Researcher Highlights
Rock steady

Professor Anna Giacomini, Principal Researcher in the University's Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical and Materials Modelling, is committed to innovating, promoting and improving safety in mining and civil environments.

Whilst the Australian mining industry is recognised globally for its focus on workplace health and safety, mining personnel are challenged with risks every day. Rockfalls threaten human lives, machinery and the portal structures for underground entry located at the toe of highwalls. Such hazards can also have profound financial consequences if production temporarily stops for safety issues.

Anna has been working in Rock Mechanics and Civil Engineering for more than 20 years, having received her PhD from the University of Parma, Italy in 2003. In 2007 she joined the University of Newcastle as a research academic. Anna has enriched her extensive research experience in rockfall analysis and rock mechanics from civil engineering to mining, adapting to her new Australian environment. Between 2009 and 2011, as the principal researcher of an Australian Research Council Linkage Project she helped develop new designs for barriers to protect valuable infrastructure, such as roads and railways, from rock fall hazards.

Her contributions to the field have been recognised by the Australian resource sector: she has been leading over 10 major projects through the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) on rockfall hazard and mitigation. Together with her team, she uses innovative full scale experimental testing, novel laboratory testing techniques and advanced 3D numerical modelling to provide a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of all the major components of rockfall hazard at a given mine site.

"While each mine site is different and each highwall has different needs depending on the geological configuration of the outcropped rocks and how the highwall has been excavated, our numerical tool can be used at any mine," she explains. “We can provide mines with the information they need to manage the risk of rock fall at their particular site."

"We can also give an indication of the residual hazard associated with rock fall drapery system protection measures and provide crucial information for the safe and effective design of portals and roads in open cut mines."

While Anna's research has developed locally to understand the intricacies of the Australian environment, it is universal in scope and is potentially adaptable to many mining sites worldwide. Innovation in the resource sector cannot solely focus on technology, meaning Anna's work on processes and programs to improve safe work practices in dangerous worksites are valuable to industry and individuals.

In 2012, Anna and her team have also used advanced experimental and numerical analyses to investigate the energy absorption capacity of waste rock (muck) engineered barriers in various surface mining applications. Data provided unique worldwide experimental evidence on the effect of dynamic impacts of trucks on safety berms and useful recommendations for a safer mining environment.

The research has developed advanced numerical modelling for the simulation of trucks running into windrows with a various range of velocities and approach angles (up or over 60km/hr). The outcome has provide more rigorous guidance for windrows for haul roads enabling the mine sites to define speed limits with more confidence, and to adapt the design of windrows for various scenarios where trucks can potentially travel at high velocities.

Anna’s contribution to science in rock mechanics and rockfall analysis has been recognised by several awards such as the recent 2022 Prize for Excellence in Engineering or Information and Communications Technology under the 2022 NSW Premier's Prizes for Science & Engineering, the 2019 John Booker Medal from the Australian Academy of Science, the 2019 Best Practice Industry Engagement Award she received from the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources. In 2018 she also received the prestigious Vice Chancellor’s Award for Research Supervisor of the year, and in 2013 the Pro Vice Chancellor Research Excellence Award for her demonstrated research excellence in the field.

Women in STEM

Anna is a co-founder of HunterWiSE, a group dedicated to promoting and supporting girls and women in STEM.

HunterWiSE features two interlinked actions aimed at increasing the number of girls and women participating in STEM through a school program and a series of networking events across the Hunter for women STEM professionals.

This approach is designed to steer women toward STEM, and encourage their retention in the STEM pipeline.