Coal Award - Winner 1999
Ken Barron, FCIMEdmonton, Alberta
“In recognition of tireless contributions to the Coal Division of CIM, and milestone achievements in Canadian coal mining research and education, which have been of substantial benefit to the Canadian coal industry.”
Dr. Barron has over 35 years, research experience in the study of rock mechanics and ground control problems associated with both underground and surface operations in hard and soft rock mines. He has worked with The National Coal Board (U.K.), CANMET, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa, and was Managing Director of the Coal Mining Research Centre, Devon, Alberta, prior to joining the University of Alberta as Professor of Mining in 1984. From 1992 to 1996 he was Chair of the Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineering. In 1996 he served as Director of the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering.
His past research includes the design and development of instrumentation for ground control measurements; theoretical, model and field studies related to underground rock mechanics problems (including rock bursts) in deep hard rock mines; and time dependent deformation studies in salt and potash mines. He developed a design theory for, and demonstrated the first mining application of, the use of artificial support to stabilize pit slopes.
In recent years his research has concentrated on ground control problems associated with open pit and underground coal mines. He developed analysis procedures for regressive multiple block plane shear failures that may occur in plains coal mines in Alberta. A computer based design analysis procedure to assess the stability of pillars in coal mines, developed by Dr. Barron, has been validated by comparison with a number of field case histories. Studies of the problem of methane outbursts in underground coal mines have recently lead to the development of the first quantitative model to explain the occurrence of sandstone outbursts in the coal mines of Nova Scotia. He has published over 110 research papers and reports. He has been an active member of CIM, and is past chairman of the Calgary and Edmonton Branches, and of the Coal Division of CIM. He received the CIM District 5 Proficiency Medal in 1983, and was elected a Fellow of CIM in 1989. In 1994 he was presented the Rock Mechanics Award of the (now) Rock Mechanics Committee of CIM.