Events & Courses

Infrastructure embankments and cuttings are used to carry roads, railways, rivers and canals with a minimal need for changes in vertical alignment. In the cases of canals and railways in particular many of these earth structures were formed before the development of modern soil mechanics and before the introduction of techniques and equipment to produce reliable long-term behaviour. The change in condition of the materials used to construct them and their progressive deformation has a critical effect on their long-term serviceability and stability. To assess the serviceability and or stability of slopes it is essential to obtain reliable and accurate field measurements of pore water pressures and movements. 

In recent years the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has published a series of Standards that address geotechnical monitoring by field instrumentation, which cover methods of installing and reading the instruments that are used for measuring pore water pressures (piezometers) and deformations (inclinometers and extensometers). This course will introduce these Standards and how the content can be applied to monitoring the performance of infrastructure slopes.

The course is applicable to practicing engineers and geologists who are involved in specifying and/or carrying out monitoring programmes for assessing slopes.

Speakers

Andrew Ridley is the Managing Director of Geotechnical Observations Ltd (GeO), which he founded in 2000.  GeO specialise in the installation, reading, reporting and interpretation of geotechnical instrumentation. Andrew obtained his first degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nottingham in 1984, followed it with a Masters Degree in Soil Mechanics from Imperial College London in 1988 and was awarded a PhD by Imperial College in 1993 for his work on “the measurement of soil moisture suction.”  He has served on the Editorial Panel of Geotechnical Engineering (the proceedings of the ICE), the Editorial Panel of Géotechnique for the 2011 Symposium in Print on Partial Saturation in Compacted Soils, the Steering Committee for CIRIA 550 Infrastructure Embankments – Condition Appraisal and Remedial Treatment and is currently on the BGA (British Geotechnical Association) Executive Committee.  He is also the UK representative on ISO/TC182/WG2, which is drafting International Standards for geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring and is Chair of ISSMGE TC220 on Field Measurements in Geomechanics. In 2016 he was awarded the John Mitchell Gold Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in recognition of his contributions to geotechnical engineering.

Jonathan Gammon

Jonathan Gammon retired in 2017 as Technical Director for Tunnels and Geotechnics at global consultancy CH2M (now Jacobs).   In November 2018, Jonathan was appointed to the position of Non-Executive Director and Advisor at instrumentation and monitoring specialists Geotechnical Observations Limited. 

Jonathan continues to be a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Geologist and has almost forty-five years of international construction experience working for consultants and contractors.  In addition to project work in the UK, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, he has lived and worked in Hong Kong and New Zealand.  His experience encompasses the specification, procurement, and implementation of instrumentation and monitoring, together with the acquisition, management, and interpretation of data. 

Jonathan was Design Manager and Resident Engineer for West Rail in Hong Kong and Sub-Surface Design Manager for the Reference Design of Dublin Metro North in Ireland.  His experience in London includes Crossrail, Thameslink (Blackfriars Station Redevelopment), Tideway Tunnels, and the Northern Line Extension (for which he was the Expert Witness, Engineering at the Public Inquiry).  

He was Design Project Manager for the Bond Street Station Upgrade in Central London before working for more than two years on Phase One of the High Speed Two (HS2) railway between London and Birmingham. 

He is a UK Representative on the ISSMGE’s Technical Committee TC220 (Field Measurement in Geomechanics).  At the end of 2019, he was responsible for establishing AGS’s Instrumentation and Monitoring Working Group (I&MWG), of which he is now Leader.   

Programme

12.55 Open and welcome

13.00  Introduction to geotechnical monitoring – Jonathan Gammon 

13.30 Questions & Answer session with Jonathan Gammon

13.35 Monitoring pore water pressures in accordance with BS EN ISO18674 – Andrew Ridley 

14.20 Questions & Answer session with Andrew Ridley

14.25 Break – 15 mins

14.40 Monitoring displacements in accordance with BS EN ISO18674 – Andrew Ridley

15.40 Questions & Answer session with Andrew Ridley

15.45 Data collection and presentation – Andrew Ridley 

16.15 Case Studies: Diverse projects involving monitoring – Jonathan Gammon

16.45 Final Questions & Answer session with Andrew Ridley & Jonathan Gammon

17.30 Close

Registration

Registration will close 24 hours before the event takes place.

We can offer bespoke discounts on group registrations of 5 or more. Please email [email protected] to enquire.

Venue

This event will be held virtually.

Delegates will receive joining instructions the day before it takes places.

Contact

Please email [email protected] with any enquiries.