Grouting is an exercise to decrease the permeability of foundation rocks and soils; as such, its practice is governed by a knowledge of the geology of a site, of the engineering needs of a project, and of the art of testing, selecting and injecting cementitious materials. No college offers such a curriculum; I and any other expert in the field has had to acquire the skills by individual study, research and experience.
In the course of study of geology leading to a master's degree, I learned of the applications of geotechnical engineering, so attained an undergraduate education in civil engineering, preparatory to a three-year job with the hydro-electric department of Cerro de Pasco Corp. in Peru. That mining experience lead me as an aspirant for the Ph.D. in Engineering Science to research the flow of water in fractured rock as a basic element of mine drainage, grouting and foundation engineering. My dissertation was funded by the mining chemicals department of American Cyanamid Co., in order to help market their chemical grouts. My publications on rock fracture properties established a reputation in grouting circles and I was invited to the ASCE Committee on Grouting. At Colorado School of Mines, where I taught groundwater and engineering geology for thirteen years, I authored other papers on grouting and especially fracture hydrology.
Experience working on several dams has included grout treatment and the evaluation of grout effectiveness. These have been important components of consultations on Tablachaca Dam, Peru; Virginia Ranch Dam, Exchequer and Snelling Dams, CA; Kremasta Dam, Greece; and some 40 others of the U.S. Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation whose grouting history I reviewed for American Cyanamid Co. The grouting records and field conditions of such dams as Kremasta in Greece, Grancarevo in Yugoslavia, Monteynard in France, Hoover and Kerr Dams in U.S., Kariba in Zambia-Rhodesia, Koyna in India and Herdrik Verwoerd in South Africa were reviewed mainly as they revealed foundation properties and conditions. Similarly, I drew on field and office studies of grout experience at such dams as Oroville, Cherry Creek, Don Pedro and Auburn Dams, California; Grose, Morrow Point, and Horsetooth Dams, Colorado; Grande Coulee, Chief Joseph and Rocky Reach Dams, Washington; and others in writing publications on foundation seepage and grouting. I prepared litigation on the failed Teton Dam, Idaho, which resulted from inadequacies of grout treatment of the cavernous tuff foundations.
In several instances, I have been a consultant on, or a reviewer of tunnel grouting works, including the Rio Blanco Tunnel, Chile; Tooma-Tumut Tunnel, N.S.W., Australia; the Inland Feeder and Cleveland Tunnels, California. I designed seals for the Mount Emmons Mine, Colorado.
Treatment of water inflows to shafts and mines by grouting have been the subject of consulting work and litigation support in recent years, notably that of the flooded K2 Mine, of IMC., Inc,. at Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, the flooded shaft at Morton Salt Company's Mines Seleine, Quebec, and the flooding Potocan Mine in New Brunswick.
For City of Ottawa, I investigated causes of failed grouting of the West Rideau Sewer Tunnel and prepared testimony.
The great variety of settings represented above suggests that I possess the pertinent geologic background needed to appreciate the problems, procedures and potentialities at any new enterprise. It is also to be said that I have dealt with essentially all testing and grouting methods and materials, as well as possible substitutes for grouting, such as ground freezing, slurry trenching and dewatering by pumpage. I consider grouting to be but one of the methods of groundwater control, the most general object of my 40 years experience as a consultant to mining and civil engineering firms and agencies.