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From left to right: Carien Botha, Murray & Roberst Innovation executive, Ann Jones, JD Roberts' daughter, Dave Phelp, 2009 JD Roberts Award winner, Brian Bruce and Hans Ittman, CSIR. |
CSIR coast engineering expert wins esteemed JD Roberts Award
Dave Phelp of the Council
for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) has
won the prestigious 2009
JD Roberts Award for his
work in the development of innovative
methods for effective monitoring of
harbour and coastal structures. These
coastal engineering methods play a
major role in ensuring the safety and
integrity of coastal facilities.
Phelp’s outstanding leadership in
technology research and development is
reflected in the successful realignment of the CSIR’s physical modelling
laboratory in Stellenbosch into a world
class facility. This research facility plays
a major role in enhancing port and
coastal engineering capabilities and
expertise in South Africa.
Phelp has developed a novel
aerial survey and analysis method
that provides the required accuracy
for monitoring the armouring of
breakwaters and coastal structures.
These structures are essential for the
safety of the coast that they protect.
They are progressively damaged
during extreme storms and most of
the damage occurs near the water
line, where access and visibility are
complicated and even dangerous.
Phelp’s method allows accurate
comparisons to determine the amount
of damage in a precise way, while
corresponding closely with the way
damage is recorded in physical models.
Several methods were used in the
past, such as conventional surveys or a
crane-and-ball profiling method. These
methods have severe limitations, are
costly and lack sufficient accuracy.
With GPS positioning, a helicopter
can hover at predetermined positions
above the breakwater. Digital
photographs are taken from the
above-water armouring along the
structure at low tide. Using fixed
marks on the breakwater or structure,
the photographs can be adjusted in
scale and angle by image processing
software, to match exactly the previous
set of photographs. The differences
between the old and new images can
be quantified in the form of damage or
displacements.
This method was originally
perfected in small-scale modelling of
breakwaters in the CSIR’s hydraulics
laboratory in Stellenbosch. A series
of fixed cameras is used rather than
model helicopters to allow accurate
assessment of damage to the structures
as a function of the wave conditions.
Digital image technology has been
extended to accurately monitor the
movement of moored ships and even
the measurement of very small waves in
the physical model.
Phelp has trained a number of
researchers to undertake the new
aerial surveys and perform the image
processing and analysis for both
model and prototype structures.
All breakwaters and most coastal
structures in South Africa are now
being monitored by Phelp and his team,
especially after severe storm events,
such as those along the KwaZulu Natal
coast in 2007 and the Eastern Cape
in 2008.
Under the scrutiny of international
experts, this technology was recently
used successfully for the model testing
of a major new port, Khalifa, in Abu
Dhabi. The model monitoring system
has been adopted by a number of world
class laboratories, including that of the
National Research Council of Canada
in Ottawa.
Phelp has been invited to collaborate
with the coastal engineering section
of the American Society of Civil
Engineering, and to compile a
manual on breakwater monitoring.
JD ROBERTS AWARD
The annual JD Roberts Award is
sponsored by Murray & Roberts and
held in partnership with the CSIR.
Instituted by Murray & Roberts in
the late 1970s in remembrance
of one of the Group’s founding
fathers, Dr JD (Douglas) Roberts,
the award recognises and promotes
competitive and environmentallysustainable
solutions to human
dilemmas and encourages scientific
research into technology that will
enhance the quality of life of all
South Africans.
Douglas Roberts was a doyen
of the construction industry in
South Africa, well known for his
entrepreneurial flair and passion for
seeking and trying new techniques
and ways of doing things. It is in
this spirit that the JD Roberts Award
takes place annually, recognising
talent and research within the CSIR.
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