GUWAHATI, July 30 - The 1,300 km-long Karakoram Highway, which connects Hasan Abdal in Punjab province of Pakistan with Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan, dubbed by the engineering community as the �Eighth Wonder of the World� for its construction marvel, has an Assam connection.
A London-based Assamese engineer's methods for handling the slopes are linked with it. This highway is one of the highest paved roads in the world, passing through a difficult terrain at a maximum elevation of 4,714 metres, that is 15,466 feet at a stage, near the Khunjerab Pass.
The engineering methods developed by this renowned Assamese scholar for handling the slopes are known world over as the �Sarma Methods of Slope Stability Analysis�. But since these methods are in public domain, these can be used by anyone, who knows how to use them without consulting the engineer � Prof Sarada Sarma, a Professor Emeritus of the Imperial College, London. Prior to the second method developed by Prof Sarma in 1979, rock slopes were designed as if they were made of soil.
His 1979 method is generally used for cutting in the mountainous regions, while the first method developed by him in 1973, is more applicable for designing the soil slopes.
When contacted, Prof Sarma said that he has been informed by the builders of the Karakoram Highway that his methods have been used in its construction. But, he maintained, he was not personally involved in the designing of this Highway.
Born in Guwahati in March, 1939, Sarma an alumnus of Cotton Collegiate High School (1954 Matriculation Batch), Cotton College and IIT Kharagpur, obtained his PhD degree from the Imperial College, London. His research work for the PhD is still considered a seminal work for analysis and design of earth dams and slopes against earthquakes. He received the British Geotechnical Society Prize in 1967 for this research work and in 1987, he received the T K Hseigh Award of the ICE for his paper on seismic analysis of rock-fill dams with central clay cores. This paper he co-authored with one of his students, Mr Barbosa. It was published in the Geotechnique.
His 1973 and 1979 research works are quite unique and famous. They are used by other designers and analysts for both seismic and non-seismic situations adopted for civil and mine engineering for rock slope designs. These methods are very popular in China and some other countries, said Prof Sarma.
So far, Prof Sarma has to his credit nearly 100 published scientific papers. Some of them are solo and some are jointly prepared with students or colleagues. Most of these papers are well known ones and cited by other researchers. He is invited by many universities world over, as visiting professor on engineering seismology and soil dynamics. He was a committee member for the drafting of the Eurocode-8 part 5 for seismic design of foundations and geotechnical aspects. He is a referee for the British, Australian, Canadian and Hong Kong Research Councils for adjudicating research proposals for award of grants.
The Indian Government also invited him for advice on the seismological and geotechnical aspects, following the disastrous January 2001 Bhuj Earthquake.
Prof Sarma is also a leading consultant for various agencies like the US Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi; Bougainville Coppers Ltd, Papua New Guinea; BP Seismic stability of the sea floor west of Scotland; Watson Hawksley on Stability analysis of Benutan Dam, Brunei for static and earthquake loading; WS Atkins and Partners for Seismic hazard assessment of Gargar river dam site, Algeria (for ground motion estimates); Atkins Mouchell on the peer review of geotechnical investigation and seismic hazard study of Sellafield Nuclear Generation and Nirex deep repository study, among others.