Competition Results

The first ARMA student design competition has demonstrated to be a complete success. The competition has accomplished its main goals of involving students from different universities in a real life rock engineering problem where they could test their teamwork and problem-solving abilities. In addition, the contest has given the American Rock Mechanics Association the opportunity to involve students educationally and enjoyably.

During the initial FLAC/Slope Webinar held on Friday, 9 April 2021, 167 participants attended. The recording of the event was posted on ITASCA's YouTube Channel and by 5 June, the recording has had more than 1,000 views.

The competition's registration period was open until Friday, 16 April and 40 teams from 29 universities from 17 countries registered. The first stage of the competition began on Monday, 19 April, and lasted until Friday, 14 May. At the end of this stage, 21 teams submitted their entries. The attached list contains the details about the participant teams.

Participant Teams

The organizing committee and judging panel were impressed by all the work and effort all teams put on preparing the reports, especially considering other academic responsibilities they had during the time of the year. After a thorough review process by the judges, we are pleased to announce the list of finalists:

Finalist Teams

The finalist teams should prepare a 10-minute oral presentation addressing the requirements asked in the final report.

  • Problem Definition

  • Figure representing the geological/geotechnical model.

  • Overall approach, including assumptions.

  • Define and justify the analysis methodology.

  • How is variability of rock mass strength addressed?

  • Slope Design Procedure and Results

  • Financial Analysis

  • Final Design Selection – specifying maximum mining depth

  • What are the key risks to the proposed solution?

  • How could risk be mitigated?

The presentation will be followed by a 5 minutes Q&A section with the judges.

The final presentations will be held on June 14 from 9-11 am (EST) on the Go To Meeting platform. Please, sign up on the following link to register for the final presentations.

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6154230878697079310