Rock Mechanics in Extreme Environments: A Workshop to Explore Applications of Rock Mechanics in Challenging Settings will take place on July 7, 2001, as part of DC Rocks 2001: The 38th U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium in Washington, DC. The workshop will probe areas of national concern, such as resource development, national security, scientific exploration, and building and infrastructure. An extreme environment is one in which rock is exposed to a change in its environment caused by the activities of humans. The workshop will consist of a series of presentations by experts on the unique mechanical and engineering properties of rock under extreme environmental conditions, and technologies that make it possible to subject rocks to extreme environments. These presentations will include research initiatives underway and the problems inherent in working under these environmental conditions. After the presentations, workshop participants will discuss how the many unknown characteristics of rock under extreme conditions can be better understood. How can research and technology development help in this quest?
Workshop topics include rock and rock structures under high dynamic loading, caving method mining, difficult rock conditions in the new Transalpine Tunnels, blasting in urban environments, stone in architecture, rock as a building material, fractured bedrock, and rock mechanics for deep drilling on Mars.
All discussion transcripts will be compiled, edited and published in a document that will be distributed at no cost through the ARMA Foundation and its Web site.
