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Proceedings of the 18
th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
4
THE FIRST CAPG MEETING
The first meeting of the CAPG was organized in Yusupov
Palace, St. Petersburg State Transport University, on the 2nd
July 2012.
Yusupov Palace of St. Petersburg State Transport University – venue of
the first CAPG meeting
Three Task Forces were formed at the meeting, based on the
best ideas selected previously by the CAPG members.
1.
Interaction academician/consultants/contractors/
manufacturers/clients.
Research list – practice/academicians
Task Force leader: Sukumar Pathmanandavel (Geotechnics,
Australia)
2.
Open up the case studies database to public view and
enable CA’s to add their case studies in a pre-approved and
consistent format
Publish separate brochures (in electronic form) on the most
important constructional projects of Corporate Associates.
These brochures can be written by the Corporate Associate and
put on the ISSMGE Website. Then prominent geotechnical
experts can give their analyses and opinion of the projects.
Task Force leader: Chaido (Yuli) Doulala-Rigby (Tensar,
UK)
3.
For Regional Conferences, the organizing Committee
should strive to increase industry/practitioner membership and
lead roles such as Chair and the like. Keynote lecturers should
be given as appropriate by industry. Emphasis on case records
should be given in ISSMGE related publications (this has been
happening as well). In summary, industry/practitioners need to
become more “visible” in the ISSMGE and associated
conferences /seminars/workshops, etc.
Corporate Associates should have a possibility to make
presentation of their work at the International and Regional
Conferences. Of course, these should be scientific lectures, not
advertising.
In addition to “participation”, practitioners should be
leading (Chairing) a significant number of TCs and have a
stronger presence/membership on the ISSMGE Board.
Task Force Leader: Dennis Becker (Golder, Canada)
During the meeting in Saint Petersburg Dennis Becker
(Golder, Canada) was appointed as Vice Chairman of CAPG.
The second CAPG meeting will take place in Paris during
the 18th ICSMGE in September 2013.
5
BRIEF REPORTS ON THE WORK OF THE TASK
FORCES
Task Force 1 on Interaction/academician/consultants
/contractors/manufacturers/clients
Research list – practice/academicians
Leader: Sukumar Pathmanandavel (Coffey, Australia)
The task force has decided that the development of Streams
1 & 2, as outlined below, will be the main focus in the short to
medium term.
Stream 1 – Improvement in Education and Research
When teaching students, improve
the knowledge of the portion of
uncertainty/non-accuracy typical of
geotechnics – maths as a tool and
not a certainty when used in
geotechnics; use one’s common
sense
Improve the relevance of
research to practice – solving
existing problems
Stream 2 – Improvement in Client Perception
Be able to better
assess quality of
geotechnical
consultants,
contractors,
manufacturers in
international
markets (quality
label, database of
performed projects
including rating of
performance, etc.)
Have structured
overview/database
of available
consultants,
contractors,
manufacturers and
their capabilities
Improve profile of
geotechnical
engineering in
community, but
specifically
amongst the asset
owner/decision
makers
Improve the
profile of the
contractor’s
geotechnical
engineer to the
client/consultan
t in such a way
that he also can
have a relevant
weight in
making joint
decisions from
a practical and
site-specific-
feedback point
of view
The task force’s next steps are
a. To clearly articulate the benefit for CAPG members to
join our active committee and help develop the above 2
streams.
b. To broaden the number of CAPG members participating
in the regular meeting calls
c. To arrive at focussed and practical activities for Streams 1
& 2 to which the CAPG and ISSMGE can direct their
efforts.
Task Force 2. Open up the case studies database to public view
and enable CA’s to add their case studies in a pre-approved and
consistent format
Leader: Chaido (Yuli) Doulala-Rigby (Tensar, UK)
A cover letter and the format for the Case Study (CS) was
prepared by Yuli Doulala-Rigby. The cover letter explains in
brief what CAPG is and also outlines the expected content of
the CSs to be submitted (up to 5 CSs per CA per year) – a good
balance between technical and commercial information.
The cover letter and CS template was circulated to the
CAPG active members (as per Sukumar’s email) including
Philippe Henry, who has offered to help Yuli in this task, and
Dimitris Zekkos who will help with publishing the CSs
The cover letter and CS template was amended to the
circulation group’s comments
An email with cover letter and CS template was sent to all
CAs on 4/4/2013
Deadline for receipt of CAs CSs was set at May 31st, 2013
Planned activity:
Depending on the CAs response, we might have to extend
the May deadline
Collect all CSs received, review and circulate to a group of
people to scrutinise suitability of CSs for publishing, i.e. not too
heavily commercial or too technical
Once scrutinised, forward the CSs to CAPG Chairman for
on line publication through the CAPG website
Volume 6 - Page 306