In response, some hazards disappear (e.g., lack of ice falls in response to rapid glacier retreat), but new ones may form, such as instabilities due to glacial debuttressing or increased potential for glacier lake outburst floods, as new proglacial lakes form. In addition, permafrost, which in BC is typically discontinuous and warm, is expected to degrade further and disappear with time affecting foundations and slopes. During this seminar, an introduction to permafrost science and engineering will be provided, challenges related to geotechnical engineering and geohazards in cold regions, including mountain permafrost, are discussed and approaches presented on how to incorporate climate change projections into a geotechnical design or geohazard assessment.
- What constitutes cold regions engineering
- Introduction to permafrost (characteristics, distribution, landforms)
- Frozen soil mechanics
- Foundation design concepts in cold regions
- Site investigations
- Glacial and periglacial geohazards
- Climate change and geotechnical design in cold regions
- Overview of climate change vulnerability assessments
- Understand the unique challenges related to geotechnical designs in permafrost, with specific focus on mountainous terrain;
- Understand frozen soil classifications;
- Advise on site investigations in areas where permafrost may be present;
- Appreciate how climate change may impact geotechnical design;
- Provide conceptual ideas for the protection of permafrost;
- Understand that historic processes may no longer be representative for future behavior; and
- See how geohazards in mountainous terrain may change in the future.
- Geotechnical Engineers
- Geological Engineers
- Transportation Engineers
- Mining Engineers
- Designers and consulting engineers
- Planers, Municipalities, and Provincial Officers
Principal Geotechnical Engineer, BGC Engineering Inc.
Lukas is a Geotechnical Engineer with specific expertise in frozen soil mechanics, permafrost engineering, periglacial risk assessments, and geothermal modelling. He received his PhD in civil engineering at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He has worked on infrastructure and mining projects in Arctic and mountain permafrost, and on the stability of frozen slopes in North America, the European Alps, the South American Andes and Asia. He has been involved in consulting and research work related to preventing permafrost degradation, re-establishing pre-construction thermal regimes after constructions, accelerating the consolidation of mine waste tailings, and cold climate heap leaching. He has studied effects of climate change on northern infrastructure as part of various projects including climate change vulnerability assessments. Lukas has taught permafrost engineering courses at universities and for industry and published various scientific publications on topics related to cold regions engineering. He is currently the president of the Canadian Permafrost Association and was chair of the Cold Regions Engineering Division of the Canadian Geotechnical Society. Further, Lukas is an Adjunct Professor at the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Manitoba. He was the recipient of the Troy L. Péwé award in 2003 and was awarded the Roger J. E. Brown Memorial Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2010 for his contributions to permafrost science and engineering.
