Montana Tech has an unusual combination of academic and practical talent that is uniquely suited to link the requirements of both laboratory and field testing with the increasingly important discipline of numerical modeling. Such a collection of individuals is rarely found in large universities, much less an institution the size of Montana Tech. Each of the four disciplines represented by the co-principal investigators investigate similar materials, but each conduct his or her investigation from a different perspective that is required by their respective disciplines. However, the equipment purchased through this award will allow for a combination of these different perspectives into a comprehensive program that will have a synergistic effect into how research is conducted into geologic and related materials and designs. The equipment will be used to form an Integrated Physical and Numerical Modeling Geomechanics Laboratory.
The acquired equipment will be used to perform research into the triaxial testing of rock. Montana Tech's triaxial test device will be utilized to its full potential for research and instructional purposes as a result of the upgrade from this proposed research equipment grant. The components of the upgrade are data acquisition & control, confining pressure, pore pressure, and thermal modules. The acquired computers and numerical modeling software will be used to perform research into the behavior of geological and composite materials. Finite difference and discrete element software programs are thus requested for both continuum and discontinuum numerical analyses. Numerical methods are especially suitable for modeling materials over a wide range of scales. However, they require exceptionally powerful computer workstations that should be networked together so that parallel-processing techniques may more efficiently solve the problem at hand. The research applications will range from underground mining to micro-mechanical analysis of particulate reinforced composites to rock drillability and rock/bit interaction. Most of the projects combine numerical modeling with physical testing of rock that is necessary to accurately determine material properties prior to the modeling.
The laboratory will serve the research needs of all the respective programs within Montana Tech as well as the research needs of interested industries and governmental research agencies. An estimated 100 students/year will benefit from the acquired equipment, primarily via lab activities required for in their coursework. Five undergraduate and nine graduate level courses would use various components of the equipment. Furthermore, since Montana Tech actively involves undergraduate and graduate students in research, both groups will utilize the laboratory equipment and the numerical modeling facilities, in addition to personnel from the extractive industries and other government research agencies. Co-PI Donovan is integrally involved in the Rocky Mountain Agile Virtual Enterprise Technical Development Center (RAVE-TDC) which is designed to match entities like the Integrated Geomechanics Laboratory that can provide services, with clients within Montana who need those services. Several tribal organizations are participating in the RAVE-TDC. The PIs have excellent records regarding encouraging students, particularly women, to participate in research activities. The Integrated Geomechanics Laboratory developed using the acquired equipment is expected to be an excellent recruiting tool.
