Dear All,

Below is an announcement of a lecture on Monday the 14th of February 
2011 at Nottingham University, organised by the ICE's East Midlands 
Geotechnical Group (EMGG):

Date : Monday 14th February 2011, 6.00 for 6.30pm

Subject :  Long Term Effects of Geotechnical Process, Sensing, 
Analysis and Sustainability

Venue: Coates Building, University of Nottingham (NG7 2RD), (Map 
shown at the following link : 
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/about/campuses/maps.php ).

Light refreshments will be available from 6.00 pm.

Speakers : Professor Kenichi Soga (Cambridge University)

Abstract :

Deterioration of ageing infrastructure and the associated increase in 
the proportion of budgets spent on maintenance present significant 
challenges to our society. The redevelopment and reconstruction of 
urban areas are essential to ensure economic development, but they 
should be done with environmental sustainability in mind such as 
adopting foundation reuse and material recycling. One of the 
challenges facing geotechnical engineers is to assess the long-term 
performance of geotechnical infrastructure. This presentation will 
introduce several key ground parameters necessary to assess the 
long-term effects of geotechnical construction. The assessment should 
be complemented by field measurement and monitoring. Advances in the 
development of fibre optics, computer vision, miniature 
micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS) and wireless sensor network 
(WSN) offer intriguing possibilities that can radically alter the 
paradigms underlying existing methods of condition assessment and 
monitoring of such infrastructure. This paper discusses potentials of 
these technologies for monitoring underground infrastructure.

Speaker's Biography :

Kenichi Soga is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of 
Cambridge. He has BEng and MEng from Kyoto University and PhD from 
the University of California at Berkeley in Geotechnical Engineering. 
His current research activities are innovative monitoring and 
long-term performance of geoinfrastructure, energy geomechanics, and 
fundamental soil behaviour. He has published more than 200 journal 
and conference papers. He is co-author of "Fundamentals of Soil 
Behavior, 3rd edition" from John Wiley & Sons. He is recipient of 
many awards including George Stephenson Medal (2006) and Telford Gold 
Medal (2010) from ICE and and Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering 
Research Prize (2007) from ASCE. He is a fellow of ICE and a founding 
member of the new Innovation and Knowledge centre for Smart 
Infrastructure and Construction at Cambridge University, which will 
be launched in April this year.

If you would like to be on our mailing list, please send me an 
e-mail. More information may be obtained about the various talks at :

http://emgg.lboro.ac.uk/

Regards,

Ashraf

---------
Dr A. El-Hamalawi BEng,(Hons) PhD (Cantab), MASCE,MCGS,MILT,PEng
Senior lecturer in Geomechanics
Civil and Building Engineering Department,
Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU
United Kingdom

Tel: +44-1509-223206
Fax: +44-1509-223981
-------------------