STRATH CLARKE

Strath Clarke is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer at PSM, with over 27 years of consulting experience. Strath’s experience includes site investigation and geotechnical design for numerous major projects within Australia; the Esso CGS oil rigs project in Port Kembla, pile design for the 350 m high Emirates Twin Towers in Dubai (under the direction of Prof Harry Poulos), undertaking specialist in situ testing for Taipei 101, the worlds’ highest building between 2004 and 2010, and in situ testing for the My Thuan bridge in Vietnam, spaning 1.5 km across the Mekong River and known as Australia’s largest overseas aid project.

Strath experiences extends to design and construction of complex civil structures lying outside the realms of standard practice and design codes. Examples include, large caustic storage geotanks, a removable bridge deck for mine haul trucks, post-construction reinforcement of an existing plain concrete lined tunnel, forensic analyses of various complex structures, and economic grade ore stockpiles at Lihir Gold mine in Papua New Guinea.

He has extensive experience in the investigation, design, and construction of road and rail infrastructure tunnels in Sydney, including key tunnel design roles for the widening of the M2 tunnels, as well as the recently completed Wynyard Walk and North West Rail Link projects. He is currently the lead designer for the permanent lining of the huge Sydney Metro Victoria Cross Station cavern.

Strath has also undertaken numerous review roles to public and private organisations in relation to the design of major infrastructure projects. He has provided advice to infrastructure owners and operators in relation to long-term maintenance strategies for operational tunnels, including Sydney’s Harbour Tunnel and Eastern Distributor tunnels, and Melbourne’s Burnley Tunnel. And currently also providing Geotechnical Independent Verifier services to the Transmission Gully project, a 27 km motorway in New Zealand, currently being constructed through challenging terrain in a seismically active environment.

Strath’s attention to detail has served him well in undertaking various forensic investigations, including the design of the improvement works for Melbourne’s beleaguered Burnley Tunnel between 2000 and 2006, as well as the Coronial Investigation which followed the collapse of the Old Pacific Highway embankment at Somersby in 2007.

He has a wealth of experience in the design and construction of specialist testing and instrumentation equipment. Some of his current projects include a remote laser convergence monitoring device, and development of various site investigation applications for aerial drone technologies

Strath has authored over 25 technical papers covering a range of topics, including in situ testing, monitoring, research projects, case studies and back-analysis, and new techniques and approaches to the assessment and design of tunnels. In recent years he has published papers in collaboration with Bluey Technologies, a leading supplier to the tunnelling industry. These papers have focused on the testing and assessment of new products.

He is a regular invited speaker at NSW Roads and Maritime Services Geotechnical Conferences, and was recently selected to join the expert panel at the Australian Tunnelling Conference workshop. He has also lectured to Sydney University undergraduate students.

• Site investigation for civil engineering projects
• Analysis and design of geotechnical structures, including cut and fill slopes, foundations, and retaining structures
• Geotechnical instrumentation
• Numerical analysis of soil-structure interaction
• Forensic investigation
• Tunnel analysis and design