28
Geotechnical News • June 2018
GEOTECHNICAL INSTRUMENTATION NEWS
Martin Clegg, Geosense Ltd
There are three basic responsibilities
in instrumentation. The Engineer’s,
The Instrumentation & Monitoring
Contractor’s and the Manufacturer
and/or supplier’s:
The Engineer’s responsibilities are:-
1. To identify the need (why) for
monitoring.
2. To identify the what (parameter) &
where (e.g. dam body) to monitor.
3. To make the specification for the
instrumentation.
4. To analyse & understand the data
from the instrumentation.
5. To use the data from the instru-
mentation to carry out the neces-
sary calculations required by the
designer for verification and/or
validation.
The Instrumentation & Monitoring
Contractor’s responsibilities are:-
1. To install instruments to the Engi-
neer’s specification.
2. To provide data to the Engineer’s
specification.
The Manufacturer/supplier’s responsi-
bilities are:
1. To provide the Instrumentation
& Monitoring Contractor with
hardware and/or software to meet
Engineer’s specification.
There will always be a place for Engi-
neers, Instrumentation & Monitoring
Contractors and Manufacturers to
interact to discuss and understand the
application and performance of instru-
ments especially where new technol-
ogy is evolving. However, there will
inevitably be a degree of commercial
influence during these discussions.
As the success of any instrumenta-
tion monitoring program depends on
the understanding of the objectives
and the quality of the specification
it is vital that the Engineer does not
impose or rely too heavily on Manu-
facturers for this. The understanding
of the individual application and each
sensors performance together with its
limitation should be fully understood
by the Engineer before specifying it.
We as a manufacturer are seeing too
much emphasis being placed on us to
explain “unexpected readings” which
more often than not means that its use
is not fully understood. Sensor failure
is very rare.
With the amount of published litera-
ture now readily available on instru-
mentation and their application plus
various training courses available the
information is there. It just needs a
willingness to find and study it.
Martin Clegg
Geosense Ltd
Managing Director
Nova House, Rougham Industrial
Estate, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk, IP30 9ND, England
René DeBlois, Roctest Ltd
Manufacturers can play an important
role in the design of a geotechnical
and structural monitoring solution. We
know the capabilities and limitations
of our instruments and we have thor-
oughly tested our products and have a
full understanding of the most suitable
applications for their uses. Adding
years of experience with numerous
projects in a large range of applica-
tions, manufacturers such as Roctest
can assist users with their challenges
related to geotechnical and structural
instrumentation. Instruction manu-
als, websites and dedicated in-house
experts are always available to support
users in the implementation of their
projects. However, a manufacturer’s
knowledge of the specificities of a
project, its weaknesses and critical
aspects, is sometimes very limited and
prevents us from going beyond the
manufacturer’s scope of work. There-
fore, questions about the selection of
a type of instrument(s), the required
quantity or the expected measur-
ing ranges (among others) should be
directed to project designers and not to
manufacturers.
René DeBlois
Sales Manager, International
Roctest Ltd
680 avenue Birch, Saint-Lambert, QC
Canada J4P 2N3
Bruce Ripley, RST Instruments Ltd
Human factors in engineering are
about the quality of communication
within a project team, to draw on and
utilize the deep knowledge and experi-
ence of all the specialists required for
project success. On a large infrastruc-
ture, mining, energy or water project,
the number of specialists required can
be large, and therefore the number of
relationships to be managed is large
and complex. Instrumentation is just
one of many speciality relationships
