March 24, 2022
As part of our FYDP/Capstone 2022 spotlights, we’re excited to introduce team Steeped Engineering (they love steeped teas and preventing steep landslides from happening) from Geological Engineering: Eloise Ladyman, Dallas Deamude, Jose Cornielle, and Thomas Horan and their project “St. Cyr Landslide Stabilization for BC Hydro”!
Can you explain your project in one sentence?
We are designing a solution to stabilize an active landslide - failure of which could potentially cause catastrophic damage to hydroelectric dams along the Columbia River and to the town of Revelstoke in British Columbia.
What has been the best part of your project so far?
Last October, BC Hydro invited us out to the slide site for a field investigation. We spent three days in Revelstoke touring the area. This included:
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A site investigation which was an awesome 9 hour hike up Mt. St. Cyr into dense bush (picture attached). This was the most important part of our project as we looked for movement features.
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Geological mapping of the slide and measuring surficial damage along HWY 23 that runs along the slides base.
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A tour of the Revelstoke dam base. Specifically, a geological unit called the marble shear block.
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A tour of a nearby landslide and installed instrumentation/monitoring devices.
We will remember our trip forever as it was truly a highlight of our undergraduate careers. It felt like we learned a full course worth of interesting material. We are so appreciative of BC Hydro’s willingness to have us out there and teach us about landslides and dam safety.
What is the biggest challenge you've faced during your project?
In real world projects of this nature there is a lot more subsurface data that project teams have access to, or plan to get access to. Unfortunately, a capstone project can’t get this detailed in the eight-month time span, so we are forced to make a lot of assumptions about the subsurface conditions. However, since there is a lot of nearby data our assumptions have been fair, and our modelling is accurate.
What's next for your team members once you're finished?
Dallas: After I graduate, I look forward to catching up with family and visiting some National Parks on the East Coast of Canada. I will be looking for full-time employment starting in the fall, working with earth science challenges and their impact on engineered structures.
Eloise: I will be heading back to my hometown in B.C. and starting a full-time position at BGC Engineering after completing two of my co-op terms with the company.
Jose: I will definitely be looking for some well-deserved time off to do some travelling before hopefully starting full time work in geohazard consulting in the late summer/early fall.
Thomas: Immediately after school I will be taking some time off to relax and travel. Eventually, I want to become an engineering geologist working on maintaining the safety of large infrastructure projects such as dams, bridges, mines, etc. back in B.C.