Over the past 35 years, Dr. Oswell has undertaken numerous investigations to evaluate the probable causes of \u201clack of performance\u201d events and failures. These investigations have included assessment of residential damage as the result of soil settlement, frost heave in the fatal rupture and explosion of a natural gas service line, movement of deep excavation shoring systems, pipe\u00adline buckles and loss of containment due to geological hazards interaction, slope movements, building foundations including slabs-on-grade and piles, thaw settlement issues and others. Other investigations include the effects of landslides on pipeline ruptures in Colombia and Ecuador. He has served as an expert to legal counsel in litigation for an excavation shoring movement, slope stability issues and compaction performance of a highway embankment, subject matter expert to a regulatory licensing board, and an expert witness to numerous regulatory hearing processes and legal proceedings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Oswell is presently chair of an Independent Technical Review Panel providing expert review and recommendations for the design, construction and operations of a winter road and all-season road to a mine site in sensitive permafrost terrain and a National Park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specific project experiences is provided below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compaction\nPerformance of Highway Embankment Litigation: <\/strong>Expert witness to consider\nthe performance of a highway embankment constructed of imported fine-grained\nsoils and the adequacy of the geotechnical investigation and subsequent\ncompaction testing during construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slope Stability\nAssessment for Residential Development:<\/strong> Expert witness retained to\nconsider the strength of soils for be used in a slope stability assessment for\nthe support of a residential development near the crest of a steep river\nvalley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Insulated Hot\nOil Pipeline Distress Litigation: <\/strong>Expert witness to legal proceedings concerning the\ndeterioration of insulation on a hot-oil production pipeline in northeast\nAlberta. Provided soil-pipeline interaction parameters and an assessment of\npotential geotechnical related factors that contributed to the lack of\nperformance and deterioration of the insulation and coating system. Provided\ndirect and cross-examination testimony in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fibreglass Flowline\nDistress Litigation: <\/strong>Expert geotechnical engineer witness to legal\nproceedings related to the distress in small diameter oil well flowlines.\nIssues involved construction and operation of the fibreglass flow lines at a\nsite in southern Manitoba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Performance of\nRight-of-Way in Permafrost Terrain:<\/strong> Specialist permafrost\nengineer assisting Prime Contractor and legal counsel in assessing terrain\nissues related to the construction of a communications cable through permafrost\nterrain. Construction methods, erosion control needs, and mitigation strategies\nwere reviewed and\/or considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cold Lake\nPipeline Litigation:<\/strong> Senior geotechnical engineer providing expert witness\ntestimony concerning distress of a hot-product pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retaining Wall\nand Slope Instability Litigation, Red Deer Alberta<\/strong>: Expert witness retained\nby defendants to consider root causes for ground distress in a developed backyard\nin Red Deer Alberta. Issues considered\nincluded internal versus global stability of a multi-tier retaining wall system\nand potential for general slope instability of the adjacent escarpment slope,\nwhich encompasses the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Residential\nBuilding Distress, Calgary: <\/strong>Senior geotechnical engineer retained to investigate\nthe causes of structural and cosmetic distress in a residential building in\nnorthwest Calgary. The investigation\nincluded review of documentation, site inspections and installation of a slope\nindicator to assess the stability of a approximately 9 m high retaining wall\nalong the property line. The\ninvestigation determined that the most likely cause of the distress was due to the long-term self-weight settlement of fill\nplaced in the back portions of the property on which the building foundations\nwere placed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EcoPetrol,\nColombia: <\/strong>Senior geotechnical engineer and member of international\nmulti-disciplinary team examining the root causes of two pipeline ruptures in\nmountainous regions of Columbia. In case, the rupture resulted in an explosion\nwith over 30 fatalities. Services\nincluded site reconnaissance, preparation of a preliminary assessment report,\ndevelopment of scope of work and specifications for geotechnical investigations\nand instrumentation, supervision of the geotechnical program and assessment of\ndata, and reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Northwest Energy\nExplosion, Montana: <\/strong>Expert witness to assess the potential impact that\nfrost heave may have played in the rupture, leakage and subsequent fatal\nexplosion of a natural gas service line. \nDuties included examination of documents, expert witness reports,\ngeotechnical data and completed evaluation of frost heave potential considering\nsoil characteristics, geothermal conditions and other contributing factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oleoductos de\nCrudos Pesados (OCP) Pipeline, Ecuador: <\/strong>Senior geotechnical\nengineer and member of multi-disciplinary team evaluating the factors and\ncauses of a pipeline rupture in 2009. \nTasks included site reconnaissance, review of geological information and\nin situ<\/em> instrumentation, development\nof soil parameters for numerical modelling of the pipeline and preparation of\ntechnical reports outlining geotechnical factors that contributed to the\nrupture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ground\nErosion and Property Damage, Penticton, BC: <\/strong>Expert\nwitness to assess the causes for property damage related to a major rain event\nthat induced surface erosion and soil sedimentation of properties downslope of\nan orchard property. Work included\nreview of site and construction documentation, review and assessment of\nproposed\/recommended erosion control measures and development of an expert\nopinion regarding the causes and mitigation measures to prevent property\ndamage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pipeline\nWrinkles, Norman Wells Pipeline, NT:<\/strong> Lead\npermafrost engineer to investigate the causes of the development of wrinkles at\nseveral locations on the Norman Wells crude oil pipeline in the Northwest\nTerritories. Team included pipeline engineers, experts in pipeline-soil\ninteraction modelling, pipeline operations staff. Prepared geotechnical evaluation report that\nwas filed with the Federal regulatory agency with jurisdiction over the\npipeline operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slope\nStability Studies, Norman Wells Pipeline, NT:<\/strong> Lead\ngeotechnical engineer to evaluate the stability of slopes along the pipeline\nroute and adjacent to the right-of-way. \nEvaluated movement data, provided recommendations for monitoring and\nmitigation measures, and prepared evaluation and inspection reports to be filed\nwith the National Energy Board. Acted as\na subject matter expert in annual review meetings between the pipeline operator\nand regulatory agencies and stakeholder groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Inuvik\nFemale Young Offenders Facility:<\/strong> Permafrost engineer and review expert as part\nof several teams to evaluate the causes for slab-on-grade movements of a\nstructure constructed on permafrost. \nEvaluated geotechnical conditions at the site and performance of the\nburied cooling system, consisting of thermosyphons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dawson City\nArena:<\/strong> Subject matter expert in an arbitration process\nbetween the contractor and facility owners regarding the performance of an ice\nrink slab-on-grade. Reviewed\ngeotechnical information and thermosyphon performance. Participated as an\nexpert witness to provide sworn testimony on the issues regarding the lack of\nperformance of the foundation cooling system and construction activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Canadian\nCoast Guard\/Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Base, Hay River, NT:<\/strong> Undertook several evaluations of permafrost degradation that were\nimpacting building foundations and slabs-on-grade at a site constructed on\nice-rich permafrost. Conducted\ninspections of foundation systems and evaluated monitoring data to assess\ntimelines for movement and provided mitigation options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Residential\nGas Explosion, Calgary AB:<\/strong> Expert witness retained\nby legal council to provide input regarding the frost conditions and potential\ninfluence of cold temperatures that may have contributed the breakage of a\nnatural gas residential service. The\nservice line had severed near the wall of the residence with gas leaking into\nthe structure and exploding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gulf Canada\nResources Limited, Tuktoyuktuk , NT:<\/strong> Completed a\nforensic evaluation of apparent foundation movements at a large industrial\nhousing complex constructed on permafrost. \nConducted a site inspection and interviewed staff to determine the cause\nof the apparent foundation movements. \nContrary to initial reports, the inspections and analysis concluded the\nissues were related to ground subsidence not foundation heave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bankers Hall\nShoring Movement, Calgary:<\/strong> Provided geotechnical\ninput and support to defence counsel regarding a $23 million lawsuit concerning\na movement of a shoring wall for a 15 m deep excavation. Reviewed all geotechnical information\nincluding expert testimony by defence and plaintiff experts, and assisted\ndefence lawyers in preparation of witnesses and defence strategy. Outcome was the successful defence at trial\nand appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past 35 years, Dr. Oswell has undertaken numerous investigations to evaluate the probable causes of \u201clack of performance\u201d events and failures. These investigations have included assessment of residential damage as the result of soil settlement, frost heave in the fatal rupture and explosion of a natural gas service line, movement of deep excavation … Continue reading “Forensic Investigations and Subject Matter Expert Services”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naviq.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}