Program Schedule
Sunday, September 23, 2007
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Short Courses / Workshops
Monday, September 24, 2007
7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Opening Plenary Session
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Coffee Service
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Concurrent Technical Sessions (3 Tracks) (Sessions I, II, III)
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch in the Exhibit Hall
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Theme Lecture I & II
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Refreshment Break
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Concurrent Technical Sessions (3 Tracks) (Sessions IV, V, VI)
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Welcome Reception
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Theme Lecture III & IV
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Coffee Service
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Concurrent Technical Sessions (3 Tracks) (Sessions VII, VIII, IX)
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch in the Exhibit Hall
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Theme Lecture V & VI
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Refreshment Break
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Concurrent Technical Sessions (3 Tracks) (Sessions X, XI, XII)
5:00 p.m. - Discover Boston - evening on your own!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Theme Lecture VII & VIII
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Coffee Service
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Concurrent Technical Sessions (3 Tracks) (Sessions XIII, XIV, XV)
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch in the Exhibit Hall
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Theme Lecture IX & X
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Refreshment Break
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Concurrent Technical Sessions (3 Tracks) (Sessions XVI, XVII, XVIII)
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Closing Banquet
Thursday, September 27, 2007
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Tours - Boston
Friday, September 28, 2007
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Tours - New York City
Session Descriptions
Keynote Presentation - Why Monitor Performance?
W. Allen Marr, Ph.D., P.E., ASCE Fellow - Geocomp Corporation, USA
Every geotechnical engineer has likely learned something about the use of geotechnical instrumentation somewhere in his or her career. However, many of us struggle to justify the costs of monitoring programs to our clients. This is unfortunate because today’s construction projects produce many opportunities where appropriate instrumentation technology can provide benefits many times the cost. Examples include reduced risks, reduced delays and avoided litigation.
Dr. Marr will provide an overview of the many potential benefits of an effective performance monitoring program. He will then outline a specific methodology to quantify these benefits in ways that non-specialists can understand and use. The goal of this presentation is to provide others with the means to better define and quantify the benefits of their proposed field measurements programs.
Theme Lecture 1 - Early Warning Systems
Presenter: Elmo DiBiagio, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Norway
Early warning systems are intended to detect and react to an anticipated hazard or threat in time to properly deal with it, adapt to it or prevent harm. The concept is not new to geotechnical engineers because many of our traditional geotechnical monitoring programs have always been designed with these objectives in mind. Recent natural disasters, however, have made the general public and media more aware of the need for early warning systems; thus, they are becoming more commonplace. Early warning systems have evolved considerably during the past two decades, primarily because of improvements in monitoring technology. Monitoring, however, is only one part of an early warning system. Other key components are identification of indicators and triggering events, forecasting, effective communication, emergency management and public response. This lecture will present an overview of typical early warning systems for geohazards. Problems and pitfalls will be pointed out. Several case studies will be presented.
Theme Lecture 2 - Success and Failures of Instrumentation Programs in Major Construction Projects in Singapore
Presenter: C.F. Leung Ph.D. and S.A. Tan, Ph.D., National University of Singapore
Over the past decades, infrastructure development in Singapore has been phenomenal with many major construction projects such as land reclamation, deep excavation and tunneling for rapid transit lines and deep sewerage tunnels, and deep foundations for tall buildings being carried out. These projects often faced great geotechnical challenges as thick deposits of soft clays are abundant in Singapore. This presentation will highlight the significant roles of instrumentation in selected major construction projects in Singapore. In a good number of projects, instruments had been planned and installed properly and the field performance measurements had been interpreted correctly. These facilitate the identification of problems before they occur such that remedial measures can be planned and implemented for problematic sites. In a small number of projects, insufficient attention has been paid to interpret the instrument readings properly and warning signs were overlooked. Problems such as large soil movements and/or structural damages subsequently occur. In certain projects, instruments had been misused and/or instrument data had been misinterpreted leading to wrong judgments/decisions made. This presentation aims to identify the causes of problems and the lessons learned from these problematic cases. Recommendations on how to avoid mishaps in future projects will also be discussed.
Theme Lecture 3 - Long-Term Monitoring of Bridges
Presenter: Ian M. Friedland, P.E., Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
For the past 30+ years, a significant amount of creativity, time, labor, and money has been invested in the development and deployment of technologies to monitor civil infrastructure, including highway, railroad, and transit bridges. This has led to the development of a myriad of techniques, sensors, and computer-based tools that can provide real-time data regarding the performance of these structures – and many more tools and technologies are being developed today that have even more power and capability. Bridge monitoring technologies typically have one of two primary purposes: (1) to provide information on how a bridge is performing on a regular, steady-state basis under normal service loads, and (2) to provide warnings when a bridge has been subjected to an extreme event (like an earthquake or ship impact) so that the bridge can be shut down or restrict traffic in order to avoid exposing the public to potential death or injuries associated with bridge failure. This presentation will provide a review of the current state of long-term bridge monitoring approaches and technologies and, through several examples and case studies, will discuss limitations and needs for future advances so that these technologies provide truly useful quality decision making information and not just bridge performance data.
Theme Lecture 4 - Advanced Integrated TPS and GPS Technologies for Monitoring Large Structures
Presenter: James Stowell, Leica Geosystems, USA
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and High Precision Real-time Laser Target Tracking (TPS) technologies can now provide high sampling rates (8-20 Hertz) and sub-centimeter accuracies. This makes them scientifically and economically justifiable for dynamic as well as long-term measurements of relative displacement of structures. Leica Geosystems has developed and deployed many of these systems. The measurements taken by such systems can be used to compute and assess average drift ratios and changing dynamic characteristics, thus giving engineers and owners field performance measurements to help manage risks in the design, construction and operation of large structures. A precise “snapshot” of an event’s effect on a structure and the precise period of exposure to the event may be critical factors to owners, insurance companies, and occupants. Real-time Structure Health Monitoring, using today’s advance intergraded TPS/GPS technology, can assist with developing information for rapid emergency response to ensure public safety and improve the performance of the structure. This presentation will describe the capabilities of current and near-future TPS/GPS technologies and illustrate their benefits using several projects.
Theme Lecture 5 -
Seabed Logging
Presenter: John H. Løvholt, Monitoring and Geophysics Div., Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Norway
The oil and gas industry is struggling to find more hydrocarbon reserves to cover market needs. Many of the areas that will produce oil and gas in the future are characterized by large technical and financial risks. Data from offshore seismic surveys can indicate a potential reservoir (fluid or gas charged formation), but until recently only expensive drilling could distinguish between saltwater and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Seabed Logging (SBL) technology – using low frequency electromagnetic (EM) signals to identify reservoirs and differentiate between salt and hydrocarbons– was introduced in the market in 2002. The main idea behind the introduction of SBL was to lower exploration costs and to reduce the risk of ‘dry’ exploration wells. SBL has become a vital supplement in the exploration technology and has already delivered very promising results. NGI has played an active role in the R&D behind the rapid development we now see in the SBL sector. John H.Løvholt will present the State-of-the-Art for this technology and indicate future trends. He will cover both geophysical modeling and data processing with a focus on challenging demands for quality and specifications for equipment used such as sensors, recorders, signal sources and other vital equipment components. Case studies illustrating both geophysical methods and instrumentation system design will also be presented.
Theme Lecture 6 - New Technologies for Today
Presenter: TBD
This lecture will present new measurements and communications technologies that are being developed in other industries and discuss their potential application to measurements of field performance. Particular attention will be focused on those technologies that promise to deliver reliable data at a faster rate for lower cost.
Theme Lecture 7 - Use of Remote, Real-Time Monitoring Data for Supported
Excavations
Presenter: Richard J. Finno, Ph.D., Northwestern University, USA
The observational approach has long been used in underground construction due to uncertainties in ground conditions and contractor behavior. Developments in new sensor technologies, wireless communication, and web based displays have made the collection and display of real time performance data for civil engineering projects a reality. These advances have made half of the classical “observational method” in geotechnical engineering easier to implement, and economically feasible for many projects. However, an equally important component of the observational method is the evaluation of the performance data in regards to key design assumptions and uncertainties. This aspect of the process has not kept pace with application of remote, real-time monitoring capabilities. Intelligent, self-updating numerical models recently have been applied to cases of deep excavations where deformation control was a primary design consideration. This presentation will review data collection developments related to supported excavations, and describe the inverse analyses techniques that allow one to automatically compare predicted and computed responses, and optimize parameters so that ground deformations at later stages of the excavation can be better predicted. Several case studies of supported excavations will be presented to illustrate the applicability of the method and how it closes the loop between performance and evaluation of performance in light of the design.
Theme Lecture 8- Statistical Method for Monitoring Data Analysis
Presenter: Giorgio Pezzetti, Technical Director of Field, Italy
Monitoring data contains a great amount of information that sometimes is difficult to understand or to separate to determine performance during construction and operation of civil works. By using appropriate statistical algorithms, it is possible to evaluate the effects of the covariates, as well as the correlations among different parameters obtaining "clean" data which can be of great help for those who have to make decisions. Moreover, by developing “control charts”, it is possible to analyze the effect of a single parameter on the whole behavior of the monitored system. This can be used to set alert and alarm threshold values in order to enable a safe management of the system and improve the knowledge of the physical phenomena. Statistical methods are presented as a potential tool to be used to improve capabilities of analyses of performance data. Their use and value on several instrumentation projects will be illustrated.
Theme Lecture 9 - Risk Driven Approach to Monitoring
Presenter: Ton Peters, GeoDelft, The Netherlands
The failures in construction projects are often related to uncertainties and limited knowledge of the subsoil. Recent studies have shown that the cost of these failures can rise to 20% of the total building cost. Usually, the building time is also exceeded resulting in claims and disputes. The level of acceptance of these uncertainties among policy makers, project managers and citizens is diminishing, while on the other hand, dealing with these uncertainties is a reality in any ground-related construction project. GeoQ is a risk management driven concept introduced in the Netherlands several years ago. It is a concept that deals with these issues and uses tools such as risk driven monitoring and soil investigation, Geotechnical Baseline Report and Geobrain (experience databases). Based on this approach, a risk driven monitoring program was developed for the city of Delft. During the last 90 years, the groundwater table below Delft was lowered artificially approximately 9 meters by water collection for industrial purposes. Now the industry closed its production and consequently is going to shut down the well. This could have an enormous, widespread impact on the buildings, churches, monuments, dikes, canals and water quality in the old city centre and surrounding areas. In this case, the practical benefits of the risk-driven approach to planning a monitoring program are demonstrated. One important aspect is the communication with the clients: different government bodies, with sometimes conflicting interests. With the results of the risks analyses, it could be argued why intensive monitoring is needed in one place and less or no monitoring is need in another place.
Theme Lecture 10 - Monitoring From An Outside Perspective
Presenter: To Be Determined
This lecture will consider the role of instrumentation from the perspective of a major owner or insurance carrier. Its objectives will be to identify those elements external to the instrumentation specialists that may affect the demand for performance monitoring in the future and to examine the benefits of performance monitoring to those carrying the financial
risks on projects.
