Seminar - John Small - Forensic Geotechnics

Wednesday, May 4, 2005, 1.10 - 1.50 pm
Civil Engineering Lecture Room 3

Abstract

When failures occur in Geotechnical engineering it is often necessary to establish the cause of the failure so that the works can be reconstructed safely or because there is litigation. Often there are several possible causes for the failure, and it is necessary to determine which is the most probable, and provide evidence to support the choice of failure mode.

The talk involves two case studies that the speaker has investigated, where failures have led to damage of property and loss of life. The investigations of these failures will be discussed, and the conclusions regarding the reasons for the failures will be presented.

Lessons learnt from the failures will be discussed, and these are very valuable for carrying out future site investigations or performing design of future works.