Following the recently established license agreement with Bauer International FZE, SBMA Ltd/Geoserve Global Ltd’s Managing Director Dr Devon Mothersille was the invited speaker at a specially arranged half-day seminar held at the Al Maha Arjaan by Rotana hotel in Abu Dhabi on 10^th October 2018.

The first part of the seminar covered many aspects of ground anchor technology with particular reference to systems specifically designed to generate high capacities in soils and weak rocks. This part also included sections on the current status of Eurocodes with respect to anchors, new innovations and recent developments. In the second part Dr Mothersille presented several examples of international ground anchor applications and then described two pivotal case histories that demonstrated a number of world firsts.

The audience included engineers and municipality representatives who engaged in  useful Q & A sessions during and at the end of the seminar.

Dr Mothersille wishes to thank Mr Farid Mansour (Regional Technical Manager, Bauer) and Mr Bora Okumusoglu (Regional Design Manager, Bauer) who joined him and delivered short presentations covering the history of Bauer and local projects incorporating anchored excavation support.

Enjoy images from the seminar

Dr Devon Mothersille addresses the audience at the Bauer International FZE hosted seminar Abu Dhabi

Dr Devon Mothersille handles questions from design engineers who attended the seminar

Dr Devon Mothersille uses a flip chart to illustrate the restoration of the grout curtain at Hazelmere dam, South Africa

Following the recently established business collaboration with Bauer International FZE, SBMA Ltd/Geoserve Global Ltd’s Managing Director Dr Devon Mothersille was the invited speaker at a specially arranged half-day seminar held at the Arjaan by Rotana Media City Dubai hotel on 8^th October 2018.

The first part of the seminar covered many aspects of ground anchor technology with particular reference to systems specifically designed to generate high capacities in soils and weak rocks. This part also included sections on the current status of Eurocodes with respect to anchors, new innovations and recent developments. In the second part Dr Mothersille presented several examples of international ground anchor applications and then described two pivotal case histories that demonstrated a number world firsts.

The audience included engineers and municipality representatives who engaged in useful Q & A sessions during and at the end of the seminar.

Dr Mothersille wishes to thank Mr Farid Mansour (Regional Technical Manager, Bauer) and Mr Bora Okumusoglu (Regional Design Manager, Bauer) who joined him and delivered short presentations covering the history of Bauer and local projects incorporating anchored excavation support.

Enjoy images from the seminar

Mr Farid Mansour (Regional Technical Manager, Bauer) introduces Dr Devon Mothersille to the audience

Dr Devon Mothersille sets out the format of the Bauer International FZE hosted seminar in Dubai

Dr Devon Mothersille explains the theory of progressive debonding to the audience

On 27^th September 2018 British Standards Institution announced that the long awaited grouted anchor testing standard, BS EN ISO 22477-5: 2018 has been published. Dr Devon Mothersille was nominated to take over the convenorship of the European working group (CEN/TC 182/WG5) charged with the task of completing the development of the document in 2015. By way of background the draft version of this standard has been in existence for over a decade, so it was a tremendous achievement to complete the document over a two and a half year period.

Dr Devon Mothersille (Managing Director of SBMA Ltd and Geoserve Global Ltd) joined a number of other business leaders at a networking event at Donnington race track in Derby, UK. The museum at Donnington is world famous since it houses the largest private collection of Formula 1 racing cars in the world as well as a host of other memorabilia for car enthusiasts.    During an enjoyable day Dr Mothersille, accompanied by an instructor, drove a Lamborghini Gallardo and a Ferrari California for several laps around the famous race track where Ayrton Senna holds the track record.

Dr Mothersille approaches the Lamborghini Gallardo

Dr Mothersille receives instruction before taking on the Lamborghini

Dr Mothersille receives instructions before putting the Ferrari through its paces

Dr Mothersille about to set off in the Ferrari California

Dr Devon Mothersille and Professor Stuart Littlejohn have jointly published Part 1 of an article entitled ‘Dam Anchoring Fundamentals’ in the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) magazine – September/October 2018 edition. The first of a two part article covers some essential aspects of anchor design, tendon fabrication, borehole drilling and tendon installation with particular reference to dams. The second, and concluding part, of the article will be published over the coming months in the next edition of the DFI magazine.

DFI magazine cover featuring special article on dam anchoring

In his capacity as Convenor of the technical committee TC 182 – Working Group 3 (EN ISO 22477-5: 2018 – Testing of Grouted Anchors), Dr Devon Mothersille was interviewed by the editor of Ground Engineering magazine Claire Smith as a precursor to the imminent publication of the new standard. The long awaited standard has been under development for over fourteen years and, according to British Standards Institution, is scheduled for publication in late August 2018.  Since Dr Mothersille’s appointment as Convenor in April 2015, it has been a tremendous achievement to have taken the document to completion over an intensive three year period.

The standard is complicated by the fact that it features three types of test (Investigation, Suitability and Acceptance tests) and within each test type, there are three test methods (Test Methods 1, 2 and 3). The main challenge was gaining consensus from European member countries that have established traditional approaches. Over the last three years several meetings were held in various locations across Europe including London, Munich, Lisbon  and Belgium, and over 1000 submitted comments were addressed in order to create content that satisfied all parties. Despite the complexity of the standard, it will provide a unified approach to testing across Europe and will form a trinity with two other related standards; EN 1997-1:2004+A1:2013 (Design) and EN 1537: 2013 (Execution).

A summary of the interview can be found on page 7 of the August/September edition of Ground Engineering magazine.

Months of negotiations have culminated in a landmark deal between Bauer’s Middle East division (Bauer International FZE) and UK based Single Bore Multiple Anchor Ltd. The two companies will partner as business associates to implement specialized ground anchor technology in the Middle East and Iran.

During a visit to Bauer’s Abu Dhabi office earlier this year, SBMA Ltd’s Managing Director Dr Mothersille was left in no doubt that the association between Bauer and SBMA Ltd would be a good fit, since both companies shared a similar vision for expanding the use of anchoring in the region, delivering excellence to their clients and further developing the technology through continued research and development.

Already projects are earmarked, and this heralds an exciting period for the use of ground anchors in a variety of diverse applications.

Look out for further postings in the near future.

Over a demanding two-day period, members of TC 250/SC7/WG3/Task Group 5 met at the offices of the Belgian Building Research Institute in Lozenberg, Brussles to discuss aspects related to the most recent draft of the revised eurocode 7, Chapter 8 on anchors.

Members enjoy an evening meal after the first day of discussions.

From left to right: Mr Noel Huybrechts (Convenor of TG5, Belgium), Mr Ole Moller (Denmark), Dr Devon Mothersille (UK), Ms Eva Dornecker (Germany), Mr Klaus Dietz (Germany), Ms Ira Gutjahr (France) and Mr Adriaan Van Seters (Netherlands)

On behalf of specialist ground engineering contractor Kasktas, A.S (Turkey), Dr Devon Mothersille presented a technical paper entitled:

‘DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF SINGLE BORE MULTIPLE ANCHORED DIAPHGRAM WALL IN IZMIR, TURKEY’ at the DFI-EFFC International Conference on Deep Foundations and Ground Improvement Urbanization and Infrastructure Development – Future Challenges. This conference was held in the beautiful city of Rome between 5-8^thJune 2018.

The technical paper was co-authored by Dr Rasin Duzceer (General Manager, Kasktas, A.S), Mr Alp Gokalp (Deputy General Manager, Kasktas, A.S) and Mr Senol Adatape (Senior Design Manager, Kasktas, A.S) and documented the successful construction of some 2400 SBMAs, with working loads up to 670kN for excavation support as part of the prestigious Mahall Bomonti Development in Izmir, Turkey. The SBMAs achieved the highest test loads of any anchor system installed in the region and has paved the way for many more substantial projects in the future.

In addition excellent preliminary discussions were held between Dr Mothersille, Dr Rasin Duzceer, Mr Rajeev Narayan Dwivedi (Director, Chennai Metro Rail Limited, India) and Mr Mohan Ramanathan (Managing Director, Advanced Construction Technologies, India) re the use of SBMA technology in India.

Dr Mothersille presents technical data on the use of finite element modelling for the prediction of deformations on the anchored diaphragm wall at Mahall Bomonti

Dr Devon Mothersille and Dr Rasin Duzceer stand outside the conference venue on the steps of Sapienza University in Rome

Right to left: Mr Mohan Ramanathan, Dr Devon Mothersille, Dr Rasin Duzceer and Mr Rajeev Narayan Dwivedi stand outside the conference venue on the steps of Sapienza University in Rome

Enjoy some images from Rome ……

The Collosium

The Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon – the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome

The Vatican

Specialist foundation contractor Kasktas AS has successfully implemented SBMA technology on three deep excavations that will form an essential part of the prestigious Mahall Bomonti development in Izmir, Turkey. In total some 1900No. SBMAs were constructed in problematic alluvial soils and under a high water table. When complete the superstructure will be 245m high and will be the tallest building in Izmir and the third tallest in Turkey.

The successful execution of this project maintains the high standards produced by Kasktas AS throughout their association with SBMA Ltd and this will prove highly beneficial to clients within the region for future projects.

Details of the performance of the anchored structures are featured in a technical paper that has been accepted and will be presented at the DFI conference in Rome (June 2018).

Figure 1: From left to right Mr Metin Akkaya (Project Manager, Kasktas), Dr Devon Mothersille and Mr Gökhan Makas (Safety Officer, Kasktas) stand on the periphery of the 80cm thick anchored diaphragm wall at excavation site A (support via approx 1100 SBMAs)

Figure 2: Excavation site B showing placement of foundation slab reinforcement (support via approx 600 SBMAs)

Figure 3: Excavation site C showing combination of struts and anchors (support via approx 200 SBMAs)

Figure 4: Current view of the spectacular slope stability works undertaken by Kasktas AS using high capacity SBMAs for the STAR Oil Refinery in Aliağa, Izmir, Turkey – project completed 2015

Figure 5: Turkey’s Mount Rushmore! The impressive sculpture of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding father of modern Turkey