a

A Downward Progressive Failure of the North Spur

at Muskrat Falls – A Possibility that ought to be
investigated and mitigated
By Stig Bernander and Lennart Elfgren

July 25th, 2019

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The picture on the cover shows an aerial view of Muskrat Falls (September 27, 2004.) The
North Spur Ridge, susceptible to a possible dam breach is located in the center of the picture
just north of the falls and the Rock Knoll granite cliff. A possible downwards progressive
failure would start at the upstream Western slope (to the left in the photo) when the water-
level in the dam is raised (light blue dashed line). The enormous horizontal pressure (red
thin arrows) will induce a radical change of shear deformations in the Ridge soil structure.
This constitutes a precarious condition in very sensitive - or metastable - soil structures, often
leading to massive landslide failure (red thick arrow). In the current case failure may
progress in the downstream direction, and finally the whole ridge may slide into the deep
downstream river basin (dashed red contour of thick arrow).
(The original picture derives from Google Earth but the new water level (light blue dashed
line), water pressure (red thin arrows) and slide direction (red thick arrow) have been added
by the authors. Location 53o15’01.99” N, 60o46’29.03” W, Elevation 1,72 km. Image ©2018
Digital Globe).

2019-07-25 Technical Report

Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering,
Luleå University of Technology, SE-98781 Luleå, Sweden
www.ltu.se
 3

Preface
During the public hearing on June 27th 2019 of the Commission of Inquiry Respecting the
Muskrat Falls Project, the Hon. Ms. Siobhan Coady, Minister, Department of Natural
Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, expressed thanks for our
earlier contributions, and invited us to continue to raise demanding questions concerning the
Muskrat Falls project.

Accepting this invitation, we here make a new attempt to formulate our concerns in a way
that hopefully is possible to grasp for all involved.

Our aim is to increase the understanding of the mechanisms acting in progressive landslides
in order to prevent an unnecessary catastrophe caused by ignorance and lack of willingness
to accept new knowledge and to apply relevant up to date methods.

Mölndal and Luleå in July 2019

Stig Bernander Lennart Elfgren

Abstract
The most critical inclined progressive downward failure surfaces of the North Spur at Muskrat
Falls have not been properly investigated. Relevant stress/strain properties of the metastable
soil layers have not been made available, and no independent external experts seem to have
reviewed this aspect of the stabilization work.
According to our investigatory analysis - assuming soil properties based on back-analysis of
slides occurred in Scandinavia – there is a risk of massive downhill progressive failure in the
North Spur during impoundment. The rich presence of sloping metastable soil layers both in
Upper Clay II and in the massive Lower Clay formation constitutes a seriously aggravating
condition.
Raising the water level of the dam reservoir should not start until effective mitigating
measures have been undertaken.

Content
Preface .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. 3
1. Background. .................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Assessments in 2018 .................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Geotechnical Peer Review Panel (GPRP) .......................................................................... 4
2.2 Nalcor / Lavalin ......................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Mitigation ................................................................................................................................... 7
3. Conclusions..................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix A. Failure in the Lower Clay Layer ............................................................................ 8
References ........................................................................................................................................... 9
About the Authors ............................................................................................................................ 14
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1. Background.
Stig Bernander’s interest in the stability of the North Spur awoke in 2013, when he took part
in an International Workshop on Landslides in Sensitive Clays in the City of Quebec in
Canada (Bouchard et al., 2013, L’Heureux et al., 2014). He was there approached by Cabot
Martin, associated with the Grand Riverkeeper Labrador Inc., about the possible risks related
to the planned North Spur part of the dam wall at the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric generating
facilities in the Lower Churchill River in Labrador, Canada.

Stig Bernander was subsequently invited to visit the Muskrat Falls’ site and he extensively
studied the area in October 2014 including air-borne travelling by helicopter, ground surveys
by foot and by car and riverbank landings by boat. He also gave lectures on landslide risks in
St John’s. He afterwards wrote a report on the possible risks with the project in 2015
(Bernander, 2015). Further comments were made in two additional reports in 2016
(Bernander, 2016 a, b), where he commented on the Nalcor – SNC Lavalin Inc. Engineering
Reports on design by Ceballos (2016, early version 2014) – as well as on the potential risks
of progressive failure in the downstream (eastern) side of the North Spur by Leahy (2015a,
b).

In 2017, Robin Dury at Luleå University of Technology, (Dury 2017), carried out a Master of
Science Thesis on the subject. The results were presented at the 2nd International workshop
on Landslides in Sensitive Clays in Trondheim in June 2017 (Bernander et al., 2017, Dury et
al., 2017, Thakur et al., 2017). A few results from investigatory analyses by Bernander were
also presented on this occasion. At the same workshop a paper on the North Spur
stabilization works (Leahy et al., 2017) was presented by Regis Bouchard, SNC Lavalin Inc.
(SLI), the company delivering engineering procurement and construction management
services for the Muskrat Falls Project. During the discussion of the paper it was pointed out
that possible downwards progressive failures should also have been considered.

Over these years, the response given from SNC Lavalin was that everything is OK regarding
the North Spur stability. Then, in order to mitigate the risks for a dam breach, the facts at
hand were further summarized and disseminated in 2017 and 2018 (Bernander, 2017) and
(Bernander & Elfgren, 2017, 2018 a, b). These reports were sent to Regis Bouchard at SLI
and to some of the members of the Geotechnical Peer Review Panel to be. They were also
published on the web. However, no response was obtained.

2. Assessments in 2018

2.1 Geotechnical Peer Review Panel (GPRP)

In February 2018, the Muskrat Falls Corporation published a report by a Geotechnical Peer
Review Panel (GPRP, 2018) treating the concerns regarding the North Spur raised by
Bernander. Yet, the Geotechnical Peer Review-Report did not address - or even refer to –
the Bernander report of October 23, 2017, titled:” Summing up of North Spur stability issues”
or to the report by Bernander & Elfgren (2017). This is of course rather odd, as these
documents really deal with and explain many of the issues that were brought up in the more
than three months later dated report by the Geotechnical Peer Review Panel (GPRP, 2018).

In our comments on the GPRP Report, it was emphasized (Bernander & Elfgren, 2018b)
that:
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(1) None of the most critical inclined failure surfaces have been studied by Muskrat Falls
Corporation.
(2) The stress/strain deformation properties of the porous soils in the North Spur have not
been defined or made available for progressive failure analysis.
(3) A high risk of North Spur instability has been found related to impoundment – i.e. no
reliable Safety Factor has been established.

Astonishingly, the GPRP did not undertake any stability evaluation of their own. They only
provided an opinion solely related to reviewing available data and results based on the
concept and the methods used by SLI and the client. Thus, their assessment of the North
Spur stability issues is wrongly based on ideal soil plasticity – i.e. the simplified, so-called
Limit Equilibrium Mode (LEM). This mode is far from being valid in fully water saturated
metastable soil layers. Hence, the GPRP makes no representation regarding the accuracy of
the SLI analyses, thus also disclaiming any liability in connection therewith.

The peer review report, according to our opinion, renders a good view of the general
conditions but it also contains misconceptions, erroneous considerations and refutable
comments indicating that the earlier reports by Bernander have not been fully understood by
the panel members. One obvious and ludicrous mistake is e.g. that the panel report
categorically overlooks the fact that horizontal failure planes cannot possibly represent as
high a risk of instability as downward inclined surfaces. Moreover, they ignore the fact that
failures of buildings and dams founded on metastable soil structures is a common worldwide
problem which cannot be analyzed using the Limit Equilibrium Method.

We have also expressed our concerns in letters to the Hon. Ms. Siobhan Coady, Minister,
Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, see
Bernander & Elfgren (2019). Serious criticism regarding the assessment of the North Spur
stability has also been forwarded by Mr. James L Gordon, hydropower consultant (Gordon,
2019).

2.2 Nalcor / Lavalin

In September 2018 SNC-Lavalin and Nalcor published a Post Construction Assessment of
their work, Rattue (2018). In it, they refer to a Cold Eye Review prepared by Hatch (2014)
and to an early version of a Construction Report, Ceballos (2019). During the public hearing
on July 2nd 2019 of the Commission of Inquiry Respecting the Muskrat Falls Project, the CEO
of Nalcor, Mr. Stan Marshall, claimed that over 30 reports have been issued on the stability
of the North Spur and that it should be enough, Marshall (2019). However, most of these
reports are old and irrelevant investigations (except the ones cited above by Ceballos, Leahy
and Rattue) and the only truly independent one – except our reports – is the one by Hatch
(2014). We have the following comments:
(1). The most critical inclined downwards progressive failure surfaces have still not
been studied. The initial failure may start upstream (when the water level is being raised)
and progress along metastable soil layers under the Spur to the deep eastern downstream
pond, thus cutting its way all through the Spur and emptying the dam. The initiation process
is illustrated in Figure 1.

The effects of the deformations, caused by the pressure of the rising water level, must be
resisted by the metastable soil layers in the North Spur. If not, a local failure may occur
progressing downwards towards the downstream side of the Spur. A catastrophic dam
breach would follow.
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Figure 1. The figure illustrates the possible initiation of a progressive failure with depicted
deformation at the foot of the upstream Western slope of the North Spur. The figure is
based on Leahy et al (2017) but to it has been added the force N caused by the rising water
level and a resulting acting shear stress condition  (red arrows) that has to be balanced by
the remaining shear resistance cR (green arrows) in the disturbed soil along a possible
inclined slip surface (red dotted line). Now, if the shear resistance cR in any of the
metastable soil layers falls below the currently active shear stress  – because of the shear
deformations (blue dashed line) related to the impoundment pressure – a progressive
failure is likely to initiate along the shown inclined slip surface (or along another one with less
resistance, Nature will find the weakest link in the chain).

This progressive failure mode was not discussed in the Hatch (2014) report although it has
repeatedly been presented in International Conferences on Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering (ICSMFE), and at International Symposia on Landslides (ISL) in reports by
Bernander et al (1978 -> 2019).

Furthermore, the Mount Polley Dam failure in British Columbia in 2014, Mount Polley (2015),
the Marino dam disaster on November 5, 2015, and the Brumadinho, dam disaster on ,
January 25, 2019 in Brazil clearly show that the simplified old method that has been used for
the North Spur (with linear elastic and ideal-plastic stress-strain relationships) does by far
not give safe results. The modern methods with progressive failure analysis proposed by
Bernander (1978 ->) are nowadays also well-known in Canada, see e.g. Quinn (2009), Locat
et al. (2011, 2013, 2015), Bernander et al. (2016) and Wang & Hawlader (2017).

A special risk to be considered is progressive failure development in the Lower Clay Layer,
see Appendix A below.

(2) No deformation properties (stress-strain relationships) of the material in the North Spur
have been given in the Post Construction Assessment Report, Rattue (2018), as was
suggested in the Hatch (2014) report on page 16:
“to excavate a test pit in the Upper Clay which, in any case, is the more sensitive deposit.
This then would permit high quality undisturbed samples to be obtained to obtain reliable
parameters for the additional recommended analyses. “
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Only strength properties, related to fully drained conditions, are given in Rattue (2018). How
stresses relate to simultaneous deformations under undrained (or partially undrained)
conditions have not been defined in any way. Such relationships are crucially essential for
any up-to-date analysis of slope stability.
(3) No external experts have been engaged as proposed by Hatch (2014) on page 16 and
19:
“Engage at least two senior consultants with expertise in the behavior of sensitive marine
clays. These consultants should be requested to provide guidance before implementation of
any analyses and then to review the results when the work is completed. “

“…engaging two eminent consultants with specific expertise on sensitive marine clays.”
(4) Drainage. It is of course highly recommendable that monitoring ground water pressure is
carried out in order to study frictional resistance, water flow and seepage etc. as discussed in
Liang (2015), Rattue (2018) and Bouchard (2019). However, these studies seem to indicate
that the critical upstream slip surfaces will be fully water saturated rather than fully
drained with the present well system (the pdf diagrams available on the web are very blurry).
Furthermore, none of the wells extend to metastable soil layers in the Lower Clay formation.
This will increase the risk of progressive failure. (Confer Appendix A below.)

Failure in metastable soils is normally a fast and very sudden process. When occurring, it is
normally far too late to act. Unless the specific stress/deformation relationships valid for the
critical part of the soil structure have been well defined by previous investigations, the
safety factors related to different stages in the impoundment procedure (as well as possible
simultaneous seismic tremor) are virtually impossible to establish.

2.3 Mitigation
In the current situation, compaction of possible metastable soil layers or drainage are
probably the only effective and practical mitigation measures to be considered. Driving down
piles is one approach, another possible compaction method is grouting, Bernander (2014).
Methods for investigating the soils and for mitigation have been proposed by Bernander
(2016b), page 21f (testing), page 26 (compaction) and by Bernander (2017) page 13
(drainage).

The safest way to prevent failure due to liquefaction in metastable soils is to drain the critical
soil layer in such a way that it is no longer fully water saturated. In the current situation, this
is probably the only way to establish a factual safety factor. This implies that deep pump
wells, down to critical metastable soil layers, should be installed close to the upstream
side of the dam, thus complementing existing wells in parts of the North Spur. Such
mitigating measures should be made prior to impoundment. Confer in this context Terzaghi
& Peck (1976) and Terzaghi et al. (1996) regarding metastable soil layers.

3. Conclusions
As no up-to-date analyses, and valid safety factors regarding the stability of the North Spur,
have been provided - neither by Nalcor/Lavalin nor by the Geotechnical Peer Review Panel,
our conclusion is that an independent group of experts, appointed by the government,
should be entrusted with this vitally important task.

In the meantime, deep pump wells, down to critical metastable soil layers, should be
installed in the critical parts of the upstream side of the dam. This mitigating measure
should be made prior to impoundment.
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Appendix A. Failure in the Lower Clay Layer

The risk of progressive failure in the Lower Clay formation, see Figure A1, has in several
documents been brought up by Bernander, e.g. in the comments on the Nalcor/SNC-Lavalin
ENGINEERING Report. Leahy, (2015 a). Confer e.g. Bernander (2016 a), page 19 and
Bernander & Elfgren (2017, 2018a), Figure 2.2.

The mean values of the soil properties in various layers in the Lower Clay structure are shown
in Table 2:2 of the Engineering Report Leahy (2015 a). In this table, the values of Water
Content, Plastic Limit, and Liquidity Index are presented, making it possible to define
corresponding values of Liquid Limits, Unit Weights, Porosities and Void Ratios – the soil
layers being water saturated.
Thus, analyses, based on this table indicate that the values of the water content in many
layers of the Lower Clay significantly exceed the corresponding values of the Liquid Limit (wL)
indicating high sensitivity and risk of progressive failure – obviously excluding the application
of the Limit Equilibrium Mode of analysis.

The mean value of the Liquidity Index in the Lower Clay is 0.6 (i.e. well below 1.0).
Yet, although this may appear to be a reassuring condition, the fact that the Liquidity Index
varies widely between 0.1 and 2.0 indicates that thick layers of metastable soils also occur
in the Lower Clay formation - a serious condition radically increasing the risk of progressive
failure development – especially considering that the downhill slope of possible failure planes
may be much steeper in the Lower Clay than in Upper Clay II.
Hence, the safety factor against a dam breach in the North Spur should not be based on
ideal plastic behaviour of all layers in the Lower Clay soil structure.

Figure A1. The different layers in the studied ridge at Muskrat Falls indicating a possible
slide along a steeper plane (dark blue dotted lines) in the Lower Clay formation. The slide
begins upstream and may progress all the way under the ridge to the deep downstream pool.
Modified figure from Leahy et al. (2017).
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References
Bernander, Stig (1978). Brittle Failures in Normally Consolidated Soils. Väg- &
Vattenbyggaren (Stockholm), No 8–9, pp 49-52. Available at http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig; Gustås, Hasse & Olofsson, Jan (1984). Consideration of In-situ Stresses in
Clay Slopes with Special Reference to Progressive Failure Analysis. Proc. IVth International
Symposium on Landslides (ISL1984), Toronto, Canada. 6 pp. Available at http://ltu.diva-
portal.org/

Bernander, Stig (1985). On Limit Criteria for Plastic Failure in Strain-rate Softening Soils.
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering (ICSMFE), San Francisco, Balkema, Vol. 1/A/2, pp 397 – 400. Available at
http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig; Svensk, Ingvar; Holmberg, Gunnar & Bernander, Jarl (1985). Shear
strength and deformation properties of clays in direct shear tests at high strain rates.
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering (ICSMFE), San Francisco, Balkema, Vol. 2/B/5, pp 987 – 990. Available at
http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig; Gustås, Hans & Olofsson, Jan (1989). Improved Model for Progressive
Failure Analysis of Slope Stability. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, (ICSMFE), Rio de Janeiro 1989. Vol 3, 21, pp 1539-
1542. Available at http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig (2000). Progressive Landslides in Long Natural Slopes. Formation, potential
extension and configuration of finished slides in strain-softening soils. Licentiate Thesis
2000:16, Luleå University of Technology. Available at http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig (2004). Grouting in sedimentary and igneous rock with special reference to
pressure induced deformations. Technical Report 2004:12, Luleå University of Technology,
142 pp. Available at http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig (2008). Down-hill Progressive Landslides in Soft Clays. Triggering

Disturbance Agents. Slide Prevention over Horizontal or Gently Sloping Ground. Sensitivity
related to Geometry. Research Report 2008:11, Luleå University of Technology, ISSN: 1402-
1528, 16+101 pp. Available at http://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig (2011). Progressive landslides in long natural slopes. Formation, potential
extension and configuration of finished slides in strain-softening soils. Doctoral thesis, Lulea
University of Technology, 252 pp, ISBN 978-91-7439-283-8. Available at http://ltu.diva-
portal.org/

Bernander, Stig (2015 a) Lower Churchill River, Riverbank Stability Report. Prepared for
Grand Riverkeeper Labrador, Inc, Mölndal, October 14, 2015, 39 pp. Available as Appendix I
in Bernander & Elfgren (2017, 2018a).

Bernander, Stig (2016 a). Further Comments on the Updated Nalcor Report of 21July 2014.
Mölndal, January 1, 2016, 7 pp. Available as Appendix II in Bernander & Elfgren (2017,
2018a).

Bernander, Stig (2016 b). Comments on the Engineering Report by Nalcor/SNC-Lavalin of 21

December 2015. Prepared for Grand Riverkeeper, Labrador, Inc. Mölndal, September 15,
2016, 29 pp. Available as Appendix III in Bernander& Elfgren (2017, 2018a).
 10

Bernander, Stig; Kullingsjö, Anders; Gylland, Anders S; Bengtsson, Per Erik; Knutsson,
Sven; Pusch, Roland; Olofsson, Jan & Elfgren, Lennart (2016). Downhill progressive
landslides in long natural slopes: triggering agents and landslide phases modelled with a
finite difference method. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 53, No. 10, pp. 1565-1582,
dx.doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2015-0651.;

Bernander, Stig (2017). Summing up of North Spur stability issues. Prepared for Grand
Riverkeeper Labrador, Inc. October 23, 2017, 16 pp. Available as Appendix V in Bernander &
Elfgren (2018a)

Bernander, Stig & Elfgren, Lennart (2017): Riverbank Stability in loose layered silty clays.
Comments on the risk of failure in the North Spur at Muskrat Falls in the Churchill River
Valley, Labrador, Newfoundland. Technical Report, Luleå University of Technology.,
Sweden, July 2017, 144 pp, The report includes four Appendices: I - Bernander (2015); II -
Bernander (2016a); III - Bernander (2016b); and IV – Spreadsheet Analysis of the Stability of
the Hydropower Dam at Muskrat Falls studied by Stig Bernander with a finite difference
method according to Bernander (2000, 2008, 2011), June 1, 2017, 20+19 pp. Available at
http://ltu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1118791/FULLTEXT03.pdf

Bernander, Stig; Dury, Robin; Laue, Jan; Knutsson, Sven & Elfgren, Lennart (2017):
Progressive Landslide Analysis in Canadian Glacial Silty Clay in Churchill River. Poster at
the 2nd International Workshop on Landslides in Sensitive Clays, IWLSC Trondheim, June
2017, 1 p. Available at https://ltu.diva-portal.org/

Bernander, Stig & Elfgren, Lennart (2018a): Dam Bank Stability in loosely layered silty sands
and lean silty sandy clays. Comments on the risk of failure in the North Spur at Muskrat Falls
in the Churchill River Valley, Labrador, Newfoundland. Technical Report, Luleå University of
Technology, Sweden, Nov 2017 (publ. on the web, Feb. 5, 2018), a revised and updated
version of Bernander & Elfgren (2017), 150 pp. The report includes five Appendices: I -
Bernander (2015); II - Bernander (2016a); III - Bernander (2016b); IV – Spreadsheet Analysis
of the Stability of the Hydropower Dam at Muskrat Falls studied by Stig Bernander with a
finite difference method according to Bernander (2000, 2008, 2011), June 1, 2017, 20+19 pp
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http://ltu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1180147/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Bernander, Stig & Elfgren, Lennart (2018b). Response to and Comments on “Geotechnical
Peer Review of Dr. S. Bernander’s Reports and Analysis of the North Spur”, 31 pp. Available
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Bernander, Stig & Elfgren, Lennart (2018c) Stability of the North Spur at Muskrat Falls. Video
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Newfoundland, Canada, September 28th-29th, 2018, 24 minutes,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXs5v0U275g
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Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada,
(1) October 2, 2018, 1 p, answer March 12, 3 pp; and (2) April 15, 2019, 2 pp. Available at
https://www.muskratfallsinquiry.ca/files/P-04345.pdf
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Hydroelectric Project: North Spur Stabilization Works; Poster at 1st International Workshop
on Landslides in Sensitive Clays, 28-30 Oct. 2013, University of Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Available at. http://muskratinfo.ca/nalcor.pdf
 11

Bouchard, Regis (2019). North Spur – Downstream Slope Stability – Sensitivity Analysis.
Addendum to the Post Construction Assessment (PCA), Rattue (2018). SNC-Lavalin Memo,
1 May 2019, 4 pp. Available at http://muskratfalls.nalcorenergy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/05/SLI-North-Spur-Downstream-Slope-Stability-Sensitivity-
Memo_May-2019.pdf

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PA..Nalcor Reference No. MFA-SN-CD-2800-GT-RP-0009-01 Rev. A1. Date 7 Sep 2018.
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Churchill Project, Engineering Report, SNC-Lavalin, Nalcor, SLI Document No. 505573-
3281-4GER-0001-01, Nalcor Reference No. MFA-SN-CD-2800-GT-RP-0001 Rev B2, 21 Dec
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 14

About the Authors

Stig Bernander was born on February 5, 1928, in Mnene,

Rhodesia, Africa. He attended primary and secondary
schools in Mnene and Bulawayo, Rhodesia, and in
Gothenburg, Sweden. He studied civil engineering at
Chalmers University of Technology and obtained a M.Sc.
in 1951. Having worked for the Swedish Board of Roads in
Stockholm 1951-53, he moved to Skanska Contracting Co,
which in those days was named Skånska Cementgjuteriet
AB. In 1972 he became Head of their Design Department
in Gothenburg. He retired in 1991 and started a consulting
company of his own, Congeo AB.

Stig Bernander has designed or been engaged in major civil engineering works such as
bridges, dams, harbors, tunnels, dry docks, off-shore structures, buildings, underground
storages and water supply structures in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Monaco, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

In the years 1980 – 98, Stig Bernander served as an Adjunct Professor at the Division of
Structural Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, working primarily with crack
prevention and modeling of temperature stresses in hardening concrete - taking various
boundary conditions into account.

After the large landslide in Tuve (Gothenburg, 1977), Stig Bernander began developing a
finite difference model for slope stability analysis taking the deformation-softening of soft
sensitive clays into consideration. In the model, the mean down-slope deformation in each
element caused by normal forces is maintained compatible with the deformation generated
by shear stresses.

He developed software for the model and presented it at international soil mechanics
conferences during the 1980-ies. In 2000 he summarized his findings in a Licentiate thesis.
An easy-to-use spread-sheet has also been developed. In 2011 he further conveyed his
experiences of slide modelling in a PhD thesis focusing on the nature of triggering agents
and the different phases that a slope may undergo before its stability becomes truly critical.
 15

Lennart Elfgren was born on July 9, 1942, in Gothenburg,

Sweden. He studied civil engineering at Chalmers
University of Technology and obtained a M.Sc. in 1965 and
a PhD in 1971 with a thesis on “Reinforced concrete beams
loaded in combined torsion, bending and shear. A study of
the ultimate load-carrying capacity”

After a post doc stay at University of California at Berkeley

1972-73 working with curved box-girder bridges he was
appointed to a position as Associate Professor in Structural
Engineering at the recently started Luleå University of
Technology. In 1981-83 he worked as a Consulting
Engineer with Jacobson & Widmark in Gothenburg and in
1982-83 as part time Researcher in the Swedish Research
and Testing Institute in Borås.

He returned to Luleå as Full Professor in 1983 and has served as Department Head and
Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. He has studied anchorage of sheet piling in
soft clays, anchorage to concrete, fatigue, fracture mechanics and strain-softening materials
and, in the last 20 years, assessment and strengthening of existing structures including
numerical modelling and full-scale testing to failure of bridges. He has been the main
supervisor for 14 PhDs and an associate supervisor for another 15. He has published more
than 300 papers and reports, see https://ltu.diva-portal.org/.

He is a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), an Honorary

Member of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), a
Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and of the Swedish Concrete Association,
and a long-time Member of the International Federation of Concrete (fib).