With the insights of consulting engineering disciplines being steadily enhanced by the use of powerful digital technologies, SRK Consulting (South Africa) underpins its professional work with an in-house Data Services function.

This is delivering valuable results for SRK’s consulting teams, leading to the development of specialised digital solutions to streamline workflows and push boundaries of innovation, according to Ansu Louw, Principal GIS Consultant and Data Services Lead at SRK Consulting (South Africa).

“We initially put together a small data services unit in 2020, as part of our interest in digital transformation,” said Louw. “This has since grown to a staff of eight, including data engineers, software developers and data scientists”.

Automation for efficiency

The Covid-19 pandemic demanded the fast-tracking of online communication and other platforms, but the unit now focuses on data engineering to harness digital technology for more efficient and streamlined data collection, storage, analysis and visualisation.

“This allows our engineers and scientists to deliver greater value to their projects and clients, giving them specialised tools to process big data, for instance, and to facilitate deeper and different insights,” she explained. “Being focused on this fast-moving world of technology, we are also able to keep our colleagues abreast of what developments are interesting and available.”

Among the custom-developed applications developed by the team is a field logger for rock mass characterisation – for quickly capturing data on core samples, according to William Joughin, SRK Consulting (SA) corporate consultant and one of the country’s leading rock engineering specialists.

“This replaces a manual logging procedure which traditionally used a pen-and-paper method to log values; this data would need to be manually transferred to spreadsheets before calculations could be conducted,” said Joughin. “The process allowed errors to creep in at different stages – whereas our application places parameters on the input and reduces the room for error.”

More accuracy

The system not only avoids these errors and saves time, but provides instant calculations which can alert the user to any anomaly that might require immediate checking. Traditionally, the manual checking of data for errors is time-consuming and difficult, but is essential in achieving accurate results.

“Through applications like these, we can make our work more efficient while ensuring that data is more reliable and accurate,” he said.

The team was also involved in the development of KinApp, an application that performs kinematic analysis of a range of slope orientations and angles in a dataset – all within a single computation. The results can be represented graphically to instantly identify high risk areas and define slope design limits. Again, it has improved efficiency in routine analyses with commercially available software – reducing computational time by up to 60%.

Integrating data

Louw highlighted that the use of digital platforms can also help to integrate data generated by existing technologies. In working with mining clients on applying the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), SRK engineers have leveraged their in-house data expertise.

“Digital platforms allow us to integrate vibrating wire piezometers and inclinometers, for instance, into a digital framework that enhances data accessibility and usability,” she said.

“With near-real-time data collection, mining professionals can better monitor TSF performance, identify potential risks and make informed decisions to ensure safety.”

Accredited training

To support and empower colleagues with digital insights, the SRK Data Services unit also conducts a training course on digital transformation, including tutorials on programming language Python and analytics tool Power BI. The course is accredited by the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), so participants can also earn continuous professional development (CPD) points by attending.

The unit also presents a shorter course that is targeted at project coordinators and administration staff. Joughin noted that SRK’s engineers and scientists turn to its Data Services for specific advice, guidance and coaching on developing their own applications and tools. They also use the unit to conduct the more specialised coding and design of applications, to develop the solutions they require.

New solutions

“Our input on the digital side has contributed to a range of client projects, including automation tools for the processing and analysis of meteorological data such as humidity, temperature, rainfall and evaporation,” she said.

Joughin emphasised that – in addition to making studies and project work more efficient – SRK’s strategic integration of digital technologies is also aimed at supporting technical excellence that will develop new solutions.

“With larger volumes of more accurate data, and better analytics, we look for ways to reach technical goals that were not achievable in the past,” he said.

“This allows us to push the boundaries of science through applied research – which is currently particularly important, for instance, in the field of tailings management.”

Several of SRK’s digital innovations will be presented at the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) conference on digital transformation in mining later this month.