The Status of Engineering Geology: Constraints on Infrastructure Development in Bangladesh Dhaka University Mir Fazlul Karim1, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan2, Nazrul Islam Khandaker3, Masud Ahmed4 and Belal Ahmed Sayeed5 (1) Engineering Geologist, GeoTesting Express Inc., Geocomp Corporation, Acton, MA 01720, USA (2) Department of Geology, University of Dhaka, Ramna, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh (3) Geology Discipline, Earth and Physical Sciences, York College Of CUNY, 94-20, Guy R. Brewer Blvd, Jamaica, NY 11451, USA (4) New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Geotechnical Section, NYCDEP, 59-17, Junction Blvd, Queens, New York, NY 11373, USA (5) Dewberry Geotechnical Company. 132 W 31st St #301, New York, NY 10001, USA ABSTRACT In recent years, megacity Dhaka is known to have one of the fastest urban population growths in Bangladesh. The population in Dhaka and other megacities has increased from 7 to 50 million during the last four decades. The rapid rate of urban population growth, along with the extreme paucity of real-estate for new infrastructure development or upgrading existing facilities, is already exacerbating the situation for the city planners and exerting tremendous pressure to come-up with viable solutions. Although practice of engineering geology, geotechnical exploration, and testing exists in Bangladesh; the system has still yet to adopt controlled quality standards with unified and professionally acceptable methods. There is a dire need for accessing shallow borehole data via a central depository system in order to initiate, reassess and provide sound geoengineering recommendations for any contemplated capital construction projects. A well-coordinated system involving city agencies and private sectors can ease the situation for effecting communication regarding knowledge-sharing and keeping involved geotechnical personnel informed about already acquired data. Several development projects of the country received finance from various sources and were monitored by various agencies with prescribed methodology for execution and implementation. This diversity of funding, ownership and oversight of the projects has put the geotechnical exploration and testing system into challenging state in Bangladesh. Integration of pertinent geomorphic, regional geology, bedrock, water table and soil data will certainly aid understanding the constraints associated with any subsurface construction. Mega cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong will require intense modification in order to accommodate urban facilities, including installation of a multilevel transportation system with underground space utilization. On a positive note, the megacity of Dhaka has suitable natural ground conditions typified by sound geoengineering parameters. Standard geotechnical exploration coupled with assessment of geomorphic and geotechnical attributes will augment existing data to characterize geological materials and prepare detailed engineering/geotechnical reports to be used for design and capital construction projects. Geotechnical information from the recently completed City Water Tunnel # 3 (New York City) is considered. Table 1:The distribution of geological hazards in different geological environments of Bangladesh Port City Chittagong Generalized geology of Chittagong City Chittagong is the largest port city of Bangladesh. The engineering geology of the city is essentially influenced by the flood plain of the Karnaphuli River, the tidal plain along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and the undulated-to-dissected hills. The hilly area is formed of folded, soft sedimentary rocks of Mio-Pliocene age and it is the southern extension of Sitakunda Anticline. The bedrock formations are moderate to intensely fractured and faulted at a number of places. In the beginning, the city started settling mainly in the higher terrain except for a few patches of port facilities along the river mouth of Karnaphuli. Later, due to rapid increase of the urban population, the city extended into the lower alluvial and coastal plains without considering the geological aspects and constraints of these terrains. The subsurface engineering geologic conditions are strongly suitable for construction of underground tunnels and infrastructures, provided detailed bedrock engineering geology maps are prepared using standard seismic and geotechnical parameters . The city is exposed to landslide and slope instability, excavation of hills and valley fill, flash flood, soft soil, soil collapse, liquefaction, river and coastal erosion, tidal surges and flood. The geological hazards are associated with various geo-dynamic degradational and depositional geomorphological processes in this area. 5 7 2 3 Karnaphully Floodplain 1 3 6 and Valley Plain 8 4 1 9 Karnaphully Floodplain Figure 1: Geological Units 1 and 2 – Folded hills of Tertiary sedimentary rock 3 – Pleistocene Terraces Barind and Madhupur 4 – Old Alluvial Deposit (Chandina Alluvium) 5 – Alluvial Fan Deposit 6 – Paludal Deposit, Marshy clay & peat 7 – Young Alluvial Deposit (Inter-stream deposit) 8 and 9 – Deltaic and Coastal Deposit. Including Beach, Estuarine and Mangrove swamp deposits. Figure 6: Near Surface Engineering Geological Map of Chittagong City, Bangladesh (Karim, M F et al., 1990) Dhaka Megacity The Mega City of Dhaka occupies a unique geological location. The subsurface geology is firm and almost homogenously consistent. Geologically it is an old terrace raised considerably about 6m above sea level (AMSL). The surrounding floodplains are at about 4m AMSL. The ground is composed of Madhupur Clay. The Clay is Over-consolidated. The shear strength properties are considerably high. The Thickness of Madhupur Clay is about 6 m and it overlies a firm sandstone bed, geologically known as Dupi Tila Formation (Upper Dupi Tila Sandstone). It may be considered as very dense bedrock. The Madhupur Clay and Dupitila Sandstone are very much suitable for construction of underground structure, even for development of underground transportation system for this growing city. The study reveals that the city has been developed on an advantageous geological location consisting of raised Madhupur Clay Formation or older alluvium in respect to the surrounding floodplains of young alluvial deposits. Table 2: Significant geological hazards in major cities of Bangladesh Geological Environment RIVER EROSION AND FLOOD: CASE STUDY OF FURIOUS PADMA RIVER EROSIN IN NARIA URBAN AREA Bank line December 1984 Naria township on Old Natural Levee 2.53 miles Bank line December 2016 2.53 miles Bank line December 2017 Bank line December 1994 2.53 miles Old Natural Levee 2.53 miles Bank line December 2006 2.53 miles Erosion causes town to turn river. Failure of bank protection measures. Failure of stiff foundation on liquefiable sand and silt. Figure 7: The mighty river Padma is a complex flow of various pattern, ranging between meandering and swiftly shifting braided at different seasons of the year which is totally dependent on discharge and runoff in the Padma River watershed including human interferences and control along the upstream. This year the river was severely furious in her flow and bank erosion and caused severely furious in her flow and bank erosion and caused demolishing of hundreds of infrastructures, many villages and number of urban centers like Naria Municipality in Shariatpur. During the last months of September and August., 2018 more than 4,000 families have lost their homes. One renowned Bangladeshi geotechnical engineer M Humayun Kabir mentioned that failure due to hydrodynamic action of the Padma river, triggered by geomorphological processes in complex geological environment, including char formation of channel bars (Char) on the offshore of the erosion bank. The phenomena of hydro-soil interaction is further aggravated by the stiffer foundation system of the many infrastructures in urban Naria. The concerned geological institutes and geotechnical engineering group need to come forward for a detailed geological mapping, scientific investigation and geotechnical analysis of this furious failure. The failure analysis like Naria are not studied or described in American or European text books. Present authors speculate similar behavior of the river in the coming years due to global climatic shift and intense human interference along the upstream. LANDSLIDE IN CHITTAGONG Figure 8: LARGEST LANDSLIDE EVER OCCURRED IN THANCHI-BANDARBAN RD SECTION Pictured by Mir Fazlul Karim,1997. ADVANCEMENT IN ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL TESTING Valleys River bank erosion Y Y Y N N N Scour Soil erosion Earthquake Debris flow Y Y Y N Y Y Y N Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y N Y Y Slope failure Sand flow Subsidence Sw elling soil Water logging Flash flood Annual flood Saline w ater intrusion N Y N N N Y N N Y Y N Y N Y N N Y N Y N Y Y N N Y Y Y Y N Y Y N Y Y Y N N Y Y N Y Y Y N N N N Y Tidal flood N Y Y N N N Note : Y = Consideration of geological hazards is required. N = geological hazard indicated may be ignored. Hydrological hazards such as tidal bores and cyclones are not included in this table Dhaka Y Y N Y N N N Chittagong Y N N Y Y Y Y Khulna Y N Y Y N N Y Rajshahi Y Y N Y N Y N City Figure 2: DEM of Dhaka City and Tongi area. (Ground elevation Erosion Salt water intrusion Hills Landslide Coastal plain Subsidence Flood plain Water logging Fluvial/ Piedmont plain Soft soils and collapse Geological Hazards Geological hazards Swelling soils Terrace CONSTRAINTS ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH Geology of Bangladesh Dynamic river bank shifting changes the surface geology every year. History of Engineering Geology in Bangladesh The history of advancement of engineering geology in Bangladesh dates back to early seventies after the independence of the country. By the virtue of national capacity the Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) led the beginning of professional practice and contribution of engineering geology in Bangladesh. Among the pioneer engineering geologists of this land the most mentionable are Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Anisur Rahman, AKM Shahidul Hasan, Hasan Faruque, Khurshid Alam, Dr Khandokar Musharaff Hossain, Dr. Sajjad Hossain and Mir Fazlul Karim. Though the concept and understanding of engineering geology existed during the early development years (before 1980) of Bangladesh, the quantification of qualitative geological information and data for engineering application was very limited as the practice of civil engineering relied on rule of thumb methods. It is being noted that Mesbahuddin Ahmed was the first engineering geologist of Bangladesh. He coauthored the seismic code for structural design engineering, through a national committee (popularly known as Committee of Experts on Earthquake Hazard Minimization of Geological Survey of Bangladesh), where the structural engineering team was led by renowned civil engineer Dr. Jamilur Reza Choudhury of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). The first quantitative engineering geological input by a group of young geologists of Dhaka University Geology Department during a 1980 engineering exhibition of Bangladesh Institute of Engineers in Dhaka, sponsored by Md. Nurul Amin, an engineer of Foundation Consultants Ltd. The group was led by Mir Fazlul Karim and other members included Dr. Arif Mohiuddin Sikder and Dr. M. Aziz Hasan. The group made a poster session and participated in the exhibition to demonstrate geological factors responsible for damaging different infrastructures in the cities. The most innovative presentation attempted to convince civil engineers and policy makers that damage to the roads of Dhaka city and surrounding regions were caused by geological factors. The postulated causes were simple and concerned the Madhupur Clay that forms the ground of Dhaka city. The Madhupur Clay is composed of swelling clays and after every rainy season the roads get bumped up with swelling heaves and troughs causing fractures in the asphalt (or tarmacs in the airports) ultimately degrading their physical condition. The engineers from the Roads and Highways adopted a significant change in the design and construction of pavement and sub-base. The underlying red soils are removed and replaced by compacted soil/sand. This practice changed the quality of roads sharply in Dhaka city since early eighties. Afterward many geologists of Bangladesh worked directly or indirectly for the advancement of Engineering Geology in Bangladesh. I would like to mention the names with due respect for their contributions. These include Dr. Badrul Imam in petroleum and mining engineering approaches, Dr. Syed Humayun Akhter in earthquake, structural and tectonics, which provided a direction for hazard assessments, Dr. Hossain Monsur for his great work in understanding of Quaternary geology that is an integral part of engineering geology, Dr. Maksud Kamal and Md. Zillur Rahman for thier great work on Dhaka city and disaster management. Simultaneously, many professional civil engineers continued to support the necessity of geological information in their design and Bangladesh Roads and Highways included the Geological Survey of Bangladesh in their design team during geotechnical investigation and design phase of first Buriganga Bridge. ranges between 7 and 4m, scaled with dark and light colour while blue shows water or marshy surface. Compare the past drainage map ). Figure 4: Natural drainage map of the Dhaka-Tongi area. Prepared from aerial photographs of 1952. Arrows show the surface slope and water flow directions. All these streams are clogged due to urbanization. (Karim, M F. et al., 1993) Figure 3: 3D Block model of Dhaka city surface geology and top two layers of very stiff to hard clay and moderately lithified sandstone bed showing very dense urban settlement BH Table 3: Factors that affect development in Greater Dhaka city. Rating Factors Liquefaction Slope failure Flood Waterlogging Unit 1. Hazardous a. b. c. d. 3 2&1 3&2 1&2 e. Fill collapse 3 2. Poor a. Ground collapse and subsidence 3 b. Swelling clays c. Soft to firm clay, organic soils, and municipal waste 1 2&3 Groundwater discharging from joints. Water Tunnel #3, NY Areas Floodplain of Buriganga river Along streams and depression edges Areas below normal flood level Areas where natural drainage is blocked Filled abandoned water‐wells, ponds and depressions Low areas with partially saturated sand/silt Figure 9: Portion of Manhattan Water Tunnel #3 (New York City) excavated by TBM (prior to 2010). elevation < 2 m Nazrul Khandaker inspecting samples from the partially weathered zone. Mostly central or high area Eastern part of Greater Dhaka city BH Figure 5: An open cut exposure of Madhupur Clay Residuum consisting of very stiff to hard clay & clay-silt. The average Undrained Shear Strength is >150kPa and Shear Wave Velocity ranges between 650 and 1000 ft/sec. Unit 1 in Figure3 and Table 3. (Mir Fazlul Karim a former Director of Geological Survey of Bangladesh and presently Engineering Geologist at Geocomp Corporation, USA and AKM Khorshed Alam, a former Director General of Geological Survey of Bangladesh working for detailed geological mapping of Dhaka terrace). Resonant ColumnTorsional Shear Test (RCT) Summary Geology played a key role in the construction of the New York City Water Tunnel#3. Sound geotechnical information not only enabled tunnel to be constructed over the course of allotted time, also prevented New York City agency from encountering any notable geotechnical disaster! Acquisition of proper geological information is extremely vital to any tunnel or capital construction projects in terms of resource utilization, time, and most importantly the welfare of personnel involved in the construction and design phase. Megacities like Dhaka and other major cities including recent start of tunnel construction in Chittagong are now becoming a fertile ground to test out these pivotal geoengineering concepts/principles to achieve maximum effectiveness towards accomplishing geoengineering tasks. Knowledge of bedrock and engineering geology and timely sharing of compiled geotechnical information with engineers, drillers, management team and adoption of standard geotechnical exploration and testing system – key to a successful completion of the project and achieve sustainable urban development in Bangladesh. Figure 10: Ahmedul Hassan, a civil engineer from Dhaka, visiting a fully Automated Geotechnical Testing Laboratory, consisting of testing facilities for a wide range of rock and soil parameters and properties to accommodate testing facilities for RAJUK (Dhaka City Dev Authority). While Nancy Hubbard demonstrates test with automated Resonant Column and Torsional Shear Test. Mir Fazlul Karim of Geocomp Corporation devoted to transfer the technology to Bangladesh with keen cooperation and support from Qumrul Hassan, Maksud Kamal, Mehdi Ansary, Tahmeed Al Hussaini and Md. Zillur Rahman. (Courtesy: Gary T. Torosian, Geocomp Corporation, Massachusetts, USA). Questions? Please contact: Mir F Karim geologist.karim@gmail.com / Dr. Nazrul Khandaker nkhandaker@york.cuny.edu