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The Sixth International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground
The Sixth International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground (IS-Shanghai 2008) was held successfully at Sino-French Centre of Tongji University, Shanghai, China, from 10th to 12th April, 2008. The symposium was organized by Tongji University under the auspices of Technical Committee 28 (TC28) of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). It was supported by the Chinese Society of Civil Engineering, the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, Geotechnical Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Hong Kong Geotechnical Society, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Yangzi Tunnels and Bridge Development Co. Ltd and Shanghai Society of Civil Engineering. This brief summary covers the following four aspects of the Symposium:
A. Participants from wide representations
Totally 182 registered delegates from 27 countries and regions attended this symposium. Among them, 88 attendants were from the Chinese Mainland. The delegates are from 92 different institutions and organizations including government departments, construction project owners, scientific research institutions, design and construction companies, consulting engineers and universities.
B. Technical and culture exchanges
The Symposium provided various opportunities for academic, technical and culture exchanges. It consisted of special lectures, discussion, oral presentations, poster & exhibition sessions and site visits. There are four special invited theme lectures; six general reports and a special session on Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel. The four special invited theme lectures were as follows: 1) Overview of Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel Project presented by Huang Rong (China), 2) Supporting excavations in clay – from analysis to decision-making presented by M.D. Bolton (UK), 3) Processes around a TBM presented by A. Bezuijen (The Netherlands), 4) Underground construction in decomposed residual soils presented by I.M. Lee (South Korea)
The six general reports were listed as follows: 1) Analysis and numerical modeling of deep excavations (by Richard Finno of USA), 2) Construction method, ground treatment, and conditioning for tunneling (by Tadashi Hashimoto of Japan), 3) Case histories (by Alejo Sfriso of Argentina), 4) Safety issues, risk analysis, hazard management and control (by C.T. Chin of Taipei, China), 5) Physical and numerical modeling (by Richard Pang of Hong Kong, China), 6) Calculation and design methods and predictive tools (by Richard Kastner of France). Two symposium proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground (IS-Shanghai 2008) were published by Taylor & Francis. The titles of the two proceedings are Proceedings of The 6th International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of underground Construction in Soft Ground (IS-Shanghai 2008) and The Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel-Theory， Design and Construction. The former collects one hundred and twelve symposium papers, four special invited lectures and six theme reports while the later includes two special invited reports and more than forty high quality papers reporting the construction and research results of the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel.
During the period of the symposium, nine companies exhibited their products, techniques and services, together with their creative ideas in Geotechnical Engineering for the participants and the exhibits provides a good opportunity for the participants to exchange their knowledge and ideas.
C. Technical visit
There was a technical visit to Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel Engineering under construction on the morning on 12 April, which was one of the biggest shield tunnels in the world, diameter 15m and near 9km long.
D. On-line Symposium
The entire Symposium was live-transmitted by The China Science-Meeting Online during the symposium to enable students and researchers to watch and listen to the videos on line (www.meeting.edu.cn) at any time.
Reported by Associate Professor Xiongyao Xie, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Download ISSMGE Bulletin – Volume 2 Issue 2
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