TRAINING.

Overview

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the principles and procedures for geotechnical site investigation.
• Learn how to select the correct instrument for monitoring and site investigation.
• Become knowledgeable about the observational method in geotechnical engineering and state-of-the-art technologies used for geotechnical investigation.
• Gain insight into the long-term behaviour of geotechnical structures.
• Review applications of site investigation, geotechnical monitoring and instrumentation for slopes, settlement, fills, excavations and walls.

Description
Geotechnical engineers have a fascinating, yet occasionally confounding, job because they deal with inherently variable materials arranged by Nature - soil and rock. Karl Terzaghi once said, “Nature has no contract with mathematics….” Similarly, Peck (1972) stated, “In construction underground, where the engineer deals with materials having properties that vary not only in space but also in time, details of construction often have significant or even overwhelming influence on the behaviour of the structure and of the surrounding soil.

To understand the behaviour, these details must be observed and recorded.” As such, geotechnical engineers, perhaps more than any other branch of civil engineering, rely on physical (and preferably in-situ) measurements of material (soil and rock) properties and behaviour for use in engineering design and the subsequent evaluation of engineering performance.

Course Outline:

• Introduction to site investigation
• Site investigation methods
• Application of instrumentation in geotechnical engineering
• Intro to Emerging Technologies
• Case histories of site investigation and instrumentation

Who Should Attend:
Designers • Planners • Construction Managers • Geotechnical Engineers • Municipal Engineers • Contractors • Owners and Other Technical Personnel Interested Geotechnical Site Investigation and Monitoring of Soil Structure

Please note: You can check other time zones here.

Syllabus

Day I

• Introduction to Geotechnical Monitoring and Observational Method
• Drilling for Site Investigation and Sampling Methods
• Geophysical Methods for Site Investigation
• Field Hydraulic Conductivity Measurement

Geotechnical Site Investigation Methods

• Standard Penetration Test and Interpretation
• Cone Penetration Test and Interpretation
• Pressuremeter Test
• Dilatometer and Goodman Jack

Day II

• Borehole shear test
• Plate load test
• Borehole shear test
• Emerging technologies
• Field Vane Shear test

Geotechnical Instrumentation and Monitoring

• Introduction to geotechnical instrumentation
• Introduction to instrumentation transducers
• Measurement of deformation in soil
• Measurement of stress change in rock
• Measurement of total stress in soil
• Measurement of strain
• Measurement of load
• Calibration and maintenance of instruments
• Emerging site investigation and instrumentation tools

Application of Geotechnical Instrumentation

• Monitoring of drilled shafts
• Monitoring of embankment dams
• Monitoring of driven piles
• Monitoring of underground excavations
• Monitoring of slopes
• Monitoring of embankments on soft ground

Monitoring of braced excavations

Instructor

Abouzar Sadrekarimi, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Dr. Sadrekarimi is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Western University (London, Ontario). Dr. Sadrekarimi’s academic and professional expertise involves soil mechanics, foundation engineering, deep foundations, dam, advanced soil testing and characterization of soil behavior, in-situ testing, soil dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering, static and dynamic analysis of retaining walls, buried structures, and slope stability analysis. He joined Western after several years of engineering practical experience at Golder Associates Ltd. Dr. Sadrekarimi has over 50 published papers in peer-reviewed conference proceedings and journals.

Dr. Sadrekarimi is a member of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Canadian Geotechnical Society, research director of Western’s Geotechnical Research Centre (GRC).