Modeling Tailings Dam Failures with 2-Phase Flow

Jimmy O’Brien, Ph.D., P.E.

Vice President
RIADA Engineering, Corp

Dr. O’Brien is the vice president of FLO-2D Software, Inc. Dr. O’Brien has master’s degrees in aerospace and civil engineering from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Colorado State University. He is the developer of the two-dimensional model FLO-2D for predicting flood hazards. Dr. O’Brien teaches flood routing short courses and presents workshops worldwide. He is the author of numerous articles on hydrology, river hydraulics, flood routing, and hyperconcentrated sediment flows, and is a licensed professional engineer in two states. He has over 40 years of experience in hydraulics and sediment transport as a consulting engineer.

Karen O’Brien, MSc.

Senior Project Manager

RIADA Engineering, Corp

Mrs. O’Brien is a senior project manager that specializes in 2-dimensional flood routing applications for overland, urban, and riverine models. She also has advanced experience in dam breach simulations. Mrs. O’Brien’s experience with the FLO-2D software is extensive and includes all fields of application. She also works as the primary technical support engineer for FLO-2D Software, Inc. This includes project and IT support, designing and teaching webinars, program testing, and troubleshooting. She is also proficient at short course training and website maintenance. For product development, she has performed tasks involving writing and editing manuals, tutorials, and presentations. Marketing responsibilities include creating ads and brochures, website design, and organizing conferences. Her role for the past four years has been production manager for FLO-2D Software. This has given her experience in all fields including software development, technical support, distribution, and marketing.

Noemi Gonzalez Ramirez, Ph.D., P.E.

President

RIADA Engineering, Corp

Dr. Gonzalez is the president of Riada Engineering Corporation. She has 20 years of experience developing and applying hydraulic and hydrologic models. She has written code for numerical models of flooding systems and hydraulic conveyance. Dr. Gonzalez has extensive coding experience in both finite element and finite difference models and their applications. She has been a project engineer for Riada Engineering, Inc. and FLO-2D Software for the last 6 years. Dr. Gonzalez is the developer of many of the specific tools and features in the FLO-2D model and supporting processor programs. She is also the author of the FLO-2D storm drain component and has conducted several project applications of this component for the Flood Control District of Maricopa County.