Categories: General
      Date: Jun 16, 2008
     Title: CEE Graduate Student Zhang Wins Tunneling Prize at NAT Conference
Fengshou ZhangSchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) PhD student Fengshou Zhang was awarded first prize in the biennial competition for Young Engineers in Tunneling at the 2008 North American Tunneling (NAT) Conference in San Francisco on June 7-11.

The title of Fengshou's paper is "Application of Ground Penetration Radar in Grouting Evaluation for Shield Tunnel Construction". In this work, Fengshou explored the feasibility of using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to evaluate the grouting effectiveness in shield tunnel construction for the metro lines in Shanghai, China. Currently, the city’s metro lines are increasing at a speed of 20 km per year. By 2010, when Shanghai will host the World Exposition, a rail network more than 400 km in length will have been completed. Uniformity and quality of the grout in shield tunnel construction is critical in reducing long-term ground settlement. However, the current grouting treatments are carried out without a real-time monitoring procedure. The settlement control method for the Shanghai metro lines is to inject grout in areas where settlement has already occurred after the tunnels have been in operation. Fengshou's work demonstrated that GPR as a geophysical nondestructive monitoring method can be used effectively to improve the quality of the grouting treatment before tunnel operation and therefore mitigate the risks of long-term ground settlement. The paper is based on his master’s research at Tongji University in Shanghai with Drs. Hongwei Huang and Xiongyao Xie.

Fengshou is currently a first-year graduate student in the Geosystems Group of CEE. Assistant Professor Haiying Huang serves as his advisor. Originally from Loudi, Hunan, China, Fengshou obtained his BS (2004) and MS (2007) from Tongji University, Shanghai, China. His current research focuses on pattern formation due to fluid injection in granular media. In preparation for this competition, Fengshou was coached by Dr. Lisa Rosenstein in CEE and Jane Chisholm of the Language Institute on engineering communication at Georgia Tech.

The NAT 2008 – Tunneling Prize is offered by the Underground Construction Association of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME). The competition is open to all engineering students and young professionals 30 years of age or under. The winner is judged based on both the manuscript and presentation at the conference. First place prize includes $1000.00 and free attendance at the conference.