56
Geotechnical News • December 2015
GEOSYNTHETICS
information leaflet that describes best
actices. A companion effort is unde-
way, for which participation is invited
from interested individuals, on barrier
systems in mining applications and
also in coal ash disposal.
The newly-formed TC-H is chaired
by Pietro Rimoldi (Italy). It held
its inaugural meeting at Edinburgh,
where discussion addressed a number
of topics including the potential for
workshop organization, white papers,
and a summary compilation of regula-
tions in various countries. I expect
that, in many regards, it will develop
in a manner similar to the other com-
mittees.
The TC-R is chaired by Gerhard
Bräu (Germany). The committee held
a pre-conference 1-day workshop
which address two thematic topics,
namely that of research on soil-
geosynthetic interaction and that of
national approaches to regulation of
design practice for reinforced slopes
and retaining structures. The morning-
session was devoted to presentations
on soil-geosynthetic interaction, with
several presentations on characterizing
and modelling pullout resistance, and
considerable emphasis on the response
of geogrids. The afternoon-session
had, perhaps unsurprisingly given the
location, a strong European emphasis,
with presentations on design practice
in the United Kingdom, the Nether-
lands, France, Germany, Finland, and
Italy, along with a Japanese presen-
tation to bring a truly international
perspective.
The TC-F, chaired by Kelvin Legge
(South Africa), did not hold a meet-
ing at the Edinburgh conference. It
has, however, been active in location
organising short courses, training
lectures and/or keynote lectures at the
GeoAmericas 2012 conference, and
the 10th International Conference on
Geosynthetics. Of particular note has
been the effort coming out of South
Africa to revisit the International
Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD)
Bulletin 55 that was published, in
1986, on the subject of geotextiles as
filters in dams - with the objective of
rewriting in order to disseminate much
of the new technical insights that have
been gained over the elapsed period of
30 years! To inform future efforts of
the TC-F, a survey questionnaire was
placed on the IGS website that solic-
ited more than 200 responses from
those working on the subject across
the world.
In my opening statement, I alluded to
the steady progress of the IGS techni-
cal committees. Much of the work of
these committees and their members
remains largely unseen, and indeed
I have sought only to mention some
of their efforts - however the benefits
manifest themselves in many and
varied ways, as technical information
is compiled and disseminated by the
IGS, both for its membership and for
the geosynthetics community at-large.
The JFKennedy quotation is taken
from:
/
Research/Research-Aids/Ready-
Reference/JFK-Quotations/Harvard-
University-Speech.aspx
An engineer’s liability extends beyond his client
to the ultimate owner - Case History IV
extract from Suit is a Four-letter Word
(Hugh Nasmith, 1986)
Hugh Nasmith has put together an
excellent book on litigation which
is easy to read, covers the litigation
scene thoroughly, has subtle humour,
and most important of all, is umder-
standable. He remarks in the opening
paragraphs that experienced geotech-
nical engineers will find nothing new
in the book except comfort that their
situation is not unique. This is true but
experienced engineers should read it
anyway. (From a review by William A.
Trow).
A geotechnical engineer may feel that
when he is employed as a sub-con-
sultant on a job the prime consultant
is responsible for properly using his
advice and where necessary passing
that advice on to the client. The fol-
lowing case illustrates the fallacy of
this assumption.
The client in this case was an elected
public body who was responsible for
providing a building to house staff and
facilities to serve the community.
The prime consultant was an individ-
ual architect who had worked closely
with the client over a period of years
and was a member of the committee
responsible for selecting a site for the
building. The architect had designed
and supervised the construction of
other buildings for the client near the
proposed new building. The architect
had a standard contract with the client
to provide services and supervision of
construction for the proposed building.
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