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Gareth Swarbrick

BE (Hons), PhD (Civil), MIEAust

Country of Citizenship

Australia

Educational Qualifications

BE (Hons), Adelaide, 1986,
PhD (Civil), UNSW, 1992.

Professional Associations

Member, Institution of Engineers, Australia,
Editorial Board, Waste Management & Research.

Publications

40+

Gareth Swarbrick graduated from Adelaide University in civil engineering in 1987. He subsequently completed a PhD in geotechnical engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1992 after a short period in management of cleaning chemicals manufacturing. After graduation he worked as a lecturer and then senior lecturer in geotechnical and waste engineering at UNSW from 1992 until 2005. He joined PSM in 2005 as an Associate.

FIELDS OF SPECIAL COMPETENCE

Gareth’s fields of specialist expertise are:
• Mine subsidence impacts,
• 3D geometric and geo-mechanical modelling,
• Tailings management including consolidation and desiccation,
• Landfill design and analysis including gas and leachate management,
• Multiphase modelling of air, water, oil and heat.

His major projects relate to mine subsidence, tunnelling and mining infrastructure. Other areas of expertise include 3D geometric and geo-mechanical modelling, landfill design and operation, settlement and consolidation of slurried mineral wastes and estimating ground movements due to shrink-swell phenomena. He is also an active researcher in coupled flow and landfill gas biofiltration.

His work as the principal researcher and coordinator for the AMIRA funded project 86/P833 coordinated work from 5 different mine sites in Weipa QLD, Hamersley Iron WA, Mt Newman WA, Riverside QLD and Wambo NSW. The tailings deposition model that was developed has been used in the design of tailings storages such as the COMALCO Weipa tailings dams.

He has lectured extensively in geotechnical engineering including presenting postgraduate courses in foundation engineering, site investigation and geoenvironmental engineering. He has completed research in the design and operation of landfills, desiccation and cracking of clay soils and landfill gas biofiltration.

He has been an active member of the Australian Geomechanics Society on the Editorial Board of the International Journal Waste Management & Research. He is a frequent speaker at symposia both in Australia and overseas and has authored or co-authored over 35 journal and conference papers in his fields of expertise, and is co-author of a European Patent on estimation of residual NAPL in porous media.

EXPERIENCE

2009-Present	Principal, PSM, Sydney
2005-2009	Associate, PSM, Sydney
1991- 2005	Lecturer, University of New South Wales, Sydney Senior Lecturer, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1986-1987	Operations Assistant, Research Products Pty Ltd, Sydney

SOCIETIES/STANDARDS

• Editorial Board, Waste Management Research.
• Member, Institution of Engineers, Australia.
• Member, Australian Geomechanics Society.
• NSW Board 2000-2004, Waste Management Association of Australia.

Project Sites

Current Projects

Brisbane Airport Link

Brisbane’s $4.8 billion Airport Link, Northern Busway (Windsor... READ MORE

Kapit Pit Geotechnical Investigation

PSM is involved with Lihir Gold’s Kapit Pit, providing geotechnical... READ MORE