Talk
Program 2002
HUNSA organized a
Talk/Interaction program among their members
on 11 October 2002 in Hokkaido University. The
principal purpose of this program was to
exchange and share the knowledge of their
individual researches/findings, with the view
that it could be informative and equally
useful to other members too in order to grasp
the broad spectrum of knowledge.
Active participation of
members and constructive discussion on the
presentation made the program much interesting
and worthy. It was very enjoyable to have the
discussion on our own Nepali language and was
much understandable to everyone even though
presentations were from various field of
study. Due to such achievements, raise of
enthusiasm for the organization of such
activities in further days too have been
realized among the members. In order to
disseminate the general discussion of the
program, the compilation of the abstracts of
the presentation is provided below. For the
detail query on the individual topic, it is
requested to contact the respective authors
directly.
The abstract of all the
presentations is compiled below. Abstract of
the presentation by Roshan Tuladhar is
included under the topics ‘Thesis
Abstract’.
by
Mr. Sunil Kumar Lama
Transportation
and Traffic Engineering: A Brief
Introduction - by Mr. Prakash Ranjitkar
River
Training Problem: An Overview - by Mr. Sanjay
Giri
Agricultural
Perspective Plan (APP) of Nepal - by Mr.
Ajoy Bista
Abstracts
In-Situ
Stress Measurement in Soft Rock with
Overcoring Method using New Stressmeter - Mr.
Hem Nath Ghimire
In-situ state of stress in
rock is very important for design aspects of
any structure to be constructed below the
ground. It is more important in the case of
tunnel and large caverns that are being
constructed in greater numbers in the recent
years. In recent years, the trend of data
obtained relating to the stresses in rock has
been increasing. However, most of the data is
from hard and moderately hard rocks. Therefore
the development of stress measurement method
for soft rock is felt very necessary.
The objective of this
research is to develop an instrument for the
measurement of in-situ stresses in soft rocks.
A new stressmeter to measure the radial and
axial deformation of a pilot borehole during
overcoring has been developed. As the strain
gauges are not directly in touch with the rock
and as axial displacement is also measured,
this stressmeter is applicable to soft rocks
also. The stresses in the rock are evaluated
based on the measured borehole deformations.
Calibration of the sensors
of the new stress meter, to measure
diametrical and axial displacement, was
carried out to convert the microstrain reading
to the respective micrometer displacement.
Laboratory experiments were
carried out to simulate the functioning of the
stressmeter with the use of a rectangular
welded tuff block (40cm x 40cm x 40cm) having
a borehole of 40mm diameter at the center. The
stressmeter was inserted into the borehole and
uniaxial load was applied to the block along
x-axis and z-axis, to simulate the stress
relief work in the stressed rock mass. The
calculated stresses in both the cases were
compared with the applied loads and were found
to be in accordance with it. This indicates
that the new stressmeter can be applied for
the in-situ stress measurement with ovecoring
method in soft rocks.
Sedimentation
Problem: Challenge on Hydropower Development -
Mr. Sunil Kumar
Lama
In the lack of the
perennial rivers, for the peak load and dry
season electricity demand it is necessary to
have the storage type Hydro projects. For such
projects, provision of detention dam causes
the accumulation of the incoming sediment due
to the checking of the sediment flow
downstream of the rivers. As a result, useful
life of the project come on depletion and may
affect on its effective functioning.
Especially for the country with the
mountainous terrains with the fragile lands
and the flash flood distinctive rivers, flow
has the large possession of sediment on it.
There are many challenges standing against the
development of the storage type Hydro projects
and sedimentation problem belongs to one of
the technical challenges among them.
An integrated approach is
necessary for the mitigation of the sediment
hazard starting from the watershed area to the
reservoir management. In order to check the
incoming sediment entering in to the reservoir
in advance, bypassing technique could be one
of the countermeasures on that regard. It not
only minimizes the sediment accumulation at
the reservoir but also help in maintaining the
sediment flow equilibrium downstream of the
dam.
For such technique, Bypass
tunnel or channel is necessary to divert the
incoming sediment. In mountain regions where
the river has the steep grade, bypass tunnel
could be constructed with the sufficient slope
so that it is not choked during its
functioning. The major challenge in this
technique is the abrasion and almost all the
limited numbers of reported projects have
faced this problem. Researches are being
carried out on the development of high
strength abrasion proof construction materials
and designing of the bypass technique for its
hydraulic efficient functioning etc.
Such technique could also
be useful to our country "Nepal"
towards the development of Hydropower, where
we believe to have enormous potential of hydro
wealth.
Transportation
and Traffic Engineering: A Brief Introduction
- Mr. Prakash
Ranjitkar
Transportation engineering
is the part of engineering that deals with
safe, convenient and efficient movement of
people and goods from one place to another
place. Various modes and means of
transportation were introduced. Transportation
industry is facing problem worldwide due to
increasing travel demand. The construction of
new infrastructure to meet travel demand is
not always possible due to economic, social
and environmental constraints. In such
situation, Travel Demand Management (TDM) is a
useful tool to control and manage travel
demand. Various TDM measures were introduced
including traffic regulations and
restrictions, priority to high occupancy
vehicles, mass transit, road pricing, area
licensing etc.
Traffic engineering deals
with planning and design of road facilities
and control systems to provide safe,
convenient and economic movement of persons
and goods.
The road users, vehicles,
roadways and control systems are four
components of traffic system. The traffic
characteristics are the result of many varied
and complex interactions among these
components. It is difficult to control or
predict the behavior of road users while the
safety and efficiency of road users and
vehicles can be optimized through proper
design of roads and control systems.
Intelligent Transportation
Systems are basically implementation advanced
information and control technologies in
transportation systems to improve its
efficiency and safety. Advanced Traffic
Information System (ATIS) provides real time
information to travelers about traffic
conditions, accidental delays, transit
schedules, parking availability, roadwork,
route guidance from origin to destination etc
to make safer and more efficient travel
decisions.
Automated Vehicle
System (AHS) is perhaps the most technically
advanced form of ITS which is aimed to improve
efficiency of highway operation by automating
the movement of vehicles.
Besides these common
transportation issues a brief introduction to
the current research topic of the author,
which is about microscopic analysis traffic
flow dynamics, was presented. The presentation
covered information about car following
experiments conducted in a test track using
Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Global Positioning
System (GPS) receivers for data collection.
River
Training Problem: An Overview - Mr.
Sanjay
Giri
Management of river
training & rehabilitation works is still
an art despite numerous studies. There are
several studies that have been focused on bank
protection technique, navigation improvement,
habitats improvement etc. River training
structures are the appropriate solution for
multiple purposes. On the contrary, such
structures have significant impact on
hydraulic and geo-morphological changes of
rivers. This may cause negative environmental
consequences on the one hand and the failure
of the structure itself on the other. It is
thought that structure-induced impact appears
to have been overlooked in previous works.
Of most problems that have
been facing in river engineering since long,
riverbank erosion is of great significance
from practical engineering point of view, in
particular, in the context of Nepal. Lack of
proper construction technique in consideration
of specific hydraulic and morphological
condition of rivers and precise assessment of
structure-induced impact on equilibrium river
regime has thought to be underlying causes of
negative environmental consequences as well as
failure of structure. For an instance, field
study that was made for 50 sites with river
training structures in Nepal so as to evaluate
their performance (Upadhyaya S.B.), more than
60% was found as failure sites. Such evidences
point out towards the necessity for an
integrated and state-of-the-art approach to be
undertaken.
Modus operandi: Basic steps
to be undertaken are thought to be as follows:
-
Scientific approach to
the problem.
-
Database management
that enables study on the problem to be
carried out efficiently & effectively.
-
Application of the
achievements of modern science and
technology, in particular, hydro
informatics / computational hydraulics.
-
Knowledge information
distribution in regard to the problem.
-
Unified management of
the system, i.e. joint action with other
specialists like geologist, morphologist,
ecologist etc.
Agricultural
Perspective Plan (APP) of Nepal
- Mr. Ajoy Bista
Despite tremendous efforts
in the past, Nepalese agricultural sector did
not grow well. Consequently, a long-term,
called Perspective Agricultural Development
Plan (APP) was formulated in 1995. It covers
the period 1995-2015. This APP tries to
accelerate the agricultural growth by
increasing factor productivity, expanding
employment opportunities, transformation of
subsistence agriculture into a commercial one
through diversification and with the principle
of comparative advantage. There are immediate,
short-term and long-term strategies for its
implementation. It also includes the
guidelines for preparing periodic plans and
programs in future.
APP’s implementation
requires specific demands like large public
sector investment and a set of institutional
mechanisms at the central and district levels
to promote coordination, monitoring and
evaluation, which have always been Nepal’s
problem in the previous plans as well. On top
of that, changes on policy and institutional
environment occurred in Nepal after its
formulation has further complicated its
successful implementation. All these have
posed newer and perhaps more serious issues on
APP’s application as a guide to Nepal’s
national planning. However, this APP does not
take prices in its entire analysis of growth.
It presents a rather mechanical view on the
promotion of technology and presents rather
over-simplified assumptions regarding
institutions, their policies and
accountabilities. It has excessive focus on
inputs rather than outcomes and appears to be
rigid prescriptions coupled with fixed
targets.
Reported by:
Mr. Sunil Kumar Lama |