ARMA Student Design Competition 2025

1.  A team of up to five (5) undergraduate and/or graduate students enrolled in programs related to rock mechanics and rock engineering, such as civil engineering, mining engineering, geological engineering, etc., can be formed.

2.  A team does not need be from a registered ARMA Student Chapter.

3.  Every competing team should have a faculty advisor. The role of the faculty advisor will be limited to ensuring that the competition rules are followed throughout the duration of the contest.

4.  Every team should select a captain. Communications regarding the competition will be made to the captain.

5.  A university may have more than one participating team.

6.  After teams have been officially registered for the student design competition, they may not communicate with other teams about their solutions.

The deadline to register a team for ARMA-SDC 2025 has passed. The following is for information only.

Teams must register by scanning the QR code in the promotional flyer and filling out the registration form.

As part of the design competition, the explanatory webinar on 13 March 2025 reviewed the competition design problem and provided a tutorial for working with ITASCA’s FLAC2D software, which has been made available to every student team during the competition.

FLAC2D version 9 is available through ITASCA’s download page. If you have any questions using FLAC2D or the web license, please email David DeGagné, Senior Engineer (Technical Marketing) with ITASCA Minneapolis, at ddegagne@oneitasca.com.

Note that teams may use any software or analysis tool that they prefer.

Every team must submit a report with the team’s solution, addressing the topics outlined by the Problem Statement, before the submission deadline, 11 April 2025. The report should be concise (ideally, up to eight pages), but there is no formal limit.

The submitted report should address the following topics:

1. Problem definition.

2. Geological / geotechnical model (represented by a sketch).

3. Numerical modeling approach. Comment on the use of a 2D model versus 3D.

4. Overall approach, including assumptions.

5. Discussion of numerical modeling results:

– Plots of FOS contours and calculated FOS
– State of stress in the crown pillar over the course of mining
– Plasticity indicators (material yielding / failure)
– History displacements

6. How sensitive is the mine design to stress k-ratio?

7. Discuss the importance of tight mine backfill. What would you expect if the mining operation could not achieve tight backfill conditions?

8. What are your strategy and recommendations for the crown pillar?

9. What are the key risks to the proposed design?

10. How might these risks be mitigated?

The reports will be evaluated by the panel of judges that include ARMA experts from academia, industry, and government agencies.

Cash prizes (in USD) will be awarded to the top three teams, as follows:

First place: $1000
Second place: $650
Third place: $350

The winners will be acknowledged in the ARMA Monthly News and on the ARMA website.

NOTE: Participants residing in countries with financial transfer restrictions from the USA may be unable to receive the cash prize.