British Geotechnical Association Event: Half-day Mini-Symposium on Observational Method (6th February 2024, London, UK)
The Observational Method (OM) in ground engineering is a continuous, managed, integrated process of design, construction control, monitoring and review that enables previously defined modifications to be incorporated during or after construction as appropriate (CIRIA R185, 1999) .
The OM has also been recognised by recent codes e.g. Eurocode. The OM process was introduced by Peck (1969) in his Rankine Lecture (Géotechnique, 19, No 2, 171 -187). The objective is to achieve greater overall economy without compromising safety. The method can be adopted from the inception of a project, or later if benefits are identified.
TC206 and TC220 are the Technical Committees of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) dedicated to the Observational Method and Field Monitoring in Geomechanics respectively.
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This mini-symposium presents three areas that they are currently collaborating on:
- Conditions that enable use of OM (speaker Professor Tony OBrien, Mott MacDonald).
- Real-time back analysis (speaker Dr Ying Chen, Typsa).
- Field monitoring to support the use of the OM (Daniele Fornelli, Geotechnical Observations)
