TC307 Sustainability

Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering

Short name: Sustainability (TC307)

Host Member Society: USA Geotechnical Society

TC Chairman:  Anand J. Puppala ([email protected])
TC Vice-Chairman: Md Mizanur Rahman ([email protected])
TC Secretary: Yaolin Yi ([email protected]), Prof Nuno Cristelo ([email protected])

GeoWorld Web Page: Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering (TC307)


TC307 Meeting - August 25th, 2024

Meeting agenda for the TC307 second 2024 meeting, held in Lisbon, during the ECSMGE24 conference.

TC307 – Sustainability updates from 2nd International Conference on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2023)

Updates from 2nd International Conference on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2023):

The 2nd International Conference on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2023) was held on 20-22 November 2023 i



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PhD positions in Geotechnical Engineering (environmental/sustainability)

The following PhD positions are available for our colleagues:

  1. At the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI),  Prof. Smaavik is looking to employ someone who would start directly on a PhD in environmental geotechnics. The application deadline is October 9th, 2


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TC 307 - ISSMGE SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE - STATUS REPORT & NEWS 4

Dear TC307 members,

Greetings! I welcome you to Status Report 4 from TC 307 (December 2021). I hope you and your family are well and the covid situation is not affecting you too much. I am writing you on several agendas that need your attention and/or action from you.



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TC 307 - ISSMGE Sustainability Committee - Status Report 3

Dear TC307,

Greetings! I welcome you to Status Report 3 from TC 307 (June 1, 2021).

1. VU Talks - Please note we already posted our first TC307 talk on the web (https://www.issmge.org/education/recorded-webinars/experiences-in-sustainable-geotechnics). We thank Prof Consoli



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Call for papers: International Seminar on Environmental Sustainability of Road Transport: Air Pollution, Noise and Relationship with Energy Transition and Climate Change, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Background
PIARC’s Technical Committee 3.4: Environmental Sustainability in Road Infrastructure and Transport, the Romanian National Committee of PIARC and the Department of Railways, Roads and Bridges of the Cluj-Napoca Technical University are organizing the ”Envir



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TC 307 - ISSMGE Sustainability Committee - Status Report 2

Dear TC307,

Greetings! Let me take this opportunity to first wish you all a Happy New Year (belated) and a Happy Chinese New Year! Here are report items:

1.We are waiting to hear on what papers will be accepted and allocated to TC307 for the conference. Due to the post



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TC 307 - ISSMGE Sustainability Committee - Status Report 1

Dear TC307 members,

Greetings! Hope you all are doing well in these tough circumstances. Wanted to briefly touch base with you on some happenings and updates including one on 20 ISSMGE Sydney Conference. I am compiling them under status reports. This is the first one. Let me i



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The 1st International Conference on Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering - Geodiversity & Resilience (1st ICSGE'21)

Under the auspices of CPGA/SPG and ISSMGE TC307 - Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering, and supported by ISSMGE TC215 and by TC308, the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) is organizing the 1st International Conference on Sustainability in Geotechnical En



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1st International Conference on Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering – Geodiversity & Resilience (1st ICSGE’21)

The 1st International Conference on Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering – Geodiversity & Resilience (1st ICSGE’21) is organized by the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC), under the auspices of SPG/CPGA and ISSMGE TC307, and support of ISSMGE T



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ARC on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering - Course 2: TC 307 SUSTAINABILITY IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING (Mon 7 Oct 2019)

Presented by Dipanjan Basu, Ph.D., P.Eng., P.E., C.Eng,
University of Waterloo at ARC Cape Town, South Africa

In this short course, the general notions of sustainability and its application to geotechnical
engineering will be covered. The sustainability assessment




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Invitation for paper on “Climate Change and Geotechnical Engineering” to be published in Environmental Geotechnics in 2019.

Paper invitation for themed Issue on “Climate Change and Geotechnical Engineering” to be published in Environmental Geotechnics in 2019.

All TC 307 members, active researchers and top-experts in Climate change mitigation strategies such as CO2 sequestration and&nbs



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Invitation for paper on “Sustainable Geotechnics” to be published in Environmental Geotechnics in 2019.

Paper invitation for themed Issue on “Sustainable Geotechnics” to be published in Environmental Geotechnics in 2019.

All TC 307 members, active researchers and top-experts in Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering are invited to submit abstract in a themed issu



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Invitation for paper for the Sustainability Workshop at the 16th ARC in Taipei, Taiwan, 2019

The TC 307: Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering is inviting you at the Sustainability Workshop to be held during The 16th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (16th ARC), 14-18 October 2019 in Taipei International Convention Center (TICC



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TC307 – Sustainability updates from 19th ICSMGE conferences

TC307 – Sustainability has a meeting on 19 September during 19th ICSMGE conferences in Seoul, South Korea.  The attendees are Keh-Jian SHOU (Taiwan), Tim NEWSON (Canada), Mizanur RAHMAN (Australia), Bate BATE (China), Beena AJMERA (USA), Arul ARULRAJAH (Australia), Qas



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Geo-structures and geo-operations often form important interfaces between the built and natural environments, and interact with and affect a wide variety of externalities. Geotechnical design and construction, being placed early in a typical civil engineering project, can significantly contribute to sustainable development by adopting environment-friendly, cost-effective and socially-acceptable choices and setting a precedent for the remainder of the project. Further, geotechnical engineering has a very important role in mitigating and containing disasters, and failure to do so is often catastrophic to the society. Thus, geotechnical engineering has a wide gamut and can influence the sustainable development of infrastructure and civil societies in a significant way.

Potential areas that could fall under the purview of this TC are: (1) Innovative, environment friendly and energy efficient geotechnical techniques for site investigation, construction, monitoring, and ground improvement; (2) Sustainable use of geotechnical systems and materials, including retrofitting and reuse of waste materials, foundations and other geotechnical structures; (3) Use and reuse of underground space for beneficial purposes including storage of energy and carbon dioxide; (4) Geotechnical techniques involved in the exploitation of renewable energy sources, such as shallow and deep geothermal, solar and wind energies; (5) Development of sustainability indicators and assessment tools in geotechnical engineering, (6) Socio-economic impacts from geo-activities, for example from mining and petroleum extraction, dam construction and landfill/waste disposal; (7) Geohazard (man-made and natural) vulnerability and mitigation, including the effects of global climate change and multi-hazards; and (8) Practice of geoethics and maintaining geodiversity.

The purpose of TC 307 is to monitor, contribute to and disseminate information on sustainability related issues in geotechnical engineering. The TC will actively participate with interested stakeholders in industry and academia in arranging specialty conferences, workshops and events on sustainability in geotechnical engineering. The committee will publish, from time to time, state-of-the-art review articles/papers/reports in journals, conference proceedings, and magazines to promote this new area. The committee may also assist in publishing edited volumes of collected papers in this area.

Any other activity that may be deemed necessary within the purview of promoting the new area of Sustainable Geotechnics will also be the responsibility of TC 307.

# Type Full Name Country
1 Chair Anand J. Puppala United States
2 Vice Chair Md Mizanur Rahman Australia
4 Secretary Yaolin Yi Singapore
5 Nominated by TC Chair Dipanjan Basu Canada
6 Nominated Member Stefano Aversa Italy
7 Nominated Member Claudia Madiai Italy
8 Corresponding Member Ranjiv Gupta United States
9 Corresponding Member Slobodan Mickovski United Kingdom
10 Nominated Member Fiona Kwok Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
11 Nominated Member Wallace Mark Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
12 Corresponding Member Giuseppe Cardile Italy
13 Nominated Member Hemanta Hazarika Japan
14 Corresponding Member Abir Al-Tabbaa United Kingdom
15 Nominated Member Heleni Pantelidou United Kingdom
16 Nominated Member Ian Jefferson United Kingdom
17 Nominated Member Tim Newson Canada
18 Corresponding Member Catherine Mulligan Canada
19 Nominated Member Tone Smaavik Norway
20 Nominated Member Akanksha Tyagi India
21 Corresponding Member G. Madhavi Latha India
22 Nominated Member Asli YALCIN DAYIOGLU Turkey
23 Nominated Member Kaveh DEHGHANIAN Turkey
24 Nominated Member Sara Rios Portugal
25 Corresponding Member Mariantonietta Ciurleo Italy
26 Corresponding Member Castorina Vieira Portugal
27 Nominated Member Ali Fakher Iran
28 Corresponding Member Stan Gonsalves Canada
29 Corresponding Member Taeseo Ku South Korea
30 Nominated Member Ali Tolooiyan Australia
31 Corresponding Member Ilhan Chang South Korea
32 Corresponding Member B RAMU India
33 Corresponding Member Changho Lee South Korea
34 Corresponding Member Boo Hyun Nam South Korea
35 Nominated Member Alexandros Petalas Greece
36 Nominated Member Panos Sitarenios Greece
37 Nominated Member Yanjun Du China
38 Corresponding Member Yu Diao China
39 Corresponding Member Guojun Cai China
40 Nominated Member Honglei Sun China
41 Nominated Member Naoki Takahashi Japan
42 Nominated Member Keh-Jian Shou Chinese Taipei
43 Corresponding Member Krishna Reddy United States
44 Nominated Member Nuno Cristelo Portugal
45 Nominated Member S. Sireesh India
46 Nominated Member Paulo S. Hemsi Brazil
47 Nominated Member Jan Kayser Germany
48 Nominated Member Douglas Cortes United States
49 Corresponding Member Francisco Agrela Spain
50 Nominated Member David Hull Australia
51 Nominated Member María Santana Ruiz de Arbulo Spain
52 Nominated Member Ivan Puig Damians Spain
53 Nominated Member Wojciech Sas Poland

  

TC 307: Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering

Time capsule contribution

Technical Committees have been asked to succinctly document the development of their areas within the sustainability in geotechnical engineering, focussing on major breakthroughs and why they came about, with collateral material (papers etc.) that support their story. To collect these inputs, an online poll has been sent to the officers of the TC307 committee. The poll was opened in mid-2021 and closed in December 2021, and 26 contributions have been received. 

It should be noted that this being a relatively new committee, the contributions of this committee are somewhat limited. However, there is a major interest, as evidenced by a large number of followers of the committee activities. In particular, young members are expressing strong interest in this committee's works.

 

Question 1. What are the major developments, breakthrough in the areas covered by our TC?

. 1980s. The concept of sustainability was defined in its present definition in the 80's (Brown, R.L. 1981. Building a sustainable society, W.W Norton, New York.)

. 1990s. Recycling materials in geotechnics.

. 2000s. Underground thermal energy storage. Nowadays there are numerous methods to generate renewable energy utilising  infinite sources such as the sun, wind, waves or earth. Unfortunately, the supply  and demand of renewable energy is frequently not simultaneous. This not only  holds for renewable electricity but also for renewable heat. In terms of heat,  renewable energy sources such as solar thermal are often most productive when  demand is relatively low. A solution to bridge this gap is to store excess heat during summer time and extract it during the winter. This concept is referred to as Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES). 

. 2000s. Sustainable use of vegetation for slope protection in the 2000s. Quantification of the physical and hydrological effects of vegetation which can be used in geotechnical design and practice (https://www.gcu.ac.uk/cebe/research/researchgroups/naturebasedsolutionsandecoengineering/)

. 2010. Green and sustainable site remediation. New concept of green and sustainability introduced for the first time in addressed contaminated site remediation (https://www.dropbox.com/s/gxa8p8rmtholl2v/2010-6iceg-gsr.pdf?dl=0)

. 1990-2010. CLIMATE HAS A major influence on geology,  and a changing climate has the potential to reap  unexpected consequences for the Earths key  natural processes. It is imperative we expand the  current knowledge and awareness of geohazards,  environmental protection and climate change  because these processes are complex, their  interactions and feedbacks are intricate, and  they have important implications for hazard  management. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236962078_Geohazard-climate_connections

. 2010s. Sustainability assessment of ground bio-engineering methods. Assessment of sustainability for green infrastructure and nature based solutions.

. 2014. Integrated environmental, economic and social sustainability framework introduced to assess sustainability of geotechnical infrastructure. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/9780784478745.057

Question 2. To your opinion, who are the key persons who have accomplished to most remarkable achievements in the area covered by our TC?

First Name

Last Name

Affiliation

Activities/expertise

Dipanjan

Basu

University of Ottawa, Canada

Inaugural chair and lots of papers on the subject

Nilo

Consoli

FRGS, Brasil

Sustainability in binders

Jeff

Keaton

Consulting Engineer, USA

Was promoting ASCE GI Sustainability activtiies

Abir

Al-Tabaa

Cambridge, UK

She is also researching on low carbon materials

Anand

Puppala

Texas A&M University

Consistent contribution to the development of sustainable alternatives in geotechniques

Krishna

Reddy

University of Illinois Chicago

Establishing precise methods to assess the level of sustainability in geotechnics

Ian

Jefferson

University of Birmingham

Overall contribution to the field

Md Mizanur

 Rahman

University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

specialized in geo sustainability

Keh-Jian (Albert)

Shou

National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan

specialized in geo sustainability

Olivier

Cuisinier

Université de Lorraine

specialized in geo sustainability

 

Question 3. Are you aware of a case study that could constitute a landmark contribution to the achievements of sustainable development objectives in geotechnical practice?

. New paradigm shift in selecting remediation technologies to cleanup contaminated sites and to develop waste containment technologies based on quantitative assessment of life cycle sustainability (QUALICS). Several case studies reported implementing this framework.

. For the first time, this study shows an implementation of ecoengineering design into slope stability taking into account the whole life of the nature-based solution used for slope stabilisation. The paper published form this case study received the CIOB International Innovation and Research Award in 2016. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857416301860

. Evaluation of the extreme rainfall predictions and their impact on landslide susceptibility in a sub-catchment scale. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001379521830958X

. Application of mine tailings, stabilised with alkaline cements, to the recovering of the mine space. Full video of the live-scale application. https://dc.engconfintl.org/geopolymers/66/

. The reuse of tsunami deposits due to 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In order to use the recovered soils separated from disaster wastes for backfill and embankment, a technical manual for the use of them was established in 2012 by Iwate prefecture. In that manual, the classification of the recovered soils was designated. The evaluation of engineering properties and environmental suitability for them was also shown in it.

 

Question 4. Questions related to sustainability metrics related calculators, what are the challenges?

. Availability of data on broad environmental, economic and social impacts

. Implementation of the whole life cycle and monitoring into the calculations for nature-based solutions

. It is necessary for international association like ISSMGE to establish a standard calculator. And it will be honored and very useful for the development of sustainability in geotechnical engineering.

. To standardize all the current and future tools. At the moment, very different interpretations and results can be attained, depending on the user.

. There are comments that some are pro industry and some are too academic of late there are papers that focused on framework which is helping this field:

Das, J., Puppala, A.J., Bheemasetti, T. V., Walshire, L., Corcoran, M. Sustainability and Resilience Analyses in Slope Stabilisation. Engineering Sustainability Journal, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Engineering Sustainability, Pages 112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jensu.16.00054, December, 2016.

Das J., Puppala, A.J., Banerjee, A., Chakraborty, S., A Unified Approach for Assessment of Sustainability and Resilience in Pavement Infrastructure. Environmental Geotechnics, ICE Publishers, 2019, DOI: 10.1680/jenge.19.00035.

 

Question 5. What are the most innovative and promising approaches of the recent years?

. New tools to assess sustainability

. Ecosystem services incorporation in geotechnical design for NBS

. Geotechnical engineering related to reusable energy, underground storage, geohazards with climate change considerations

. Alkali activated cements for different types of chemical soil stabilisation (e.g. deep mixing, bases and sub-bases, mine tailings for backfill, etc). Carbon sequestration.

. Developing frameworks and integrating resiliency with sustainability and applying to project and research studies.

 

Question 6. Can you provide details about today consequences of the global warming and climate change on geotechnical structures?

. Increased occurrence of landslides on the North-East coast of Scotland. Gonzalez-Ollauri, A.; Mickovski, S.B. The Effect of Willow (Salix sp.) on Soil Moisture and Matric Suction at a Slope Scale. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9789.

. The consequences of the global warming and climate change on geotechnical structures are significantly increased, such as drought, flooding, geohazards, etc. The impacted regions include coasts, polar areas, floodplains, and mountain areas, however, the types of geohazards could be different.

. I am a part of a major 5 year study funded by USA's National Science Foundation and this project is termed as NSF COPE project:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2052930&HistoricalAwards=false

 

Question 7. How do you think global warming and climate change would modify your geotechnical engineering practice in the near future (2030), or not (foundation design, slope stability, pavement design, etc.).

. Design codes and regulations need to change to address global warming and climate change issues

. Increased occurrence of slope failures. New green infrastructure and NBS structures will be designed while 'green' elements will be retrofitted to existing structures. Necessary research into design and environmental effects of NBS over a lifetime of the project.

. I believe the global warming and climate change would definitely change our geotechnical engineering practice in the near future (2030). In Taiwan area, we not only modify our existing structures, but also enforced more stringent design codes. The related R&D is essential to update the designs and the codes.

. Change in usual materials. Mitigate by using recycled materials. Development and characterisation of the behaviour of recycled materials used in geotechnics.

. There is so much discussion and research on the topic and in some areas they are incorporating into design and construction projects: 1) Foundations, walls, and Slope Design - we are developing materials that will provide long lasting solutions with low carbon footprint (geopolymer treatments); 2. Soil Stabilization - many projects in US, France, Australia, UK, India, China and outside are already exploring these topics, 3. Coastal regions - lots of new research on sea level raises, salt intrusion and how to mitigate their impacts on infrastructure.

. We should develop environmentally-friendly technique than ever before. A cost-effective sustainable ground improvement will be important in geotechnical practice in order to achieve reduction in carbon footprint, prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, treatment and recycling of industrial wastes and remediation of polluted soils.

Question 8: How do the resiliency-based designs impact sustainability practices?

. Essential- gaining the recognition. ASCE is striving to develop guidance documents

. Complement. Research into resilience of NBS in reference to risks. Reference:

Debele, S.E, Kumar P., Sahani J., Marti-Cardona B., Mickovski S.B., Leo L.S., Porcù F., Bertini F., Montesi D., Vojinovic Z., Di Sabatino S. 2019. Nature-based solutions for hydro-meteorological hazards: Revised concepts, classification schemes and databases. Environmental Research https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108799

. The resiliency based designs is now promoted in Taiwan area. However, it is still in the primitive phase, as it is still not be well defined, for different scale, different hazard type, and different fields. Therefore,  its impact on sustainability practices is still insignificant.

. Guarantee that sustainability is actually possible and feasible. Live-scale testing of alternative solutions. Miranda et al 2020 - Application of alkali-activated industrial wastes for the stabilisation of a full-scale (sub)base layer (Journal of Cleaner Production 242 118427)

. Huge R&D developments - many agencies in USA promote greener solutions that will enhance resiliency; Funding agencies include NSF, US Army Corps of Engineers, Dept of Defense, Dept of Energy, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Transportation and others.

Resilience based design is important as it improves the ability of geotechnical infrastructure to deal with uncertain extreme events which may occur over the long-life cycle. The concepts of sustainability and resilience ought to be concurrently considered to ensure that resilience in geotechnical infrastructure is developed while sustainable practices are performed. I suppose that the following technologies are required.

(1) Technology for minimizing damage and early recovery for structures against large earthquakes.

(2) Structure monitoring and damage determination.

By conducting monitoring, the damage situation is assumed immediately, and the damaged part is identified. It is judged whether the structure can be used from the analysis after the disaster.

(3) Seismic design that can be uniformly applied to the superstructure and underground structure.

(4) Ground liquefaction evaluation method considering the impact on structures.

 

Question 9. From a geotechnics point of view, what should we do to improve students awareness on sustainability practices in infrastructure works, global warming and climate change effects, and their ability to mitigate the associated potential negative impacts?

. Teach sustainability in our geotechnical engineering courses

. Deliver specific curriculum.

Garcia Rodriguez, J. L., Sangalli, P., Tardio, G., Mickovski, S., Fernandes, J. P., & Gimenez, M. C. (Eds.)  (2019). Specialization Process for the Bioengineering Sector in the Mediterranean Environment. Ecomed Project Part I. Training Modules. ISBN- 9788496442887, 568pp.

Garcia Rodriguez, J. L., Sangalli, P., Tardio, G., Mickovski, S., Fernandes, J. P., & Gimenez, M. C. (Eds.) (2019). Specialization Process for the Bioengineering Sector in the Mediterranean Environment. Ecomed Project Part II. Protocols and Case Studies. ISBN- 9788496442894. 462 pp.

Mickovski, S.B. 2017. Embedding technology to support the development of problem-solving skills in Geotechnical Design students. In: Proc 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. W. Lee, J-S. Lee, H-K. Kim, D-S Kim (Eds). Seoul, Korea, September 17 22, 2017, pp 3339-3342.

. To improve students awareness on sustainability practices in infrastructure and climate change effects, I think the training or term project related to the major events in the world "in time", could help.

. Implement mandatory courses, as a sequence to normal Soil Mechanics modules. The sustainability point of view should be a normal and constant part of the degrees, and not just a possible choice for some.

. Many academic institutes are incorporating these elements into academic training and there are modules developed. Dr Basu and Dr Puppala developed a short half day course for Geotech Institute.

Note: The hyperlinks in the document were accessed on April 23, 2023. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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