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) staff to evaluate underground excavation stability and design of support systems for hydropower and underground metro systems. SwRI field experience and laboratory facilities enable staff to provide a wide range of investigations and assessments, including:

• Soil and rock mass classification and characterization

• Numerical modeling using continuum, discontinuum, and particle flow modeling methods for:

  • Stability of underground openings

  • Underground support design

  • Predicting surface subsidence

  • Thermal-mechanical effects

• Monitoring

  • Instability prediction and monitoring under earthquake loads

  • Damage zone estimation, monitoring and propagation assessments

  • Blasting-induced structural damage assessment

State-of-the-Art Laboratory Facilities

The technical expertise of our staff is complemented by extensive state-of-the-art test facilities and instrumentation for:

• Environmentally controlled scale-model evaluation

• Mechanical properties of rock, sample preparation and physical testing

  • UCS and triaxial test

  • Measurement of compressive and shear wave velocities

• Direct shear test

• Small-scale physical model static and dynamic tests of underground structures

• Specialized laboratory testing, including damage assessment of underground excavations during repetitive seismic loads

For more information about the underground engineering capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Dr. Asadul Chowdhury at achowdhury@swri.org or (210) 522-5151.