SYNOPSIS

Soil parameters form the basis of any geotechnical engineering design, so accurate and critical interpretation is vital for a successful outcome. In most cases these parameters will be extracted from a geotechnical site investigation report, and frequently the designer may not have been involved in supervising the site investigation work or creating the report. There does seem to be a common tendency to accept reported data and values as absolute. The purpose of this workshop is to challenge the users of data from such reports to be critical. Of course some site investigation companies will produce excellent data and results, but there is always the potential for data to be non-representative. This could be due to testing samples which are too disturbed, using incorrect test procedures for the design case being considered or simply errors in reported data. An important part of making an assessment is to create useful summaries of data, which will go a long way towards identifying any anomalies.

The workshop will start with two illustrations of soil behaviour, looking at sand on the beach. This everyday example of soil behaving in a certain way introduces a number of important geotechnical concepts: drained and undrained behaviour, soil shear strength and dilation, permeability and flow in soils. This is followed by a relatively quick “revision” about soil index properties, but with emphasis on looking carefully at this data to ensure that what we see is consistent and representative of the soils being tested. Index property values are generally plentiful in geotechnical site investigation reports, so are vital as a means of checking both consistency of the data and the results of other tests, such as soil shear strength. The middle part of the workshop will look at two important classes of testing: soil shear strength and soil compressibility. These parameters will be required for most geotechnical designs, so it is vital that they are relevant. The final session of the workshop will look at geotechnical testing used in pavement engineering and design (not asphalt testing), including the CBR test, compaction testing and plate load testing.

Throughout the workshop, real examples of soil data and parameters will be used to illustrate the various concepts and points made. In some cases these examples have been arranged as workshop examples for the participants to review and comment on. In other cases some simple calculations are required (so BRING A CALCULATOR). The aim of these examples is to encourage critical assessment of geotechnical data, before deciding if and how the data may be used in a design.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

MR. MICHEAL DOBIE

Mike Dobie is a practicing geotechnical engineer, graduating in civil engineering from Bristol University (UK) and later obtaining a master’s degree in soil mechanics from Imperial College, London. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). Since graduating in 1973, he has worked in the field of geotechnical engineering for British consultant WS Atkins & Partners, the Delft Soil Mechanics Laboratory in the Netherlands and Singapore, and American specialist consultant Dames & Moore. More recently he has worked for Acer Consultants (now Hyder Consultants, previously Freeman Fox & Partners), being seconded to establish the Central Soils Laboratory (CSL) in Bangi, to provide high quality soil testing for the North-South Expressway. Mike joined Tensar International in 1991 and currently is the Regional Manager (Asia Pacific) based in Jakarta with responsibilities for the development of design methods and software for both reinforced soil structures and mechanical stabilisation techniques.

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