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Geotechnical News • December 2014
33
GEOTECHNICAL INSTRUMENTATION NEWS
Introduction by John Dunnicliff, Editor
This is the 80
th
episode of GIN. Two articles this time.
Wireless monitoring
The first article, by Simon Maddison,
is titled “The Fundaments of Wireless
Monitoring – Things to Consider”.
The idea for this title came from David
Cook’s excellent article in the Decem-
ber 2010 episode of GIN, “Fundamen-
tals of Instrumentation Geotechnical
Database Management – Things to
Consider”. It seems to me that this
format creates a very user-friendly
guideline for the practitioner who is
faced with the task of deciding what to
do. Three of the sessions at the second
International Course on Geotechnical
and Structural Monitoring in Italy (see
below) will have this format:
• Vibration monitoring
• Wireless monitoring
• Automatic data acquisition systems
If you’d like to have a Word file of
Simon Maddison’s article so that
you can create a checklist of things
to consider, by copying and pasting,
please let me know. The same applies
to David Cook’s article.
Widespread misconceptions
involving …
How’s that for an eye-catching title?
The second article (another by Glenn
Tofani
─
his earlier one was in the pre-
vious episode of GIN, titled “Resolv-
ing unexpected monitoring results”)
provides yet more support for using
the fully-grouted method for instal-
lation of piezometers. It also guides
us in avoiding widespread miscon-
ceptions involving soil gas sampling
probes installed above a sub-slab vapor
barrier.
Interest in the fully-grouted
method for installing
piezometers
In their Summer 2014 Quarterly
Newsletter GKM Consultants, Que-
bec, Canada (www.gkmconsultants.
com) wrote the following, under a
heading “Did You Know?”:
The fully–grouted borehole
method simplifies the installation
of piezometers (vibrating wire and
other diaphragm transducers),
provides quick and reliable
response readings, lends itself to
nested installation and can reduce
the costs by up to 75% compared
to the conventional method (sand
pack filter and bentonite plug).
Although some of our clients
still question this method, it is
interesting to know that it is
gaining in popularity. Supporting
documentation on this subject can
be found in the June 2012 edition
of Geotechnical News [Contreras
et al]. Other very interesting
articles are available online at
www.geotechnicalnews.com/
instrumentation_news.php.
GKM Consultants can receive from
their mailing portal the number of
clicks (opens) for the Contreras et al
article. The latest count is more than
3000 clicks!
To clarify: in my view the fully-
grouted method is suitable for vibrat-
ing wire, diaphragm piezometers with
electrical transducers and fiber-optic
piezometers, but not for pneumatic
piezometers. But see my editor’s
note in Glenn Tofani’s article, with
“
Does anybody have anything to
contribute to this
” – the question as
to whether the fully-grouted method is
suitable for pneumatic piezometers.
Second International Course
on Geotechnical and Structural
Monitoring in Italy,
June 4-6, 2015
Planning for the second course in
Tuscany, Italy is well underway,
and registration is open. Visit www.
geotechnicalmonitoring.com. The list
of 14 speakers includes
John Burland
of Imperial College London,
Michele
Jamiolkowski
of Technical University
of Turin
(both of whom were leaders
on
the International Committee for the
Safeguard of the Leaning Tower of
Pisa), and
Elmo DiBiagio
of Norwe-
gian Geotechnical Institute.
More information is on page 34.
Substantial coverage will again be
provided on remote methods for
monitoring deformation
─
it seems
to me that these methods are more
widely accepted in Europe than in
North America, so my North American
colleagues may want to join us to get
up to speed. As John Gadsby wrote
in the previous issue of this maga-
zine, “Travelling to Tuscany just for
a three-day engineering course may
seem onerous, but you can always
extend your visit by adding a vaca-
tion and joining one of the nearby
world famous cooking schools or wine
schools”.
The first course, in June this year, was
a great success
─
it was sold out two
months before the beginning of the
course, with 100 participants from 27
countries.
Closure
Please send an abstract of an article
for GIN to
john@dunnicliff.eclipse.
co.uk
—see the guidelines on
www.geotechnicalnews.com/
instrumentation_news.php
Kassutta: “Let our glasses meet“!
(Greenland).