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Kurt Douglas

BE Syd. PhD UNSW, MIEAust

Pells Sullivan Meynink Senior Lecturer of Rock Mechanics

Contact Details

Office Location:
CE 506 Civil Engineering Building (H20)
Phone: +61 2 9385 5046
Fax: + 61 2 9385 6139
Email: k.douglasroberto@unsw.edujlo.au

Teaching Areas

I teach subjects in the Geotechnical Engineering field. As a second year undergraduate I will teach you the fundamentals of engineering geology (the ‘geo’ part of geotechnical) such that you will be able to predict the possible ground conditions you might encounter when assessing sites for future engineering projects. Fourth year students will join me in learning about Geotechnical Engineering design. This includes the design of tunnels, slopes, foundations and retaining walls and the investigation and remediation of landslides. Students doing my fourth year Major elective will also get to join Professor Robin Fell, Dr Gareth Swarbrick and I on an action packed three day fieldtrip visiting mines, slopes, landslides, dams and other engineered structures. As a postgraduate student, I will give you specialised training in site investigation techniques, rock engineering for slope and underground design and foundation design.

Research Areas

My main interests lie in the field of rock mechanics. I am particularly interested in the design of large scale structures in rock. Predicting the strengths of rock defects (joints, faults, bedding planes etc) and rock mass (the combination od intact rock and defects) on the large-scale (up to hundreds of meters) continues to be a major challenge for industry. I am attempting to improve our understanding and hence predictive capabilities in this area using laboratory test data together with field case studies and numerical methods. I also have an interest in the use of risk assessment or probabilistic methods for the evaluation of concrete dams and landslides.

Selected Publications

K Douglas & G Mostyn (2007) The strength of rock defects - numerical analysis of scale effects, The second half century of rock mechanics, pp481-484. 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, July 9 - 13, 2007, Lisbon, Portugal.

K Douglas & G Mostyn (2007) SPT-CTP Correlations from Botany Sands, Common Ground Proceedings, pp486-491. 10th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics, October 21-24, Brisbane Australia.

Douglas, K.J. and Mostyn, G. (2004) Rock mass strength, Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics, 8-11 February, Auckland, New Zealand, Vol. 1.

Douglas, K.J. (2002) The Shear Strength of Rock Masses (link to UNSW Library Web Site), PhD, The University of New South Wales.

Mostyn, G. & Douglas, K.J. (2000) Issues Lecture: The shear strength of intact rock and rock masses. GeoEng2000: An International Conference on Geotechnical & Geological Engineering, 19-24 November, Melbourne, Australia, Vol. 1, pp. 1389-1421, Technomic Publishing, Pennsylvania, ISBN 1-58716-067-6.

Duran, A*. & Douglas, K.J. (2000) Experience with empirical rock slope design. GeoEng2000: An International Conference on Geotechnical & Geological Engineering, 19-24 November, Melbourne, Australia, Vol. 2, pp. 41 and CD-Rom paper no. SNES1186, Technomic Publishing, Pennsylvania, ISBN 1-58716-068-4.

Glastonbury, J. & Douglas, K.J. (2000) Catastrophic rock slope failures. GeoEng2000: An International Conference on Geotechnical & Geological Engineering, 19-24 November, Melbourne, Australia, Vol. 2, pp. 21 and CD-Rom paper no. SNES0507, Technomic Publishing, Pennsylvania, ISBN 1-58716-068-4.

Douglas, K.J. and Mostyn, G. (1999) Strength of large rock masses – field verification. Rock Mechanics for Industry, Proceedings of the 37th U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium, Vail, Colorado, USA. pp. 271-276. Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 099 X0.

Douglas, K., Spannagle, M. and Fell, R. (1999) Analysis of Concrete and Masonry Dam Incidents. The International Journal on Hydropower & Dams. 6(4), pp.108-115. Aqua~Media, Surrey, ISSN 1352-2523.

Douglas, K., Spannagle, M. and Fell, R. (1999) Estimating the probability of failure of concrete and masonry gravity dams. ANCOLD Bulletin. No. 112:53-63. Australian National Committee on Large Dams, ISSN 0045-0731.

Duran, A. and Douglas, K. (1999) Do slopes designed with empirical rock mass strength criteria stand up? 9th ISRM International Congress on Rock Mechanics, Paris, France. Vol. 1, pp. 87-90. Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 5809 070 1.

Douglas, K., Spannagle, M. and Fell, R. (1998) Analysis of Concrete and Masonry Dam Incidents. UNICIV Report No. R-373 August, The University of New South Wales, pp. 194. ISBN 85841 340 X.

Helgstedt, M.D., Douglas, K.J. and Mostyn, G. (1997) A re-evaluation of in-situ direct shear tests Aviemore Dam, New Zealand. Australian Geomechanics, (31), pp. 56-65. ISSN 0818-9110.

Mostyn, G., Helgstedt, MD and Douglas, K.J. (1997) Towards field bounds on rock mass failure criteria. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 34(3-4), Paper No. 208. ISSN 0148-9062.