Head of School & Research Director
(Kenneth Finlay Professor of Rock Mechanics)
MEA Node: UNSW School of Mining Engineering)

Email: b.hebblewhite@mea.edu.au
Phone: 02 9385 5160

Qualifications

B.E. in Mining Engineering, University of New South Wales, 1974
Ph.D in Mining Engineering, University of Newcastle upon Tyne 1977
Diploma AICD, University of New England, 1991

Employment

1974 – 77 Cleveland Potash Ltd, Mining Engineer/Research Assistant.
1977 – 79 ACIRL Ltd, Mining Engineer.
1979 – 81 Senior Mining Engineer.
1981 – 83 Manager, Mining.
1983 – 95 Divisional Manager, Mining.
1995 – present UNSW, School of Mining Eng. Research Director (Kenneth Finlay Chair of Rock Mechanics)
2003 – present Head of School and Research Director
2006 – present Executive Director, Mining Education Australia

Professional Societies

Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Member
Australian Geomechanics Society, Member
International Society of Rock Mechanics, Member; & President – ISRM Mining Interest Group
American Institute of Mining Engineers, Member
Australian Institute of Company Directors, Member
Society of Mining Professors – Member of Council

Teaching Areas

Rock mechanics/geotechnical engineering/strata control
Mining processes & systems
Mine planning & design
Coal mining methods (underground)

Research Interests

Thick seam underground coal mining systems
Caving mechanics
Rock reinforcement/ground control
Mine subsidence

Selected Recent Publications

Hebblewhite, B K, Simpson, J & Fowler, J C W, 1997. Windblast investigations and operational experience  at Newstan Colliery, in First Intern.. Underground Coal Conf – Improving longwall performance  through quality assurance, pp 133-144 (UNSW: Sydney).
Salamon, M D G, Galvin, J M & Hebblewhite, B K, 1997. Pillar Design – a review of South African and  Australian databases and development of an integrated pillar strength determination, in SARES97 – First  Sth Afr. Rock Eng. Symp., Johannesburg, pp 547-556.
Hebblewhite, B K, Galvin, J M & Vasundhara, 1999. Barrier and chain pillar design research outcomes: Angus  Place Colliery, in Eight Aust. NZ Conf. on Geomechanics, Hobart, Tasmania, pp 15-17.
Hebblewhite, B K, Waddington, A, & Wood J, 2000. Regional horizontal surface displacements due to  mining beneath severe surface topography, in Proc. 19th Int. Conf. On Ground Control in Mining,  Morgantown, WVA, USA, pp149-157.
Hebblewhite, B, Cai, Y, Sainsbury, D, Li, T, Finn, D, Berry, M, 2003. Investigation of geomechanical criteria for  safe and efficient crown pillar extraction beneath stabilized rockfill at the Crusader Mine, in Proc. of 10th ISRM  Congress, “Technology roadmap for rock mechanics”, SAIMM, Johannesburg, Sth Africa, Sept, ISBN 1-  919783-52-0, pp1001-1006 .
Fowler, J & Hebblewhite, B, 2003. Managing the hazard of wind blast/air blast in caving operations in  Australian underground mines, in 1st Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conf., UNSW/EAGCG,  Sydney, Australia, Nov, ISBN 0 7334 2085 0, pp33-44.
Hebblewhite, B, Lu, T, 2004. Geomechanical behaviour of laminated, weak coal mine roof strata and the  implications for a ground reinforcement strategy. Int. J Rock Mech. & Min. Sc. 41, pp147-157.
Hebblewhite, B, Crosky, A, Fabjanczyk, M & Gray, P, 2004. Investigations into premature bolt failures in  Australian coal mines due to stress corrosion cracking in Proc. Int. Ground Control Conference, Perth.
Hebblewhite, B, 2005. Status and prospects of underground thick coal seam mining methods. 19th  Int’l Mining Congress, Turkey (IMCET2005), Izmir, Turkey, June 2005