Rock Engineering for Underground Structures, a collection of tunnel engineer the late Bhaskar Thapa’s research works, was launched here on Friday.

His contribution to tunnel engineering has received much acknowledgement in the United States, where he had been working at the San Francisco-based company until his death at the age of 49 three years ago. Academics and well-wishers present at the book launch expressed their hope that the compilation would be a useful addition in the field of tunnel engineering.

The book by Thapa, who died due to cardiac arrest, is intended to serve as a reference material for scientists, engineers and geologists on rock mechanics and its application in the design and construction of tunnels and underground structures.

The book is a collection of research works and papers published in various journals, papers presented by the author in seminars and conferences, including his dissertation and thesis works for his PhD in civil engineering.

In his acknowledgement to Thapa’s breadth of contributions to tunnel engineering, his colleague at the California-based McMillen Jacobs Associates, Mike McRae observed, “His professional achievements are an inspiration to those who continue to practice in our field of tunnel design and construction.”

Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, father of Bhaskar, said he would be happy to provide the book free of cost to any engineering colleges and research institutes that thought the collection would be useful to them. The book is sponsored by Bhaskar Memorial Foundation, ICIMOD and the Kathmandu University.