Defence of dissertation in the field of rock mechanics, risk assessment, Ritesh Kumar Mishra, M.Sc. (Eng.)

The public examination of the doctoral dissertation of Ritesh Kumar Mishra, M.Sc. (Eng.), will be held on 24 June 2019 at 12.00 at the Aalto University School of Engineering. The title of the dissertation is Geotechnical classification and Bayesian network for real time risk assessment in mining. The field of the dissertation is rock mechanics, risk assessment.

Underground mining involves operating under geotechnical uncertainties. Geotechnical incidents arising from it can cause catastrophic damages in terms of injuries and financials losses. Detailed geotechnical risk assessment can help forecast an impending hazard and put mitigation measures in place in advance to prevent it. Accurate risk assessment however, requires extensive geotechnical data and detailed incident investigation record which is often missing in mines.

During the doctoral research, a unique numerical ranking method was developed which can be used to plan a detailed risk assessment and assist in choosing the appropriate tools to ensure effective risk mitigation. Use of Bayesian network to predict geotechnical accidents in real time was developed for along with financial quantification of risk. Additionally, a new graphical method in the form of an FN diagram was developed to track risk levels in mines.

The developed risk management framework can be used both in presence and absence of historical data. It is designed to work with both quantitative and subjective data and can be used for both risk assessment and incident investigations. Use of Bayesian networks allows the risk assessment methodology to be calibrated for local mine conditions for better results.

Opponent: Professor Zongxian Zhang, University of Oulu, Finland

Supervisor: Professor Mikael Rinne, Aalto University, School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering

Electronic dissertation: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-8588-3

Doctoral candidate’s contact information: Ritesh Mishra, [email protected]