The Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance organization investigated five major landslides in and around Palu City in 2018. Aaron Gallant’s international geotechnical engineering informs his teaching and research on the performance and behavior of natural landforms, geomaterials and subsurface infrastructure.
Delving into disaster Aaron Gallant’s geotechnical engineering research informs international work in earthquake reconnaissance
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alu City in Indonesia resembled a bomb site to Aaron Gallant when he arrived on Nov. 11, 2018. Two months prior, the 7.5-magnitude Palu-Donggala earthquake wreaked havoc on the city and central Sulawesi. The shockwaves, landslides and tsunami they stirred decimated communities across the region and took thousands of lives. Gallant, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Maine, was there to help understand how it all went wrong. The geotechnical engineer was conducting post-earthquake field reconnaissance as part of a group of researchers from the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) organization. His team focused on the five major landslides in and around Palu City that were triggered by the earthquake, attempting to collect information and data explaining how they occurred. Gallant has investigated the interactions between the earth and manmade structures for years. The expedition in Indonesia was his introduction to disaster reconnaissance. Oregon State University researcher Ben Mason led the team, which included Gallant, University of Washington engineer Joseph Wartman, Auburn University researcher Jack Montgomery, Auburn University undergraduate researcher Nicole Reed and Daniel Hutabarat, at the time a University of California, Berkeley graduate researcher and Indonesian native. They also worked with scientists and engineers
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UMAINE ENGINEERING 2021/2022
from Indonesia’s Center for Earthquake Studies (PusGen) and the Indonesian Society of Geotechnical Engineers (HATTI). Gallant’s research focuses on how the ground and built environment interact, which includes interplay between soil and structures, and how outside forces affect both. Advancing insight into this relationship factored into studies in blast densification, anchor assessment for aquaculture and other applications, and column supported embankment. Investigating the ramifications of disasters like earthquakes on infrastructure and the earth on which it is built serves as an additional avenue for Gallant’s expertise. Gallant and his colleagues conducted six days of fieldwork in central Sulawesi. Their work has produced several studies — some co-authored by members of HATTI and PusGen — but Gallant and his colleagues continue delving deeper into the tragedy. They hope to provide more insight into earthquakes like the 2018 disaster in Indonesia and how to mitigate damage. “I jumped on the opportunity, and I would have to say it’s certainly been a career highlight so far,” Gallant says. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to get into.” “Natural disasters, or extreme events, like earthquakes and tsunamis, are certainly interesting to study, and they can have some serious consequences,” Gallant says. The Palu-Donggala earthquake began more than 40 miles north of
