Peter Knoll

Peter Knoll

Wilhelm Peter Knoll (born June 14, 1940 in Eilenburg ) is a German physicist , professor of geophysics and entrepreneur . His main areas of work are rock mechanics and induced seismicity.

Education and graduation

Peter Knoll is the second of three children of master plumber Wilhelm Knoll and his wife Liesbeth Knoll. He attended elementary school in Eilenburg and then the local high school . After graduating from high school in 1958, he went to the Technical University in Dresden , since 1961 Technical University of Dresden , and studied physics in the field of nuclear physics. In 1965 he acquired the academic degree of diploma physicist with the diploma thesis: "Development and construction of a detection device for exoelectrons on LiF crystal phosphors".

He obtained his doctorate in the field of geomechanics with the dissertation "Contribution to the influence of time on the deformation and fracture of carnallite" as an external at the Technical University of Bergakademie Freiberg (TU BA Freiberg) in 1970 with the academic degree of doctoral engineer (Dr. -Ing.) Successfully completed. His academic teachers were academician Karl-Heinz Höfer from Leipzig and Werner Gimm from Freiberg .

The habilitation (Doctorate B) to the Doctor of Science (Doctor scientiae technicarum, Dr. sc. Techn.) In the field of mining took place in 1981 also as an external at the TU BA Freiberg with a paper on the topic “The geomechanical mechanism of rockfalls in the Mining ”under the scientific supervision of Tilo Döring from Freiberg and Klaus Thoma from Leipzig.

Activity in practice

Knoll started his career in 1965 in the state-owned company "Geophysics Leipzig" as a research engineer. His area of work was the development and field testing of acoustic log logging devices.

In the period from 1966 to 1982 Knoll worked at the "Institute for Mining Safety Leipzig" at the Supreme Mining Authority of the GDR . Here he was head of the geomechanics research department and carried out research in the field of the stability of underground cavities under dynamic load conditions and as an expert for underground and surface mining. In this context, he was a member of various expert groups on mining safety above and below ground, worked on numerous research projects at home and abroad as well as expert for underground cavities, heaps and embankments.

His main fields of work during this time were: rockfalls in potash, ore and coal mining; Dynamic deformation and fracture behavior of inhomogeneous and anisotropic rock masses; Time-dependent deformation and fracture behavior of rocks and mountain bodies; Development of economical and safe mining methods.

Professor at the Academy of Sciences

Since 1982 Knoll has been working at the Central Institute for Earth Physics (at the site of today's geological research center) in Potsdam . Here Knoll was head of the Geomechanics and Seismicity department, head of the seismology department and deputy to the institute director Heinz Kautzleben . In 1983 he was appointed professor of geophysics at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (AdW) in Berlin .

At the same time, he was a member of the Scientific Council of the Geo- and Cosmos Sciences research program, a member of the National Committee for Geodesy and Geophysics of the AdW and head of the GDR's national working group in the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE). National and international research projects in the fields of rock mechanics and seismology, expert and control activities for underground and surface mining as well as for seismic and geophysical exploration took place.

His main fields of work during this time were: Anthropogenically induced seismicity, especially in mining and in the underground extraction and storage of gaseous and liquid media; Development of seismic measurement and monitoring networks as well as methods for the acquisition and processing of geoscientific data. For his work in the field of mining rock mechanics and the fight against rockfalls, he was awarded the National Prize 1st Class for Science and Technology in 1988 .

Knoll is married and has lived with his wife since he moved to the academy in Potsdam . His daughter is the writer Else Buschheuer .

Independent activity

Since 1990 Knoll has been the owner of the “GTU INGENIEURBÜRO Prof. Dr. Knoll ”and managing partner of the“ GEO-DYN Society for Geophysical Measurement and Geotechnical Investigations ”(the latter until 2002). His activity includes the development, installation and operation of geophysical and geotechnical control and monitoring systems in mines and UT landfills and repositories, geotechnical structures and cavities. He is also the head of the registered “Specialist Office for Vibration and Noise Immission and Emissions” and carries out project controlling and construction supervision for old mining and contaminated sites.

His main fields of work are:

• Research on mining-induced seismicity in potash, ore and hard coal mining,
• Long-term safety evidence of surface and underground landfills in the context of spatial planning and planning approval procedures,
• Long-term safety analyzes for radioactive waste repositories and for backfill mines,
• Analysis of the geotechnical stability of embankments, landfills and underground cavities,
• Planning of landfills and geotechnical structures,
• Investigations of fallow land (industrial and mining wastelands),
• Construction and mining-accompanying evidence measurements,
• Geophysical explorations and development of geomechanical protection concepts with a focus on old mining.

From 2001 to 2005 he was the technical director of "GTS Grube Teutschenthal Safety GmbH & Co. KG" in Teutschenthal , Saxony-Anhalt, and then from 2005 to 2008 a specialist consultant for this company.

His main areas of activity during this period from 2001 to 2008 included:

• Technological planning of the long-term safe custody of the mine building as well as associated project control,
• Technical management of several BMBF and MW LSA-funded R&D projects to ensure the long-term safety of a backfill mine in the Carnallitic salt mountains, which are at risk of rockfall and are extremely sensitive to liquids, as well as immediate implementation of the results in operational use:
  • From 2002 to 2007 project manager of the interdisciplinary R&D project "Development of a pumpable offset to secure collapsible pit structures in carnallite mining" (funding: Ministry of Economy MW, State of Saxony-Anhalt LSA),
  • From 2002 to 2007 project manager of the interdisciplinary R&D project "Development of long-term safe horizontal dam structures under complicated geological conditions (easily soluble salt rocks: Carnallitit)" (funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF),
  • from 2003 to 2008 project manager of the interdisciplinary R&D project "Procedure for the long-term protection of solution-filled caverns in the salt mountains" (funding: Federal Ministry of Economics BMWi).

Work stays abroad

Knoll completed a variety of academic work abroad (more than 2 weeks; alphabetically):

• Egypt: Seismological Observatories Cairo and Aswan
• Bulgaria: Rock salt cavern field Mirovo / Provadia
• China: Academy of Sciences, Geoscientific Institutes in Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai
• CSSR: Academy of Sciences, Geoscientific Institutes Prague; Ostrava Coal District: Central Institute; Coal mines
• India: Indian Academy of Sciences ; geoscientific institutes in Dehra Dun , Bombay (Mumbai), New Delhi, Trivandrum ; Cochin University of Science and Technology; National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) Bangalore and gold mining in Kolar Gold Fields
• Yugoslavia: Institute for Geotechnical Engineering Belgrade; Large open-cast copper mine Bor
• Poland: Main Mining Institute (GIG) Katowice and coal and copper mines
• South Africa: Old coal mining in the Mabuto Corridor, gold mining
• USSR and Russia: All Union Research Institute for Mine Surveys (VNIMI) Leningrad (Petersburg); Mining Institute of the Siberian Department of the Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk; Mining Institute Moscow; Kola branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Apatity, Kola Peninsula, coal mining Kuzbass / Siberia
• USSR and Kazakhstan: Institute for Rock Physics and Mine Surveying of the Kazakh AdW; Alma-Ata (Almaty)
• USSR or Kyrgyzstan: Institute for Physics and Mechanics of Rocks of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, Frunze (Bishkek)
• USA: US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Cal .; Stanford University, Cal .; University of Minnesota, Minn .; Refraction Technology Corp., Dallas / Texas.

Memberships and honors (selection)

• Member since 1966 and z. T. Head of working groups:
  • of the International Bureau for Rock Mechanics (IBG) (initially at AdW Berlin; later at the main mining institute GIG Katowice / Poland),
  • of the International (IAEE) and European (EAEE) Association for Earthquake Engineering (each national delegate of the GDR until 1990)
  • of the International Society for Rock Mechanics ISRM (Head of the National Group of the GDR until 1991)
  • the German Society for Geotechnics (DGGT), the German Geophysical Society (DGGy),
  • of the German Society for Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics (DGEB) until 2001,
  • of the Austrian Society for Geomechanics (ÖGG)
  • as well as other professional associations and societies.

• 1994 to 2011 Publicly appointed and sworn expert for underground cavities and embankments; Recognized expert from several mining and higher mining offices (North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Saarland)
• since 2006 member of the editorial board of the journal "Fizikotekhnicheskie Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemych (Journal of Mining Science)" of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Novosibirsk Mining Institute
• since 2009 member of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin , participation in the working group "Geo, Mining, Environmental, Space and Astro Sciences "
• Member of the expert group of the Ministry for the Environment of the State of Saxony-Anhalt in the planning approval procedure for the decommissioning of the Morsleben repository for radioactive waste (ERAM)

Awards

• 1975 and 1982 Medal of Honor from the Scientific and Technical Center of the Soviet-German Stock Corporation (SDAG) in Wismut
• 1979 Order Banner of Labor , Level I
• 1988 National Prize for Science and Technology, 1st class
• 2016 Daniel Ernst Jablonski Medal from the Leibniz Society

Publications

Knoll has given a variety of lectures at national and international scientific events, some of which he initiated and helped to organize himself. His scientific publications also reflect his teamwork and comprise over 100 papers. He has developed patents for processes as well as numerous reports and expert reports; For this purpose, he has created around 380 unpublished final reports, some of which are very extensive and in several volumes, of research projects, reports, expert opinions and specialist reports for authorities, companies and courts in the context of research and engineering.

• with M. Frank, L. Herforth , F. Müller: Comparative Studies of Thermoluminescence and Thermostimulated Exoelektron Emission of LiF. Proceedings Int. Conf. to Luminescence, Budapest, 1966, pp. 784-787
• with K. Thoma, W. Menzel, H. Milde, G. Lorenz: To combat mountain blows when excavating cavities in the granite. Report on the 10th country meeting of the International Bureau for Mountain Mechanics (IBG) 1968. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1970, pp. 69–77
• Contribution to the influence of time on the deformation and breakage of salt rocks. Freiberg research booklet, No. A528, 1973; 91 p., 49 fig., 42 tab.
• with Z.-S. Erzhanov, AJ Sinjaev, W. Hüls, MT Tusupov, U. Desert, KB Aldamzarov, F. Georgi: Osnovy rasceta procnosti podzemnych sooruzenij v trescinovattych Skal'nych porodach. Isd. Nauka Kaz. SSR, Alma-Ata 1978, 75 p., 22 fig., 4 tab
• with P. Bankwitz, H. Thurm, MM Schneider, K. Thoma: Stress distribution in the southeast of the German Democratic Republic, derived from direct underground measurements and recent crust movements. Fiz. techn. problem raz. pole. iskop., Novosibirsk 1978, 4, pp. 3-8
• Liquid-induced seismic events - an expression of the behavior of the fractured mountain range as a multi-phase system. Fundamentals and application of rock mechanics, Trans. Tech. Publ., Clausthal 1978, pp. 167-175.
• with E. Hurtig, H. Grosser, R. Poppitz: On some questions about the hearth mechanism and rock mechanism in seismic events in mining areas. Proceedings IASPEI - Symp. On Earthquake Foci Phys ..; Int. Symp. On Laboratory fracture mechanics related to earthquake source physics, Bad Honnef / BRD, Sept. 1978
• with W. Hüls: Interaction between different kinds of support and the solid fissured ground. Adv. Rock Mech., Vol. III, Proceedings 3rd Congr. Int. Soc. Rock Mech., Denver / Col. (USA), 1974; Nat. Acad. Sc., Washington DC (1979), pp. 123-128
• with A. Schwandt, K. Thoma: The importance of geological-tectonic elements in the mountains for mining, illustrated using the example of the Werra potash district in the GDR. Proceedings 5th Int. Symp. On Salt, Hamburg (FRG), 1978; Northern Ohio Geol. Soc., Vol. I (1979), pp. 105-113
• with K. Thoma, E. Hurtig: Rockfalls and seismic events in mining areas. Rock Mech., Vienna, Suppl. 10 (1980), pp. 85-102
• with H. Stiller, E. Hurtig, H. Grosser: On the Mechnism of the Interaction of Geotectonic Stress-Field and the Origin of Microearthquakes. Proceedings Internat. Symp. On Continental Seismology and Earthquake Prediction, Beijing (China) 1982, pp.384-389
• with E. Hurtig, H. Grosser, F. Tauber: Seismological and geomechanical studies of a strong seismic event in the potash mines of the GDR; Implications for predicting mining tremors. Proceedings Int. Symp. On Earthquake Prediction, UNESCO Conf., April 1979, Paris, Terra Publ. Comp., Tokyo (1984), 351-361
• Investigation of the geomechanical mechanism of rockfalls with seismological models. Berg- und Hüttenmännische monthly books, 132nd Jg. (1987) 4, pp. 97-103
• with W. Kuhnt: Seismological and technical investigations of the mechanics of rock bursts. In: Faihurst, Ch. (Ed.): Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines. AA Balkema (1990), pp. 129-138; Proceedings of the 2nd Int. Symp. On Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines; Minneapolis, Aug. 8-10 June 1988
• with G. Gruenthal: Minor seismic hazards from swarm earthquakes. Proceedings 9th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Tokyo / Kyoto 1988, vol. 8th
• The dynamic excess pore pressure concept - a new possible mechanism for fluid-induced seismic events. Gerl. Contribution Geophys. Leipzig, 99 (1990) 3, pp. 247-258.
• with D. Werner (Eds.): Earthquake engineering - engineering seismological principles, regulations and standards; Case studies. Book series of the German Society for Earthquake Engineering and Building Dynamics e. V. (DGEB), Hanover, No. 5; Potsdam 1991, 418 pp.
• Ed .: Induced Seismicity. Verlag AA Balkema, Rotterdam 1992, 460 pp.
• with G. Kowalle: The Fracture Mechanics of Induced Seismic Events; Problems and Advances. In: R. Console, A. Nikolaev (Ed.): Earthquakes Induced by Underground Nuclear Explosions - Environmental and Ecological Problems. Springer, publ. in coop. with NATO Scientific Affairs Division, Series: NATO Science Partnership Subseries: 2; Vol. 4, Springer-Verlag Berlin-Heidelberg, ISSN 1431-7141; 1995, pp. 403-412
• with B. Schreiber, G. Kowalle, K. Rother, I. Paskaleva, M. Kouteva: Analysis of dynamic stability of a system of caverns in the salt diapir of Provadia. Bulgaria. Int. Congr. On Rock Mech., Tokyo, Japan, 1995; Proceedings Vol. 3, pp. 1279-1287
• with J.-P. Lux, U. Lendel: Numerical calculation method for the dimensioning of anchor support. Felsbau 17 (1999) No. 5, pp. 405-414
• Investigations into the causes of the daybreak event on January 2, 2000 in Bochum-Wattenscheid. Glückauf Forschungshefte 62 (2001) No. 2, pp. 44 to 69
• with P. Dolle, S. Kempe, W. Kudla: Modeling and execution of the dam structure in the link between the Warndt / Luisenthal mine of the DSK-Saar. Mining and smelting day TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 2006
• with G. Kowalle: Analysis of the vibration propagation of mining-related seismic events on a geomechanical basis. 10th Geokinematic Day, Freiberg 2009, series of publications by the Institute for Mine Surveying and Geodesy at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, issue 2009-1; ISBN 978-3-86797-053-2 ; Pp. 104-124
• Geoscientific aspects of radioactive waste disposal. Treatises of the Leibniz Society of Sciences. trafo Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, Volume 31, 2014, pp. 165–188
• with H. Kautzleben (Ed.): Colloquium in honor of Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Helmut Moritz on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin; Volume 119, vol. 2014
• Ed .: The focus is on people - advances in geo, mining, environmental, space and astro sciences. Colloquium on the 80th birthday of Heinz Kautzleben . Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, Volume 120, 2014 http://leibnizsozietaet.de/sitzungsberichte-der-leibniz-sozietaet-band-120-2014/
• Induced seismic events during the rise of pit water in disused mines - geomechanical characteristics. Leibniz-Online, No. 24, 2016, (ISSN 1863-3285), http://leibnizsozietaet.de/internetzeitschrift-leibniz-online-nr-24-2016/

literature

• M. Wockel, WG Zachriat (Ed.): WHO'S WHO in Germany. 19th edition, IBP International Book and Publishing Co. Ltd. Vienna, Austria

Web links

• Literature by and about Peter Knoll in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.grube-teutschenthal.de/web/gts.nsf/id/pa_home_d.html
2. ↑ Heinz Kautzleben : Activity and impact of the working group geo-, mining, environmental, space and astro sciences of the Leibniz-Sozietät. In: Knoll, P. (Ed.): The focus is on people - advances in geo, mining, environmental, space and astro sciences. Colloquium in honor of Prof. Dr. Heinz Kautzleben on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, Volume 120. trafo Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2014, pp. 184–224, ISBN 978-3-86464-090-2