CIES and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CVEN) hosted the first Australian Geomechanics Society Workshop on unsaturated soil...
CIES and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CVEN) hosted the first Australian Geomechanics Society Workshop on unsaturated soil mechanics for practicing engineers. The workshop was delivered by CVEN and CIES experts Professor Nasser Khalili and Associate Professor Adrian Russell to 30 participants on 31 March-1 April 2016.
It featured fundamental mechanics and laboratory testing, as well as applications including using the CPT, assessing bearing capacities, lateral earth pressures and slope stabilities in unsaturated soils. The workshop content, which incorporated the latest knowledge and techniques, was printed in a 200-page set of notes and example derivations.
The participants, with varying experience in industry of between 2 and 40 years, were overwhelmingly satisfied with the quality of the workshop, saying:
It was “thoroughly enjoyable, engaging and relevant”.
There was “good progression from fundamentals to applied problems”.
“The worked examples were very good to demonstrate application”, especially “the incorporation of practical data and problems”.
The next workshop is likely to take place on 7-8 November 2016 at another location.
Contact A/Professor Russell (a.russell@unsw.edu.au) for more information.
Adrian Russell (right) and Liem Vo observe the laboratory controlled failure of an unsaturated soil adjacent to a retaining wall
UNSW’s calibration chamber used to develop methods to interpret the CPT in a range of unsaturated soils.