Number 17

February 2004

A Publication of the

Civil Engineering Department

University of CanterburyNewsThis issue

Tsunami research

pg 6

Prestigious award foryoung researcher

pg 11

R.A.T.S invasionpg16

2

John BerrillAndy Buchanan

Athol CarrBente Clausen

Erica DalziellAndre Dantas

Rob DavisMark Davidson

Bruce DeamRajesh Dhakal

Charley FleischmannBruce Hunt

Jason LeMasurierKevin McManus

James MackechnieJohn Mander

Mark MilkeGeorge Mullenger

Alan NicholsonRoger NokesDavid Painter

Stefano PampaninMofreh Saleh

Michael SpearpointAlex SutherlandWarren WalpoleDavid Wareham

Geomechanics, engineering seismologyTimber and fire engineeringStructural dynamics, finite element analysisHydrologyRisk, systemsTransportation engineeringGeomechanics, continuum mechanicsFluid mechanicsEarthquake engineering, timber engineeringStructural EngineeringFire engineeringGroundwater flow, analytical analysisEngineering management, risk, geotechincal eng.Geotechnical engineering, foundation engineeringConcrete materialsStructural and earthquake engineeringSolid waste management, uncertainty analysisHistory of civil engineering, continuum mechanicsTransportation planning, traffic safetyFluid mechanicsWater resources engineeringStructural engineeringTransportation engineeringFire engineeringSediment transport, coastal engineeringStructural steel design, earthquake engineeringBiological nutrient removal, waste treatment

Technical

SupportLouise Fitzgibbon

Denise ForbesCatherine Price

Pat Roberts

Departmental Staff, 2003

Academic (part-time)

Postgraduate administration and enquiriesFinancial managerGeneral and fire engineering enquiriesUndergraduate administration and enquiries

EmeritusDavid Elms

Bob ParkTom Paulay

Ian Wood

Risk analysisStructural engineeringStructural designFluid mechanics

Colin BlissMelody Callahan

Peter CourseyGrant Dunlop

Siale FaitotonuFrank Greenslade

Gary HarveyBrandon HutchisonDavid MacphersonRussell McConchie

John MaleyRichard NewtonRussell Peoples

Alan PoynterIan SheppardStuart Toase

Mike WeaversKevin Wines

Be sure to visit our web site at:

www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz

Here you can just browse around,

catchup with fellow alumni, see who’s

doing what research project, view

course outlines or contact staff

Credits:Cover photo: Management camp see page 15

Editors: Ian Mason & Jason LeMasurier

Layout and Design: Melody Callahan

Printer: Caxton Press

Many thanks to all those who contributed articles

and photos in the making of CE News

Fluids labGraphics/webComputingFire labGeomechanics labTransport labConcrete labComputingEnvironmental labStructures labStructures labElectronics labStructures labModel Structures labFluids labStructures labElectronics labStructures lab

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Academic (full-time)

Chris AllingtonNigel Cooke

Des BullRoger Dawe

Richard FenwickIan MasonPeter Moss

Bruce StevenHugh Thorpe

Structural concrete designStructural engineeringStructural concrete design, earthquake engineeringSurveyingStructural engineeringEnvironmental engineeringStructural analysisPavement design, transportation engineeringGroundwater, ecological engineering

3

Message from the Head

Welcome to another edition of CE News,edited by Ian Mason, Jason Le Masurier,and produced by Melody Callahan.

This edition comes at a time of impend-ing change within the University. TheDepartment of Civil Engineering will joinsix other departments in the new Col-lege of Engineering, to be headed by aPro Vice-Chancellor (Engineering) in anew management structure.

The seven departments in the newCollege are

• Civil Engineering• Chemical and Process Engineering• Computer Science and Software

Engineering• Electrical and Computer Engineering• Mathematics and Statistics• Mechanical Engineering• The School of Forestry

The School of Engineering will retain anidentity, consisting of the four engineer-ing departments, and there will continueto be an academic Dean of Engineering,now also responsible for Forestry de-grees.

There will be no changes to the degreeofferings, and many students may notsee much effect of the new structure.However it will be a big change for the

departmental ad-ministrators andthe Head of De-partment who willreport to the newPro Vice-Chancel-lor (Engineering)rather than to theVice-Chancellor.

There has been amajor reduction inadministrative staffin the department,with some of theirresponsibil i t iesmoving to the Col-lege Office. We say farewell to PatRoberts and Denise Forbes, both ofwhom have served the Department inan extremely able way for the past six-teen years. They will be greatly missedand we wish them all the best for thefuture. Other staff changes in the pastyear include the arrival of Dr EricaDalziell and Dr Rajesh Dhakal, and theresignation of Dr Bente Clausen who willreturn to Denmark. These people are allfeatured elsewhere in CE News.

Within the Department we are movingto a new curriculum, with changes to the1st Pro year in 2004, followed by the otherprofessional years in 2005 and 2006.There are no major changes in the con-

tent, but significant changes in the sizeand shape of the courses and the modeof delivery. One of the main objectivesof the review is to make the discipline ofcivil engineering more coherent to thestudents, and to better equip them withdesign, communication and self-learningskills for their future careers as profes-sional engineers.

The Department welcomes feedback onanything in CE News, anything in theDepartment or any matters affecting theeducation of young engineers. We lookforward to hearing from you.

Professor Andy BuchananHead of Civil Engineeringandy.buchanan@canterbury.ac.nz

An Extraordinary General Meeting ofDepartment staff was called by StefanoPampanin for one Sunday in early Sep-tember to help promote collegialbonding (and to carve up the slopes ofPorter Heights). First item on theagenda was Transportation, followedby Unsealed Pavement Testing. Eco-nomics had a short airing and then itwas down to the main business of theday - evaluating the frictional proper-ties of Bluff Face. Whilst a quorumwas not achieved, those that did at-tend were rewarded not only with agood sun-tan, but with the chance towitness some very elegant moves on

the part of Dr Pampanin and not so el-egant tumbles by Dr Dantas. Theallotted time was insufficient to make afull evaluation so the meeting was ad-journed until the middle of 2004.

Did you say Department meeting?

It appears that Stefano and Andy havecome to some binding agreement.

Departmental ski trip - I meanmeeting - attendees caught duringa brief adjournment.

4

Driving Prof.DaisyThere is a story told ofa university professor,who upon retiring fromacademia, decided toembark on a lecture tourin order to keep themind active and providesome supplementary in-come. A schedule wasorganised, venuesbooked and publicityprepared. To make thetour both interesting

and relaxed, the professor hired a chauf-feur and travelled from town to town bycar, taking in the sights along the way. Apattern soon emerged of leisurely tripsbetween well received lectures. This con-tinued for several weeks, until one daythe professor said to the chauffeur“Look, I have a proposal. You’ve beensitting at the back of the hall all theseweeks and must know the lecture off byheart. Why don’t you give the lecturetomorrow night and I’ll sit at the back ofthe hall as you have been doing’? Tothis the chauffeur agreed. So, the nextnight the pair swapped clothes and thechauffeur delivered the lecture. It wentperfectly. The chairperson then asked forquestions from the floor. The chauffeureasily fielded the first two, which hadbeen posed several times before duringthe tour. However, the third question was

rather a tricky one. The chauffeur pausedthoughtfully for a moment and then re-sponded “You know, that question is sosimplistic, that even my chauffeur, sit-ting there at the back of the hall, couldanswer it. Let’s ask him!”

In many areas of our society, retirementmeans the end of one’s professional ac-tivity. Here in the Department of CivilEngineering we are fortunate to be ableto say that this is not necessarily so. Wehave amongst us at present seven re-tired staff, who continue to be active ina variety of ways and who contributemany things to the life and well being ofthe Department, to the benefit of us all.Elsewhere in this issue we feature thelifetime achievement celebrations in hon-our of Emeritus Professor Bob Park andEmeritus Professor Tom Paulay, still ac-tive at age 70 and 80 respectively. Wealso highlight some of the current workof Emeritus Professor David Elms. Oth-ers in the retired but professionally activegroup include Emeritus Professor IanWood, and Associate Professors NigelCooke, Peter Moss and Richard Fenwick.Between them they continue to producescholarly papers, engineering reportsand assist with departmental matters. In2003 members of this group producedrefereed journal papers, worked on en-gineering standards, sat on peer reviewpanels, acted as commissioners, gave akeynote address, presented a seminar,

Editorial

editted conference proceedings, servedon a conference organising committeeand helped co-ordinate a departmentalplan.

As important as these traditional out-puts however, are the opportunities thepresence of these ‘retired’ colleaguesprovides for younger staff to learn fromtheir considerable experience and knowl-edge, often able to be delivered from avantage point suitably removed from theday to day pressures of mainstreamteaching, research and administration.This was one of the first things I noticedabout the culture of the department whenI arrived here, and I have been verygrateful for it. Professional developmentin engineering involves the attainmentof experience, practice and judgementunder the tutelage of an experiencedcolleague. Many of us will, at some timein the future, be up there at the podium,giving that lecture, and if we are luckywill know that our ‘chauffeur’ is at leastfiguratively, if not literally, there at theback of the hall, ready to help us outwith that tricky question. It is a gift to bevalued.

Ian Masoni.mason@civil.canterbury.ac.nzAcknowledgement: Special thanksto Professor John Flenley(“retired”), for the original versionof the story.

The Department of Civil Engineering is developingstrong ties with the University of Auckland, in order togain better combined exposure, and to allow more ef-fective collaborative research. This is a naturalpartnership considering that we are the only two NewZealand universities offering four-year Civil Engineer-ing degrees.

Following the signing of a Collaboration Agreement,we have initiated reciprocal visits of staff between thetwo campuses, launched a joint advertising campaign,and made joint research applications to the Foundationfor Research Science and Technology (FRST).

The collaborative Master’s degree in Transportation Engineering has been a great success, and at the time of writing we havethree joint applications to FRST in the Natural Physical Hazards portfolio, covering the areas of risk assessment, smartmonitoring of structures and seismic retro-fitting of existing buildings.

Members of academic staff of both departments during the 2003visit of Canterbury staff to Auckland University.

Collaboration with the University of Auckland

5

Following last year’s successful initia-tion, the construction management 3rd

Professional students again took part inthe MERIT Competition. In 2003 a newdimension was added when the Univer-sity of Auckland decided to join in.Fletcher Construction kindly agreed toextend their sponsorship to $10,000, cov-ering the entry fees for all teams fromboth universities, with some prize moneyas well. The Fletcher Construction‘MERIT Shield’ was established, to beawarded annually to the winning univer-sity. The competition was fought hardover eight rounds with the final resultbeing a first place for DeconstructionLtd. from Canterbury, with Auckland tak-ing the shield for their overall placings.

Organiser Jason Le Masurier explains“MERIT is a construction managementcomputer simulation developed by theInstitution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in theUK. It provides the essentials for con-struction professionals to augment theirtechnical knowledge with the manage-rial skills required to run a modernconstruction company.”

Canterbury vs. Auckland in MERITCompetition

In teams, participants learn how to man-age their own virtual constructioncompany by making decisions that af-fect the various functions of thebusiness, such as marketing, tendering,finance, personnel and project manage-ment. Operating as a board of directors,each team runs the company for 8 peri-ods, competing in a simulatedconstruction market, which is updatedeach period to reflect the changing in-dustry conditions.

Out of the 165 teams that took part in themain 2003 UK competition,Deconstruction Ltd. were placed 12th – avery impressive result considering theUK teams mainly comprise graduate en-gineers from construction companies.

Teaching awardis no suprise

Dr. Roger Nokes has once again beenrecognised for teaching excellence, re-ceiving a University of CanterburyTeaching Award at the December 2003graduation ceremony. The award was oneof nine presented to staff in 2003. Dr.Nokes was voted best lecturer in theUniversity of Canterbury Students As-sociation poll in 2002.

“It is a good thing for us all to see whoare our outstanding teachers and to con-gratulate them,” said Dr JohnFreeman-Moir, Chairman of the Teach-ing and Learning Committee. “It is alsoimportant for students to know that wehold teaching excellence in the highestesteem. Students, after all, are crucial par-ticipants in the teaching and learningendeavour.”

Small groups of 1st Professional students visited a numberof local civil engineering organizations as part of a re-newed initiative in 2003. This initiative provides studentswith increased exposure to the professional environmentat an early stage in their undergraduate degree and fos-ters closer relationships between the two groups. The visitshave additional benefits in terms of building student con-fidence and communication skills within a professionalsetting. There was a strong interest from students whowere keen to know more about potential future work envi-ronments and there was a very positive response fromlocal civil engineering organizations. The scheme waslaunched in pilot form last year, but its success has pro-vided the motivation for establishing a more comprehensiveprogram in 2004.

The industry visits were organized by the 1st Pro Commit-tee, which consisted of nine students and one academic(Dr Mark Davidson, the 1st Pro Coordinator) and waschaired by the 1st Pro student representative. The committee met on a fortnightly basis and dealt with a large variety of issuesduring the year. One highlight was the social function, that followed on from the annual 1st Pro bridge testing competition.

1st Professional Students Visit Local Industry

2003 1st Pro Committee,L to R: James Moeono,AineColson, Megan Fowler, James Ting, Richard Hine,Gemma Bailey (student rep.), Malinda Kopi and KamWeng (absent: Marcos Santana). Centre: Dr MarkDavidson (coordinator)

David Fell of Fletcher Constructionpresents prizes to the winning team.

6

Tsunami Research Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

An experimental research programmeinvolving Langford Sue, an ME (Civil)student under the supervision of DrRoger Nokes, and scientists at New Zea-land’s National Institute of Water andAtmospheric Research (NIWA) is cur-rently underway in the University ofCanterbury’s Fluid Mechanics Labora-tory. It is aimed at looking at the internalmechanisms of tsunamis and improvingour understanding of how they are gen-erated. Tsunamis are created when adisturbance displaces a large volume ofwater from its ‘at rest’ equilibrium posi-tion, such as from earthquakes andearthquake induced landslides. Theproject hopes to gain insights into theseoccurrences so that we are able to moreaccurately predict them, and give com-munities adequate warning of the hazard.

Being an island nation, New Zealand hasa long coastline, and the majority of thecountry’s population lives in close prox-imity to the ocean. A recent spate ofearthquakes in the Pacific Basin hasagain highlighted the risk posed tocoastal communities by the potentiallydevastating natural phenomenon of tsu-namis. These events have occurredregularly throughout history all aroundthe world, including New Zealand, andearthquakes from throughout theseismically active Pacific region are ableto travel to these shores with remark-

granular material instead of solid blocksto simulate a real landslide, and usingParticle Tracking Velocimetry softwaredeveloped ‘in-house’ to capture the fluidmotions. To give the public better pre-dictions on the severity of approachingtsunami, computer models have beendeveloped. Those created by NIWAneed to be calibrated against experimen-tal data so that there is confidence in theresults they produce. It is hoped thatthis research programme will improve theaccuracy of these computer models.

For more information contactroger.nokes@canterbury.ac.nz

able ease. Along the east coast of NewZealand is the boundary of the Pacificand Indo-Australian Plates and its as-sociated subduction zone. Thisincreased seismicity and the presenceof large continental slopes and canyonsmakes this area prone to earthquakes andunderwater landslides.

The main focus of Langford’s master’sproject will be the experimental model-ling of the generation and initialpropagation of waves generated by sub-marine landslides, and to make use oftechniques never previously used in thistype of research. This includes using

Commissioners on the job at the CluthaMouth – David Elms on the right

Emeritus Professor David Elms was ac-tive as a resource consent commissionerduring 2002-2003, hearing an applicationby Contact Energy for a re-consent tooperate the Roxburgh, Clyde and HaweaDams in the Clutha river catchment. Thethree dams could have been dealt withseparately, but it was more sensible todeal with them together because deci-sions made for one could affect otherparts of the catchment. The result was avery complex and interrelated set of is-sues.

The hearings took 10 weeks and movedfrom centre to centre. After that, writingthe decision took a great deal of time. Itwas not simply a matter of saying “yes”or “no” to each decision. Arguments had

Retirement – never a dull momentto be made for each consent, and theconditions had to be spelled out withparticular care.

The whole process took nearly a year.Finally the decision was handed tothe Otago Regional Council on 10th

September 2003, after which, saidDavid, “I was able to have the firstfree weekend since last year.”

Freedom was short-lived, however,with David heading the team organizingthe Royal Society’s annual conference,“Fresh Water New Zealand”, held inAuckland in November 2003.

So finally David could rest. Except therewere promised papers to write, the odd

consulting job, and a fair amount of workon the Academy Council of the RoyalSociety and on the CAE Board Execu-tive. “There’s never a dull moment inretirement,” said David. We can see whathe meant

7

Environmental Engineering

UC Composting is a new web site oncomposting, with a focus on activitiesNZ and the South Pacific Islands. Itmainly has been created by Ian Mason,Research Fellow in Environmental Engi-neering, with assistance from MelodyCallahan. “Composting is now part ofmany solid waste management strategiesworldwide and the website aims to meetthe information and communicationneeds of compost operators and re-searchers in our region.” say Ian. Headds “Interestingly enough the bounda-ries of that region were greatly expandedshortly after the web site was launched,following a contact from a Chileancomposting operator, and we now havephotos of their site, with a great Andeanbackdrop, on the operations page”. The

VFAs - a new focus for the environmental laboratory

Led by David Wareham, biological treatment research in the environmental engi-neering lab has, over the last year, shifted in focus towards investigating processesfor the generation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). German exchange student, MariaPiefel, and Kirsten Norquay, a 3rd Pro student, worked in this area in 2003. The intentis to now extend this research by looking at the use of naturally-produced VFAs inthe biodegradation of compounds such as pesticides. The environmental engineer-ing lab was recently successful in obtaining university and departmental fundingfor a new automated total organic carbon (TOC) machine.

Food residuals - hot topic

With the NZ waste strategy encourag-ing the removal of food residuals, andother organic materials, from landfill dis-posal, implementation of alternativehandling and stabilization options forthese is becoming on topic of great in-terest. A paper by Ian Mason and MarkMilke, discussing current issues in thisarea was presented at the annual WasteManagement Institute of New Zealand(WMINZ) conference in November 2003.More recently Mark and Ian wereamongst a group of participants invitedby the Ministry for the Environment tocontribute to an Organic Waste Work-shop in Wellington, to explore futuredirections for New Zealand on this im-portant matter. This is an ongoinginvolvement, with some very excitingpotential developments indicated.

www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz/compost

operations page features descriptionsand images of municipal and industrialcomposting operations throughout NewZealand. “We have over 20 compostingsites on board now” says Ian “ but con-tinue to learn of new operations on aregular basis”.

Research activities listed on the web siteinclude two University of Canterburyprojects, one on the physical and math-ematical modeling of the compostingprocess, and one on woolscour wastes.UC Composting also has pages on thebasics of composting, products andservices (including several New Zealandmanufacturers of composting vessels),schools information and educational re-sources.

Composting on the Web

Environmental group 2003: L to R back: Ian Mason,Mark Milke, David Wareham; front: DavidMcPherson, Xuan He (Sarah), Mauricio Taulis.

For more information about environmental engineering activites contactmark.milke@canterbury.ac.nz

Busy Researcher

Mark Milke has been active in a diverseset of research activities, working withstudents from many parts of the globe.ME student Vincent Wong conducted astatistical analysis of municipal solidwaste data and Victor Wong (Vincent’sbrother!), recently completed laboratoryresearch into slow sand filters for ruraldrinking water treatment.

Mark has been contributing to PhD re-search on groundwater modelling byCatherine Moore and Brett Painter fromLincoln Environmental, and also devel-oping summaries of groundwater researchfor the NZ Hydrological Society.

Mauricio Taulis, is back from Chile forhis PhD with Mark. Mauricio received aTIF scholarship to work with CRL En-ergy Ltd. on water quality issues forcoalbed methane recovery.

In a different direction, Mark has beencontributing to PhD research by MonikaWalter of HortResearch on the use ofwhite-rot fungi in PCP bioremediation.Mark and ME graduate, Seth Guikema(who now has a PhD from Stanford andis a post-doc at Cornell) are working onjoint research between monitoring ver-sus research in environmental riskmanagement.

On solid waste man-agement, Mark isactive as an associateeditor for the interna-tional research journalWaste Management.He has been workingwith Ian Mason on hiscompost modelling re-search, and he islooking at directingnew ME research intoodour production fromthe storage of foodwastes

8

People People People

Dr Erica Dalziell joined the Department in March,2003 as a Lecturer in risk and engineering sys-tems. Erica is a past graduate of the Department,completing her Civil/Environmental Engineeringdegree in 1994, and a Ph.D. in the use of riskassessment methods in road network evalua-

tion in 1998. She then headed overseas,travelling through Nepal and India for fourmonths, before landing in the UK. In Lon-don, Erica started work with RiskSolutions – the consulting arm of AEATechnology, providing risk managementconsultancy for clients like London Un-

derground, Railtrack, Shell Gas Trading and Barclays Bank. InOctober 2000, Erica joined JP Morgan Chase where she workedin the European Settlements risk management group, and thenin the Derivatives and Exotics financial control team. Duringher final year in London, Erica went back into consulting withvivas ltd, a young strategic risk management company, work-ing with the UK Ministry of Defence, Defence ProcurementAgency, the National Audit Office and the Department forInternational Development. Dreading a fourth UK winter, Ericaand her partner Richard then headed away on an 8 monthround the world trip, travelling and biking in South America,the Middle East, China and Sri Lanka. Now back in New Zea-land, Erica is pursuing her research interests in the applicationof risk management and systems thinking for creating organi-sational resilience to the unexpected, as well as teaching the3rd Professional Engineering Systems course, and a Risk Man-agement Master’s paper.

Dr Rajesh Dhakal joined the Department inMay 2003 as a Lecturer in structural engi-neering. He received his Bachelor’s degreein Civil Engineering from Tribhuvan Univer-

sity, Nepal in 1993, and then worked as aCivil Engineer in Nepal for 30 months.He then headed to Thailand to pursuea Master’s Degree in structural engi-neering at the Asian Institute ofTechnology (AIT), and following thatmoved to Japan for further study, re-ceiving his PhD in Civil Engineeringfrom the University of Tokyo in 2000.

Before joining the Department, he worked at the National Tech-nical University in Singapore as a Research Fellow for about 3years.

Rajesh has authored more than 25 technical papers most ofwhich have been published in refereed international journalsand conference proceedings. He is also the recipient of anumber of prizes, awards and scholarships, among which thefollowing stand out: gold-medals in undergraduate (Nepal)and graduate (AIT, Thailand) degrees; the JCI best paper awardgiven by the Japan Concrete Institute; and the most-prestig-

Des Bull - Holcim Adjunct ProfessorHolcim (New Zealand) Ltd agreed during 2003 to fund a part-time teaching and research position in structural engineeringin the Department. As a result of the three year funding ar-rangement, Des Bull has been appointed the Holcim AdjunctProfessor in Concrete Design. Professor Bull’s research inter-ests are on the effect of earthquakes on precast concreteconstruction. He is a past president of the New Zealand Con-crete Society, and has served for a decade on the ReviewCommittee of the Concrete Design Standard (NZS 3101).

Holcim is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement, aswell as aggregates (gravel and sand), concrete and construc-tion-related services. From its origins in Switzerland, the grouphas grown into a global player with strong market presence inover 70 countries. In New Zealand the company employs morethan 600 people and supplies a wide range of products in NewZealand and the South Pacific.

Civil Engineering HOD, Professor Andy Buchanan is confi-dent that this partnership will produce major benefits for Holcimand for the Department, by ensuring that civil engineeringteaching and research is informed by current practice in localand international industry.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp signs the HolcimAdjunct Professorship agreement, watched by Holcim CEORex Williams (front left), Professor Des Bull (back left)and Professor Andy Buchanan.

ious award for academic excellence, decorated by His Maj-esty the late King of Nepal.

On the non-academic front, Rajesh enjoys social gatherings,loves to travel, and likes to participate in sports for entertain-ment. Although he played volleyball, basketball and tabletennis for his university in Nepal, he admits that he has lostcontact with these sports lately, and further, that he has neverplayed rugby at any level! Though he says that he is not avery good player, he is an ardent fan of cricket and enjoysspending time discussing the history, and records, of the sport.He has moved to Christchurch with his wife, Shalu, and twosons, Ribu and Munnu.

9

People Farewell People

Denise ForbesDenise joined the Department in 1987, initially as a part-time secretary, funded fromthe Department’s operating grant. During this initial period, she developed a newstring for her bow by becoming involved in the administration of financial matters.This led on to her appointment to the continuing staff, eventually as DepartmentalFinancial Manager, a role she has filled very efficiently and effectively for over tenyears.

Denise became very well versed in the intricacies of the University accountingsystem, and the last three Heads of Department have relied heavily upon her expertknowledge during the preparation of budgets, and in monitoring expenditure. TheDepartment’s budget (excluding salaries) is $1.5 million/year, and Denise has hadsole authority for all expenditures up to $5000. According to Professor AndyBuchanan, “her management of the Department’s financial matters has been exem-plary”. Denise has served on several University-wide reference groups on newfinancial systems.

As Financial Manager, Denise has had to ex-plain the reasons for changes to procedures toall staff, and has displayed great patience inthis regard. In addition, her cheerfulness and enthusiasm has resulted in her organisingmost of the Department’s social activities for many years. During this time she still man-aged to find time for part-time university study, and between 1994 and 2002 completed aBA degree, majoring in Sociology and Feminist Studies.

Denise’s expertise and cheery nature will be greatly missed in the Department and we areextremely grateful for her 16 years of excellent service. We are very pleased however, thatDenise will remain within our orbit in her new position as the College of EngineeringFinancial Administrator. We wish her all the best for a happy and fulfilling future.

Denise receiving her degree at graduation

Pat RobertsPat joined the Department on August 31,1987, at a time when each of the profes-sors had a secretary, initially working forProfessor Ian Wood. She quickly devel-oped a reputation for her quick andaccurate typing, particularly of compli-cated mathematical formulae and sincehas typed several books, and manyhighly technical papers for other aca-demics, especially Dr Bruce Hunt.Reminiscing, Ian Wood says that he hada total of five secretaries while in thedepartment and that “Pat was the best”,adding that “other staff were envious”.

In 1994, Pat became Nigel Cooke’s sec-retary when he became Head ofDepartment (HOD), and has served threedifferent HODs since then. She has beenresponsible for numerous tasks withinthe Department, and has played a key

tors to the Department over the yearsby assisting them with accessing Uni-versity facilities and services.

Pat knows her way around the Univer-sity system so well that she has been atower of strength to all HODs and hasfrequently been the first ‘port of call’ forother staff wanting to find out whatneeds to be done and how it is best done.That, along with her cheerful and help-ful manner, and her commitment to theDepartment, will mean that she will begreatly missed.

We are grateful for her sterling servicesover the last 16 years, and are delightedthat she is to remain within reach in hernew position in the University with Geo-logical Sciences. We wish her all the verybest for a happy and fulfilling future.

role in dealing with undergraduate stu-dent enquiries and records. Pat has alsoearned the gratitude of the many visi-

10

A major event in 2003 was the International Symposium tohonour the lifetime contributions of Emeritus Professors TomPaulay and Bob Park to earthquake engineering, concrete de-sign and to the Department. The event was initiated by

Professor Hugo Bachmann in Swit-zerland and Professor Nigel Priestleyin San Diego, recognising that Tomwould turn 80 and Bob would turn 70during the year.

The symposium attracted over 200delegates from New Zealand andaround the world, including many in-fluential graduates of Bob and Tom.Delegates and speakers came frommany countries including the UnitedStates, Canada, Japan, Singapore, In-donesia and South America. Tenkeynote speakers addressed the symposium, which was fol-lowed by a gala dinner in the Christchurch Convention Centre,and tours of the Department on the following day.

Tributes flowed thick and fast, the main theme being the dedi-cation, teamwork and dialogue with the profession over manyyears which contributed to the prolific output of research re-sults which were readily put into practice. At the end of the

technical symposium,David Hopkins sum-marised Bob Park’stechnical contribu-tion. One of thehighlights of this pres-entation was David’sanalysis showing theremarkable similaritybetween the increas-ing number of Bob’stechnical papers overtime and the accumu-lation of test wicketsby Sir Richard

Paulay and Park Symposium =150th Birthday Party

Hadlee! RichardFenwick describedTom Paulay’s ca-pacity for infectiousenthusiasm withwhich he taughtseveral generationsof structural engi-neering studentsthrough the 1960s,70s and 80s.

At the gala dinner,Professor Fumio Watanabe from Kyoto gave an internationaltribute to Bob Park and Gavin Cormack highlighted the sig-nificance of his New Zealand contribution. For Tom Paulay,corresponding tributes were given by Hugo Bachmann andGeorge Butcher.

The event was sponsored by theEarthquake Commission, HolcimNew Zealand and Golden Bay Ce-ment in recognition of thelong-standing and beneficial rela-tionships that they have had withTom and Bob.

Organisation was undertakenthrough the New Zealand Societyfor Earthquake Engineering, theNew Zealand Concrete Society,SESOC and the Canterbury Struc-tural Group in conjunction with theDepartment of Civil Engineering.

Melody Callahan, Denise Forbes and Catherine Price put inmany hours to make this event run very smoothly. Peter Mossedited the Proceed-ings.

In addition to celebrat-ing a total of 150 yearsof immense contribu-tion from Tom andBob, this was also asignificant re-union forthe Department, andan occasion greatlyenjoyed by all whoparticipated.

Proceedings of the Symposium areavailable on CD for $30, email:catherine.price@canterbury.ac.nz

11

Dr. Stefano Pampanin recently received special international recogni-tion for his research by winning one of two Fédération Internationaledu Béton (fib) 2003 diplomas for younger engineers in the researchcategory. The award was presented in May, in Athens, Greece, duringthe fib symposium on Concrete Structures in Seismic Regions.

These awards, for engineers less than 40 years of age, are presentedevery second year and are given separately in two categories – Re-search, and Design and Construction. All the 2003 winners gave oralpresentations of their work during the conference and technical paperssummarizing the research are available in the Journal of the fib (“Struc-tural Concrete”, section fib-news, http://fib.epfl.ch/journals). The fib2003 diplomas were awarded in memory of the late Prof. Carlo CestelliGuidi (1906-1955).

Stefano Pampanin wins YoungResearcher prize

A major project bid from the Departmentof Civil Engineering was awarded $3.1million over six years in the 2003 Foun-dation for Research, Science andTechnology (FRST) bidding round. Pro-fessor John Mander will lead theresearch team to develop a completelynew, modular, seismically damage-resist-ant building system from modernhigh-performance concrete materials.Working with Professor Mander will beProfessor Andy Buchanan, Dr AtholCarr, Dr Stefano Pampanin and Dr JamesMackechnie from the Department of CivilEngineering, Adjunct Professor Des Bullfrom Holmes Consulting and the Depart-ment, Dr Larry Bellamy from Ensys, andLen McSaveney from Fletcher Building.

The new building system will consist ofstructural precast frames and precast

floors, while thenon-structuralbuilding enve-lope will consistof energy-effi-cient structuralconcrete, manu-factured asprecast con-crete, which canbe dismantledand reused in amodular fashion. Professor Mander saysthe research will benefit New Zealandby creating a structural system that isimmune from seismically induced dam-age. “We will also be creating a new setof products which New Zealand canmanufacture and export, or license forinternational production. The project willalso provide a more economical construc-

Structures group wins major FRST contract

tion and sustainable building option,with cost savings related to reducedbuilding times.” Fletcher Building willprovide manufacturing and constructionsupport and supply 30% co-funding.

For more information:john.mander@canterbury.ac.nz

Professor Tom O’Rourke from CornellUniversity delivered the 2003 HopkinsLecture at the Christchurch Town Hall.His topic was: “Lessons Learned fromthe World Trade Centre Disaster: Criti-cal Engineering Systems”.

This was a stimulating, provocative andwide-ranging address on the need forintegration between a large number ofdifferent infrastructure agencies in anydisaster recovery process, such as amajor earthquake or terrorist attack.Tom’s address covered the coordination

lifeline earthquake engineering. Tom iscurrent President of the Earthquake En-gineering Research Institute (EERI).

Tom O’Rourke with David Hopkins

Hopkins Lecture - Recovery from Disasters

and reestablishment of water, gas,power, transport and telecommunica-tions networks, considering thereliability of these lifeline systems andother underground construction, usingmodern geographic information systemsand database management.

Tom is an old friend of the Department.His teaching, research and professionalinterests have covered many aspects ofgeotechnical and earthquake engineer-ing. He has received numerous awards,including awards for contributions to

12

Many Fire Engineering reports are available as PDF files at www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz under Fire EngineeringResearch. If you wish to purchase hard copies, please contact Catherine Price at catherine.price@canterbury.ac.nz

Fire Engineering

Fire Service CommissionFunding

We are very pleased to announce agree-ment to enter the third five-yearpartnership with the New Zealand FireService Commission. Under this partner-ship agreement, the University ofCanterbury offers and administers aMaster’s Degree in Fire Engineering, andemploys a lecturer with funding from theCommission. As Mike Spearpointpointed out in the negotiations, the Com-mission funding is only a small part ofthe total funding for the degree pro-gramme, but the programme could notoffer an acceptable level of educationwithout this support.

News

Dr Charley Fleischmann has been onsabbatical leave for the second half ofthis year. During this time he spent acouple of months visiting the US, wherehe worked with the developers of FireDynamics Simulator (FDS) at the Na-tional Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST). While Charley hasbeen away, the ENFE 604 Case Studiescourse has been looked after by TonyEnright, a PhD graduate of our pro-gramme, who now works for ConnellMott MacDonald in Christchurch.

Science Outreach

This year we have become involved withthe University’s Science Outreach pro-gramme. The aims of the programme are

to encourage an appreciation of the piv-otal place that science holds in modernsociety, to describe how research hasthe potential to solve some of the prob-lems of our modern world, to persuadeyoung people that the study of scienceat University is rewarding and to improvethe communication skills of our gradu-ate students.

ME Fire graduate students visit schoolsand give a 45 – 50 minute presentationon the science of fire through the princi-ples of chemistry and physics. They helpthe students understand how fires ig-nite and what reactions keep them going,how fires spread and how much energythey have, and what sorts of materialsmake the best fuels.

So far we have given over 50 presenta-tions to schools around the countryincluding Christchurch, PalmerstonNorth and New Plymouth, thanks mainlyto the efforts of Stuart Harris and CraigMills. To find out more about the Sci-ence Outreach programme contactRebecca Hurrell atoutreach@canterbury.ac.nz or visitwww.outreach.canterbury.ac.nz

Andy Buchanan discussing firecalorimeter experiments to visitor

Research sponsorship

Roger Harrison was awarded a researchscholarship through the Society of FireProtection Engineers (SFPE) Educationaland Scientific Foundation for his Mas-

ter’s degree project on balcony spillplumes.

Mike and Andy with class duringan experiment in fire lab

CHH Futurebuild have provided finan-cial support for Warren Lane and StuartHarris to investigate the fire performanceof laminated veneer lumber (LVL). StuartHarris also has an Enterprise Scholar-ship from Technology New Zealand forhis research.

Winstone Wallboards continue to pro-vide help for student projects, includingthe current investigation into the degra-dation of gypsum plasterboard underfire exposure, by Chu Ngu.

AMP has provided a scholarship to JohnCollie who is working in association withthe Forest Research Institute on the wild-fire characteristics of scrub speciesfound in New Zealand.

Summer work experience

Arup Fire – Australasia is offering stu-dents who are intending to undertakeour ME (Fire) degree the opportunity towork in one of their offices over the sum-mer break. Students will learn howperformance based fire safety design isdeveloped on various types of projectsand be exposed to general consultingaspects such as fee submissions, con-tracts, assessment documentation,approvals processes and client contact.

.

13

After months of testing with artificialearthquakes on the Department of CivilEngineering’s shaking table, the Can-terbury University Seismograph Project(CUSP) strong-motion accelerograph lo-cated at Ilam recorded its first realearthquake at 6:22 am on Tuesday morn-ing, September 30, 2003 (NZ StandardTime). This event was centered 40 kmnorth-east of Christchurch. With a peakacceleration at Ilam of 1.5 percent of grav-ity, and an M4.9 rating, this earthquake

was not a world shaking one; but it didprovide a good test of the sensitivity ofthe CUSP instrument and its ability todetect events just above the noise level.

The CUSP accelerograph has been de-veloped by PhD candidate Hamish Averyand Technical Officer Peter Coursey,under the guidance of Dr John Berrill(Civil Engineering) and Mike Dewe(Electrical/IT). The project was moti-vated by the imminent (in a geologicaltime frame) rupture of the Alpine Fault.The instrument is Internet based to pro-vide easy maintenance and retrieval ofdata and uses cheap micro-machined ac-celerometers developed for triggering carairbags.

The Geomechanics Group plans to in-stall a network of about 60 instrumentsacross the central South Island, in col-laboration with GeoNet, with threeprincipal arrays, as follows:

1) A dense array of about 20 instrumentsnear Cass.

CUSP’s First Stand

John Berrill and Peter Coursey showoff the CUSP instrument

The last of theLUniCANS

When the 2003 3rd Professional NaturalResources Engineering cohort graduatein 2004, they will be the lastBE(Hons)(NatRes) students to havecompleted this jointly-taught Universityof Canterbury degree as final-year stu-dents of Lincoln University. “They couldwell be called the last of the LUniCANS”says Dr David Painter, who now coordi-nates the programme from within theDepartment of Civil Engineering. Davidadds that “when the 2003 2nd Professionalcohort complete in 2004 and graduate in2005, they will be the lastBE(Hons)(NatRes) students to havebeen jointly taught [in First and SecondProfessional years] by academic staff ofboth universities.”

The degree has been jointly taught sinceits inception in 1969. The degree namewas changed to BE(Hons)(Natural Re-sources) from BE(Agricultural) in 1990.Over the years, the proportions of teach-ing from the two universities have

2) A network of 20 to 30 instrumentsspread over the Canterbury region.

3) A local network across the city ofChristchurch.

The present accelerograph is the first tobe installed in the Canterbury Networkand is one of a batch of 20 instrumentsunder construction in the Department.Once this batch is complete, productionwill be taken over by Canterbury Seis-mic Instruments Ltd, a joint venturecompany between the University andlocal businessmen, set up to commer-cialise the accelerograph.

The research has been supported byTechnology NZ, The Mason Trust, theChristchurch City Council, EnvironmentCanterbury, the University of Canterburyand the Earthquake Commission. Theirhelp is gratefully acknowledged.

For more information contactjohn.berrill@canterbury.ac.nz.

varied, withLincoln teach-ing abouttwo-thirds by1995, droppingto half and halfby 2001.

Lincoln Uni-v e r s i t yannounced itsw i t h d r a w a lfrom the pro-gramme inAugust 2002,to take effect at the end of 2003. Pleas-ingly, the University of Canterburyagreed to continue to support the de-gree, and from 2004 it becomes a secondundergraduate programme, within theDepartment of Civil Engineering, with itsown academic staff, Coordinator andIndustry Advisory Board, plus somecontinuing input from present, andformer, Lincoln University personnel.

“There are now about 375 graduatesfrom the programme, most in New Zea-land, but others in Australia, Western

2003 Natrual Resources Engineering field trip.

and Eastern Europe, North America,South America and Asia Pacific coun-tries” says David “and probably a fewwe have lost track of too.” Some arevery well-known, like Professor DavidMaidment of the University of Texas atAustin, the foremost authority in theUSA on GIS in hydrology, with notableNew Zealand graduates including thepresent Chairman of Fonterra, Henry VanDer Heyden.

For more information contactdavid.painter@canterbury.ac.nz

14

Students

Science Fair 2003In August, 2003 the Department of CivilEngineering participated in theChristchurch Science & Technology Fair2003, which was held at the Town Hall.Over 500 displays were entered, and theDepartment awarded a prize for the bestexhibit involving an aspect of civil engi-neering. The Department representative,Dr. Andre Dantas, selected a project en-titled “Christchurch subdivisions – howfertile is the soil?”, by Annalise Fletcher,from Breens Intermediate School, as thewinning entry.

Dr. Andre Dantas (left), withAnnalise Fletcher (right), and herprize winning exhibit

Andy Van Houtte, shown here with Pro-fessor Andy Buchanan and Dr PeterMoss, after winning the best postercompetition for all TIF scholarship hold-ers in the South Island. Andy held aTechnology Industry Fellowship (TIF)scholarship from Technology New Zea-land while completing his ME thesis onepoxied connections in LVL timber, withindustry assistance from CHHFuturebuild.

Kirsti Carr, shown with Dr DavidHopkins, was awarded the inauguralHopkins scholarship, set up in recogni-tion of the contribution of ProfessorHarry Hopkins to the Department overmany years. This scholarship was madepossible by the success of the HopkinsTrust fund, set up when Harry retired in1978.

Kirsten Norquay was awarded a finalyear scholarship by Ian Fraser of BecaCarter Hollings and Ferner, for demon-strating potential to become anoutstanding professional engineer.

Civil EngineeringPrizesThe department wishes to congratu-late the following students who wereawarded prizes for their excellent re-sults in 2003. These prizes are madeavailable by the generous support ofthe industry sponsors.

Civil Engineering Prize:

Georgina Waibl

MWH NZ Ltd Geotechnical Eng

Prize:

Keryn Gobel

RW Morris Prizes in Hydrology or

Hydraulic Engineering:

Georgina Waibl

NZ Pavement & Bitumen Contrac-

tors Assoc. Prizes in Pavement

Engineering: David Jackways,Rachel Urquhart

NZ Automobile Assoc. Prize in

Traffic Engineering:

Georgina Waibl

Traffic Design Group Prize

2nd Pro - Georgina Waibl3rd Pro - Rachel Urquhart

Structural Engineered Timber

Manufacturer’s Association

(SETMA) Award:

Keyrn Goble

MWH NZ Ltd/Jim McFarlane

Memorial Prize:

Weng Yuen Cam

CCANZ

2nd Pro Prize: Sandra Shewan3rd Pro Prize: Henry Tatham

NZ Concrete Society Prize:

Liam Taylor

Don’t forget to keep in touch with us and your classmates on-linethrough CE Communicator. You can log in at

www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz/CECom.asp

15

During the university 2002/2003 summersoccer championship played on the Ilamfields, the Department of Civil Engineer-ing team once again demonstrated itswell-known abilities. The team, whichcomprised two academic staff and ninepostgraduate students, achieved 3rd

place in the one-day social soccer com-petition, which involved all thedepartments of the university.

‘The team played with outstanding de-termination all the matches, in the faceof very strong opposition’, says AndreDantas. He adds that they gradually es-tablished their playing system(all-at-the-same-time-together style),over the course of the competition,thereby managing to overcome the in-tense heat, a lack of fitness and minimal initial soccer skills! Andre especially acknowledges the decisive contribution of thewomen in the team.

At the end of the competition, the team celebrated their achievement, capping the many joyful moments experienced together.‘Next year, we expect a stronger team, which will continue to consolidate the emerging tradition that the Department’s studentsand academics definitely know how to play soccer’ says Andre.

2003 Civil Engineering soccer team. (L to R) Rear: Maria Piefel, CarolineFrancois, Andre Dantas, Dean Saunders, Victor Wong, Eric Liew; Front: HeidiLee, Iwan Sudarno, Dave Arnold, Stefano Pampanin, Ee Yii, Vincent WongReclining: Glenn Koorey

Civil Engineersshow soccerskills

This year 90 students on the 2nd

Professional Civil EngineeringManagement course had the op-portunity to put their managementskills into action. Dr Jason LeMasurier organised a 3-day campat YMCA Wainui on Banks Penin-sula, gererously sponsorsed byFulton Hogan, a major employerof our graduates. At the camp the11 teams were presented with thechallenge of designing and con-structing rafts to transport sandwithin Akaroa harbour. The exercise in-corporated many aspects of the syllabus,with teams required to submit for assess-ment a programme, cost estimate, riskassessment and raft design. Each teameffectively operated as a design and

Fulton Hogan Management Camp

build contractor, with simulated cashflows providing an added dimension and

incentive for teams to manage theirproject effectively.

The competition was closely fought witheach of the teams working hard to gettheir planning and design submissions

in early to make the most of the 10% in-terest per hour applied on their stagedpayments. The greatest financial gainswere made in the final competition - totransport the most sand by raft around a1.5 km course off Wainui beach. Betweenthem the students transported over 26tonnes of sand in a frenetic 2.5 hours.The appropriately named winning team‘Victorious Vikings’ carried over 2 tonneswithin the time limit to put them in anoverall winning position based on profit.

There was a little time for relaxation, withevening entertainment including a pres-entation from Fulton Hogan on Friday,night orienteering on Saturday and a thehighlight of the weekend – a talent queston Sunday which included judging of arange of bizarre hair-sculpting creationsthat appeared over the course of theweekend! As a result of the success andpositive feedback from the students, thiscamp is set to become a feature of the 2nd

Pro course for years to come.

16

Industry Advisory Board

The Department is fortunateto have a very active Advi-sory Board which meetsseveral times each year to of-fer guidance and advice tothe Department managementteam. Pictured here are thecurrent members of the Board.

During 2003 the Board metthree times to a full agenda.The main items of businesswere helping the Departmentto position itself for restruc-turing, giving guidance on anew marketing plan, andmaintaining capacity for capi-tal expenditure. The Boardwas also helpful in setting upa separate Advisory Board forthe B.E.(Natural Resources)degree programme. A majorcontribution was help withthe development of long termplanning, including a fiveyear business plan and a fiveyear research plan to comple-ment the existing StrategicPlan. Through a series of De-partmental workshops wehave defined key performanceindicators for the Department,which we will now monitor onan annual basis.

Committee Chair Deputy Chair

Industry Members

Kaye Clark, Waikato DistrictCouncil, Hamilton

Dave Faulkner, CEO, FultonHogan, Christchurch

Rick Pridmore, CEO,NIWA, Hamilton

Ian Robertson, Director,MWH, Dunedin

Peter Smith, Director, SpencerHolmes Ltd., Wellington

Kevin Thompson, CEO, OpusInternational, Wellington

Viv Kloosterman, VK Con-sulting EnvironmentalEngineers, Whangarei

NREAB Rep.

Grant Wilkinson, Director,Holmes Consulting Group,Christchurch

Don Elder, CEO, Solid Energy,Christchurch

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

The Fluid Mechanics laboratory provided a challenging venue for a civil defence trainingexercise on a cool spring evening in October, 2003, when the University of Canterbury CivilDefence (U.C.C.D.) team hosted Canterbury Civil Defence’s, Community Emergency Re-sponse Team (C.E.R.T.), and a Rescue and Technical Service (R.A.T.S.).

Graeme Bull, U.C.C.D team leader, was looking for an ideal training venue for ‘high level’ and‘confined space’ rescues, and chose the laboratory’s pump-house. A number of ‘victims’ were then strategicallyensconced in awkward locations in, on and around thepump-house. The Aranui C.E.R.T. then responded to theemergency call for help, and on arrival carried out theirinitial site assessment. They quickly determined the needfor the R.A.T.S., who were summoned via the Civil Defencetwo-way radio system. The well drilled and commandedR.A.T.S soon arrived, and carried out a successful rescueof all the ‘victims’, much to the ‘victims’ relief.

R.A.T.S. invade Fluids Lab

17

Bente Clausen says thanks for seven years

After ten years in NewZealand and sevenyears as a hydrologylecturer in the Depart-ment, I have decided itis time to return to Den-mark to share sometime with my familyand especially my par-

ents, while I still have the chance. I amvery grateful to the University of Can-terbury and especially the Departmentof Civil Engineering for my time here. Ithas been an invaluable experience to bepart of the New Zealand engineering andacademic community and in particularthe Hydrological Society, which is verystrong compared to many other coun-tries. I feel privileged to have been partof it - New Zealand is a great place tostudy hydrology.

When I think of my time in the Depart-ment, some memories stand out. Fromthe ‘old’ days (in the last century) whenDavid Wilkinson and Bob Spigel werearound and I was ‘new’, I remember thechallenge of teaching in a (for me) newstyle and culture. One day Bob Spigelwas going to try out one of my ideas inan Engineering Mechanics lecture, to getstudents to the board to work throughsmall examples. I sat in the lecture, andsoon after the start the young lad nextto me was half asleep, while others werechatting. After half an hour, Bob had aproblem outlined and asked for a volun-teer to draw the forces on the board,shaking a little brown bag from a comicshop very temptingly. The room fell verysilent. The guy next to me looked up,confused, and asked his friend what washappening. After a long pause, a bravestudent from the back came down, verytimidly, and drew the forces correctly. Outof the bag came a set of chattering teeth,and the theatre broke into laughter. Bob

drew another diagram, and this time an-other student appeared immediately atthe front. The guy next to me was nowwide awake, concentrating very hard. ‘Ithink I could almost do it’, he muttered.‘If only I had been listening’, he mum-bled wistfully. When we left, the theatrewas humming and there were probablyten people trying to draw forces on theboard – what a great lecture!

In the new century I settled more in myposition and started to enjoy the stu-dent feedback. I particularly relished thefork and the horns that were drawn onmy picture on one teaching survey aftera concentrated effort on getting studentsto turn up on time.

From a contact I made in Nepal in 1999,and with the Dean’s support, a new tra-dition came to life – two New Zealandstudents travelled to India (RoorkeeUniversity) in the summer to do theirpractical work experience on the devel-opment of small hydropower schemes.It was great to see their enthusiasm, andin the seminar, which they were requiredto give on their return, they alwaysseemed to digress to stories about Indiaand I never really found out what hy-drology they actually did!

I had the pleasure of supervising somevery able students in Master’s and 3rd

Pro projects, most of them concerningflows in rivers. Manu’s testing of aninfiltrometer model was a fun 3rd Proproject, and it was a real pleasure to seehim win the student prize at the NationalHydrological Conference after present-ing to an audience of scientists, andcompeting with Master’s and PhD stu-dents.

I am also glad that I finally got a Mas-ter’s course on Instream Flow Methods

(fish habitat modelling) going. The firstyear I had three students, including aparticularly motivated one, Bruce Hunt,from whom I learned a lot about fish andfishing!

I would like to thank the support stafffor all their helpful and friendly supportover the years. In the lab I have beendealing mostly with Ian Sheppard, who Ihave really enjoyed working with.Thanks also to the other technicians,Melody (who is doing a great job withCE News), the secretaries and the com-puter support people. I have alsoreceived a lot of support from academiccolleagues, I shall miss having Mark inthe neighbouring office and David op-posite. I have also enjoyed having Andyas HOD and think the Department islucky to have him in this role. I wish theDepartment well through the restructur-ing process, especially the people mostaffected. Good luck also with the con-tinuing efforts to improve the learningenvironment and the gender balance.

Starting next year we are offering

electronic delivery of CENews. If you

are interested in receiving CENews

electronically please send us your

email address at

cenews@civil.canterbury.ac.nz

Bente

18

Transportation Engineering

Programme Update

“The Transportation Engineering pro-gramme, which commenced in February2002 with financial assistance fromTransfund NZ, the Land TransportSafety Authority and Road Safety Trust,is proving very successful” says Asso-ciate Professor Alan Nicholson, wholeads the programme. There has beensubstantial growth in the number ofenrolments over the last year, with 44enrolled as of October 2003. The tablebelow gives details of the qualificationsbeing sought, and the number of full-time (FT) and part-time (PT) students,with the numbers for 2002 shown in pa-rentheses.

Degree Total FT PT

PhD 4 (4) 3 (4) 1 (0)ME 20 (8) 10 (2) 10 (6)PGDipl. 14 (5) 5 (1) 9 (4)COP 6 (1) 0 6 (1)Total 44 (18) 18 (7) 26 (11)

In 2003, Dr Andre Dantas, originally ap-pointed to the Transfund NZ Fellowshipfor five years, was appointed to a con-tinuing position by the University. TheDepartment expects to appoint a replace-ment Transfund NZ Fellow for afour-year term, from the start of the 2004teaching year. This brings the numberof committed Transportation Engineer-ing staff to four.

2003 Courses

• Traffic Management

• Accident Reduction & Prevention

• Advanced Pavement Design

• Pavement Management Systems

• Transport Planning & Modelling

• Logistics and Traffic Design

These courses were all taught in block-mode (i.e. two three-day blocks oflectures and tutorial, plus project work),to facilitate the participation of practi-tioners from around the country.Teaching was also conducted in co-op-eration with the University of Auckland.

An Industry Liaison Committee has beenestablished and will provide advice onthe content of courses and the conduct

of the programme. The Committee com-prises academic staff, plus arepresentative group of employers oftransportation engineers, as follows:

• Mike Rudge,Montgomery Watson Harza

• Stuart Woods,Christchurch City Council

• Dr Shane Turner, Beca Consultants• Dr Bryan Pidwerbesky, Fulton

Hogan• Neil Bennett, Transfund NZ• Robin Odams, Transit NZ• Wayne Osmers, Land Transport

Safety Authority

For further information, please contact the Programme Director:Assoc. Prof. Alan Nicholson at alan.nicholson@canterbury.ac.nz

Visitors

The group was very fortunate to havethree visiting academics assisting withthe teaching during 2003 as follows:

Professor David Boyce, University ofIllinois, Chicago, USA (Transport Plan-ning & Modelling);

Profesor Nicholas Garber, University ofVirginia, USA (Accident Reduction &Prevention);

Professor Martin Snaith, University ofBirmingham, UK (Pavement Manage-ment Systems). He is expected to visitagain during 2004 and 2005.

Other news and awards

Alan Nicholson and Andre Dantas visited Brazil in November, 2003, where theypresented papers and led workshops at the Conference of the Brazilian NationalAssociation for Transport Research. Alan was awarded the prize for the Best Aca-demic Paper at the Conference. They also visited several universities to presentseminars and lectures. It is hoped that this visit will result in PhD students comingto the Department to undertake transportation research, with funding from theBrazilian Government.

During the year, Mofreh Saleh and BruceSteven (Pavement Research Engineer) suc-ceeded in gaining substantial research fundingfrom FRST, as part of a project led by OpusInternational Consultants. Mofreh Saleh suc-cessfully completed the first stage of aresearch project on foamed-bitumen forTransfund NZ, which approved funding forthe second stage of the research.

Alan Nicholson was recently elected NationalChairman of the IPENZ Transportation Groupand Glen Koorey (PhD student) won the Tran-sit NZ – Works Infrastructure “RoadInnovation Award” forhis paper entitled “Pass-ing Opportunities at SlowVehicle Bays”, presentedat the 2003 IPENZ Trans-portation GroupTechnical Conference.

Alan, above, receivinghis Best Paper awardand Andre, left, makinga lively presentationwhile in Brazil.

19

Publications and Conferences

Hydrological DroughtAs a member of the Northern EuropeanFlow Regimes for International Ecologi-cal Network Data (NE FRIEND) group,operating under UNESCO, BenteClausen has contributed to a book onHydrological Drought, to be publishedby Elsevier in 2004. The first draft of thebook was evaluated by experts and wa-ter managers early in 2003. The seconddraft was evaluated by 26 international’students’ (young scientists and PhDstudents) on a study course held inWageningen in the Netherlands duringOctober 2003. Bente was responsible forthe chapter on Stream Ecology and FlowManagement, made a contribution to achapter on drought definitions and indi-ces and ran a session on habitatmodelling during the course.

The members of the NE FRIEND grouphave worked together for many years,and most were involved in the writing of several chapters of the textbook, as well as serving as reviewers for other chapters.Thus, the work involved many meetings and much collaboration. Bente was able to put time into this project in 2003, as sheenjoyed a year on study leave (her seventh year at Canterbury). From April to October, 2003 she was based at the NationalEnvironmental Research Institute (NERI) in Denmark, and passes on her thanks to NERI for her time there, and to the Univer-sity of Canterbury for granting her study leave.

Those who took part of case study C (the secret sign!) on habitat modelling.From left: Bente, Katrin from Germany, Gregor from Austria, Mike from theUK, Huan from Puerto Rico and Hasan from Bangladesh.

The international group who took part of case study C (the secret sign!) onhabitat modelling, with Bente Clausen on the left.

Conference delegates wereinvited to not only continuechallenging traditional ideasand connecting researchtightly with its application,but to engage a broader rangeof disciplines to educate thegeneral public on all mattersrelating to earthquake risk re-duction. A further 130 paperswere presented in three paral-lel technical streams duringthe three-day long the conference. Peer-reviewed papers were published on aCD-ROM. During the conference, tourswere conducted through the Depart-ment’s laboratories to examine currentgraduate research projects.

The Department and University hostedthe 144 New Zealand and 72 Interna-tional delegates attending the 7th PacificConference on Earthquake Engineering,in February, 2003. The Conference wasorganised by Dr Bruce Deam, the Leices-ter Steven EQC Lecturer in EarthquakeEngineering, and Canterbury graduateMr David Brunsdon, on behalf of theNew Zealand Society for Earthquake En-gineering.

Professor John Mander and four inter-national speakers presented excellentand compelling keynote presentationsoutlining issues, challenges, goals andvisions for advancing and linking earth-quake engineering research and practise.

Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering

At the closing ceremony, a NZ Struc-tural Engineering Society (SESOC) awardwas presented to Emeritus ProfessorBob Park, in recognition of his substan-tial contributions to structural andearthquake engineering.