St. Louis SME Section

Greetings section members!

This month we have an exciting and timely topic: Assessing the 2019 Brumadinho Tailings Dam Failure in Brazil

Please join us for a VIRTUAL MEETING at 7 pm CST on Thursday, March 18 to hear Lucas de Melo from Geosyntec Consultants discussing his role in assessing why the Brumadinho Dam I failed on January 25, 2019.  The meeting will be held on the MS Teams platform.  The link will be forwarded in the near future.

Abstract:

To determine what triggered the failure of Brumadinho's Dam I and why the failure occurred when it did, a Panel that included Lucas de Melo of Geosyntec, carried out an investigation into the technical causes of the failure. The investigation into the causes of the failure included: (i) evaluating the nature of the materials in the dam and their properties, (ii) assessing the dam construction and operation methods and their impact on the dam and tailings material properties, (iii) assessing the condition of the dam before and during the failure using analyses of available images, such as video, ground-based radar, laser (LiDAR), satellite (InSAR and photographs), drone videos, and (iv) numerically modelling the conditions just prior to failure. The assessment of material properties included sampling and laboratory analysis of materials from the site to allow critical state deformation and stability analyses of the tailings dam structure, and numerical analyses of water flow through the tailings and dam were performed to assess the impact of pore water pressures on the stability of the structure. The Panel's assessment was informed by detailed assessments of the history of construction, historical geotechnical data, historical instrumentation data, and seismic evaluations of the region around and at the site.

Lucas de Melo has over 25 years of experience in mining and dam-related projects, geotechnical design and field studies, and hazardous materials remediation, and solid waste management facilities. His portfolio of clients includes public and private entities. He currently manages a branch of more than 120 scientists, engineers, and designers at Geosyntec's Columbia, Maryland office. In addition, Mr. de Melo is responsible for the geotechnical curriculum at the Johns Hopkins University (his alma mater), where he acts as a Lecturer.


If you are interested in attending this VIRTUAL SECTION MEETING, please RSVP to Section Program Chair Bob Johnston- (314) 570 0226  bob.johnston@earthink.net
A link to the meeting will be sent shortly before the event.  

Hope to "see" you there!

------------------------------
Genevieve Sutton, PE
Doe Run Co
Bunker MO United States
(636)578-6048
------------------------------

UPDATE:
Here is the Teams link to the meeting next Thursday:

Good evening everyone-our next SME St Louis Section meeting will be Thursday- March 18th at 7:00 pm CST-Virtual.

Our speaker will be Lucas de Melo from Geosyntec Consultants-he will discuss the 2019 Brumadinho Tailings Dam Failure in Brazil.

We are honored to have Lucas present, see his information below,  and hope everyone can attend.  This will be a virtual TEAMS meeting -

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only)

+1 646-838-1538,,625809693#   United States, New York City

Phone Conference ID: 625 809 693#

Find a local number | Reset PIN

Learn More | 19_meeting_MTczNjk4NDMtZWI4YS00MGVkLWIzMDItMGVmNzJhYmY0ZGRj@thread.v2&messageId=0&language=en-US" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://teams.microsoft.com/meetingOptions/?organizerId%3D6679e30d-de51-43b6-b9e2-6835d3f67edd%26tenantId%3D1b16ab3e-b8f6-4fe3-9f3e-2db7fe549f6a%26threadId%3D19_meeting_MTczNjk4NDMtZWI4YS00MGVkLWIzMDItMGVmNzJhYmY0ZGRj@thread.v2%26messageId%3D0%26language%3Den-US&source=gmail&ust=1615668598993000&usg=AFQjCNGTPvk5JEPYFEWNwsTKyXOxxwkUBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meeting options

Please contact me with any questions regarding this meeting. 

 Best regards  Bob Johnston  Program Co Chair  314 570 0226  bob.johnston@earthink.net

------------------------------
Genevieve Sutton
Doe Run Co
Bunker MO United States
(636)578-6048
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-10-2021 11:44 AM
From: Genevieve Sutton
Subject: March 2021 Section Meeting

Greetings section members!

This month we have an exciting and timely topic: Assessing the 2019 Brumadinho Tailings Dam Failure in Brazil

Please join us for a VIRTUAL MEETING at 7 pm CST on Thursday, March 18 to hear Lucas de Melo from Geosyntec Consultants discussing his role in assessing why the Brumadinho Dam I failed on January 25, 2019.  The meeting will be held on the MS Teams platform.  The link will be forwarded in the near future.

Abstract:

To determine what triggered the failure of Brumadinho's Dam I and why the failure occurred when it did, a Panel that included Lucas de Melo of Geosyntec, carried out an investigation into the technical causes of the failure. The investigation into the causes of the failure included: (i) evaluating the nature of the materials in the dam and their properties, (ii) assessing the dam construction and operation methods and their impact on the dam and tailings material properties, (iii) assessing the condition of the dam before and during the failure using analyses of available images, such as video, ground-based radar, laser (LiDAR), satellite (InSAR and photographs), drone videos, and (iv) numerically modelling the conditions just prior to failure. The assessment of material properties included sampling and laboratory analysis of materials from the site to allow critical state deformation and stability analyses of the tailings dam structure, and numerical analyses of water flow through the tailings and dam were performed to assess the impact of pore water pressures on the stability of the structure. The Panel's assessment was informed by detailed assessments of the history of construction, historical geotechnical data, historical instrumentation data, and seismic evaluations of the region around and at the site.

Lucas de Melo has over 25 years of experience in mining and dam-related projects, geotechnical design and field studies, and hazardous materials remediation, and solid waste management facilities. His portfolio of clients includes public and private entities. He currently manages a branch of more than 120 scientists, engineers, and designers at Geosyntec's Columbia, Maryland office. In addition, Mr. de Melo is responsible for the geotechnical curriculum at the Johns Hopkins University (his alma mater), where he acts as a Lecturer.


If you are interested in attending this VIRTUAL SECTION MEETING, please RSVP to Section Program Chair Bob Johnston- (314) 570 0226  bob.johnston@earthink.net
A link to the meeting will be sent shortly before the event.

Hope to "see" you there!

------------------------------
Genevieve Sutton, PE
Doe Run Co
Bunker MO United States
(636)578-6048
------------------------------