Minutes

for 24th ISSMGE TC304 Meeting

13‐17 February 2017 (email meeting)

Date: 13‐17 February 2017
Time: Meeting closes as of 5:00 pm (Singapore, UTC/GMT +8 hours), 17 Feb 2017


1. Approval of the 23rd TC304 minutes (Email meeting, 3‐7 Oct 2016)

Minutes are approved.

2. Conferences/workshops/short courses

 (ISSMGE conferences) 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical
Engineering (ICSMGE 2017), Sep 17‐22 2017, Seoul, Korea
(https://www.icsmge2017.org/)
o Suzanne Lacasse Lecture (Farrokh Nadim)
o Joint TC205/TC304 Workshop (Hyunki Kim)
 Presentation and discussion of final reports from Joint TC205/TC304
working group on ‘Discussion of statistical/reliability methods for
Eurocodes’
o TC205 intends to hold a board/technical meeting in ICSMGE 2017. The meeting
will be partly administrative but mainly an opportunity for discussion about limit
state design, partial factor design and performance based design (Brian)

 4th China National symposium on Engineering Risk and Insurance, Aug 26‐28 2016, Wuhan
University, Hubei, China (Hongwei, KK, Dianqing)
o 76 papers are received and 43 papers are accepted (in Chinese)
o A total of 220 attendees
o Three TC 304 members (Dagang Lv, Yu Wang, Lulu Zhang) gave keynote lectures
o Two special sessions (i: engineering risk and insurance; ii: uncertainty
quantification and reliability analysis) were organized, each of which has 18
presentations

 ASCE Workshop on Resiliency of Urban Tunnels and Pipelines, Sep 1 2016, Reston, VA
(Chairs: Michael Beer, Bilal Ayyub, Hongwei Huang)
o Three topic were discussed: resiliency monitoring, robustness design, and uncertainty
analysis.

 Recent Trends in Geotechnical Engineering and Education, Workshop No. 3, September
15‐16, 2016, Brisbane, Australia (D.V. Griffiths, Jinsong Huang) (http://rtgee.weebly.com/)
o Statistics and Probabilistic Methods in Geotechnical Engineering Applications and Case
Histories (Invited talks, D.V. Griffiths, Jinsong Huang)

 International Symposium on Sustainability and Resiliency of Infrastructure (ISSRI 2016),
Nov 9‐12 2016, Taipei, Taiwan (http://www.issri2016.ntust.edu.tw/)
o Keynote lecture: “Mobilized shear strength in spatially variable soils” (KK & Jianye)

 Georisk 2017/ISGSR 2017, June 4‐6 2017, Denver, Colorado (Conference Chair: Vaughan;
Conference Co‐Chair: Gordon)
o Suzanne Lacasse Lecture “Bayesian thinking for geotechnical engineers” (Gregory
Baecher)
 o Wilson Tang Lecture “Future directions in reliability‐based geotechnical design”
(Gordon Fenton)
o Keynote lecture “Eurocode 7 and Robustness” (Brian Simpson)
o Keynote lecture “Effect of Spatial Variability on Static and Liquefaction‐induced
Differential Settlements” (Armin Stuedlein)
o Discussion session on “Reports from Joint TC205/TC304 working group on
“Discussion of statistical/reliability methods for Eurocodes” (KK, Brian, Jianye)
o Short course on “Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering”, Gordon Fenton
and Vaughan Griffiths
o Short course on “Bayesian Analysis and Reliability Updating in Geotechnical
Engineering”, Gregory Baecher and Timo Schweckendiek

 2nd International Workshop on Resilience of Urban Tunnel and Pipeline, July 15 2017, and
2nd International Workshop on Monitoring and Inspection on Metro Tunnel, July 16 2017
(Hongwei), co‐organized by TC304

 Workshop on Frontiers of Big Data and Risk Management, August 9 2017, RESA Center, 1
Research Drive, Greenville, South Carolina, USA (Jie Zhang)

 TC304/TC205/GI‐RAM/GEOSNet mini‐symposium “Reliability of geotechnical structures”
in 12th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR2017), 6‐10
August 2017, Vienna, Austria (KK, Jianye, Gordon) – (12 abstracts accepted)
o Jianye Ching ‐ A weakest‐link model for the mobilized shear strength of a spatially variable
soil mass
o Wenping Gong, C. Hsein Juang, and James R. Martin, II ‐ A Modified Importance Sampling
Method for Estimating Failure Probability
o Yoshida Ikumasa ‐ Iterative Particle Filter for Bayesian Update of Model Parameters
o Rafael Jimenez ‐ Tunnel convergences: Calibration with Bayesian methods and prediction
of failure‐times
o Andy Leung ‐ Effects of superstructure stiffness on the reliability of piled foundations on
spatially variable soils
o Dianqing Li ‐ Characterization of statistical uncertainty in probabilistic model using
bootstrap method for slope reliability analysis
o Sónia Marques ‐ Discussion on Imprecise Interval Approaches Applied to the Eurocode 7
Partial Factor Design
o He‐Qing Mu, Ka‐Veng Yuen, Iok‐Tong Ng ‐ Prediction on Uniaxial Compressive Strength of
Rock: Bayesian Inference and Outlier Analysis
o Shin‐ichi Nishimura ‐ Risk Evaluation of Earth Dam Breaches due to Heavy Rains with Use
of Response Surface Method
o Chong Tang & KK Phoon ‐ Model Uncertainty in Axial Helical Pile Capacity Calculations
using Installation Torque
o Giovanna Vessia ‐ Random field theory applied to the prediction of the pile bearing capacity
measured at Araquari site (Brazil)
o Yu Wang ‐ Quantification of Prior Information in Geotechnical Site Characterization Using
Excel Add‐in: Bayesian Equivalent Sample Toolkit (BEST)
o Jaehyun Park, Resistance factor updating and preliminary design case study of large
diameter bored piles
o Zhongqiang Liu, Bjørn Kalsnes, Farrokh Nadim, Sara Bazin, Suzanne Lacasse, Bayesian
kriging for the mapping of sensitive clay
o Panagiotis Spyridis ‐ Reliability based trigger‐level concept for in‐tunnel monitoring of SCL
tunnels
o Ivan Depina ‐ Application of conditional random fields for the reliability assessment of
slope stability
o Zhongqiang Liu ‐ Bayesian kriging for the mapping of sensitive clay
o Jinhui Li ‐ Characterizing the variability of soil using conditioned 3D random field
 o Limin Zhang ‐ Empirical formulas for estimating casualties in large earthquakes

 15th International Conference of the International Association for Computer Methods and
Advances in Geomechanics (15 IACMAG), Oct 19‐23 2017, Wuhan, China
o TC304 Special session “Computational probabilistic geomechanics” in 15IACMAG,
Oct 19‐23 2017, Wuhan, China (KK, Dianqing, Michael Beer)
o Invited lecture “Homogenization of Shear Strength and Modulus in Spatially
Variable Soils” (KK & Jianye)

 (Short course) “Statistics and Probabilistic Methods in Geotechnical Engineering– the
Fundamentals” in Recent Trends in Geotechnical Engineering and Education, Workshop No.
3, Sep 15‐16 2016, Brisbane, Australia (D.V. Griffiths)

3. Publications

 Phoon, KK & Retief, JV (2016). “Reliability of Geotechnical Structures in ISO2394”, CRC
Press/Balkema, Leiden, The Netherlands – published

 Georisk Special Issue on “Distinctive and Critical Elements in Geotechnical Risk and
Reliability” (Yu Wang) – (Georisk Volume 10, Issue 4, Dec 2016)
1. John T. Christian and Gregory B. Baecher, Sources of uncertainty in liquefaction triggering
procedures
2. Yu Wang, Oluwatosin Victor Akeju and Zijun Cao, Bayesian Equivalent Sample Toolkit (BEST):
an Excel VBA program for probabilistic characterisation of geotechnical properties from limited
observation data
3. Wen‐Chao Huang and Hong‐Wen Yu, Variability of levee failure mechanisms subject to heavy
rainfalls, case studies in Taiwan
4. Jonathan C. Huffman, John P. Martin and Armin W. Stuedlein, Calibration and assessment of
reliability‐based serviceability limit state procedures for foundation engineering
5. Jianye Ching, Kok‐Kwang Phoon and Tsai‐Jung Wu, Spatial correlation for transformation
uncertainty and its applications
6. Shin‐ichi Nishimura, Toshifumi Shibata and Takayuki Shuku, Diagnosis of earth‐fill dams by
synthesised approach of sounding and surface wave method

 10th Anniversary Issue for Georisk (Georisk Volume 11, Issue 1, 2017)
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ngrk20/11/1?nav=tocList (open access)
1. Phoon K. K., Role of reliability calculations in geotechnical design
2. Adeyemi Emman Aladejare & Yu Wang, Evaluation of rock property variability
3. Richard J. Bathurst & Sina Javankhoshdel, Influence of model type, bias and input parameter
variability on reliability analysis for simple limit states in soil‐structure interaction problems
4. Jinbo Chen & Robert B. Gilbert, Offshore Pile System Model Biases and Reliability
5. J. Michael Duncan & Matthew D. Sleep, The Need for Judgement in Geotechnical Reliability
Studies
6. Ahmad Kahiel, Shadi Najjar, & Salah Sadek, Reliability‐Based Design of Spread Footings on Clays
Reinforced with Aggregate Piers
7. Sara Khoshnevisan, Lei Wang & C. Hsein Juang, Response Surface‐Based Robust Geotechnical
Design of Supported Excavation ‐ Spreadsheet‐Based Solution
8. Trevor Orr, Defining and selecting characteristic values of geotechnical parameters for designs
to Eurocode 7
9. Iason Papaioannou & Daniel Straub, Learning Soil Parameters and Updating Geotechnical
Reliability Estimates under Spatial Variability – Theory and Application to Shallow Foundations
10. Rita Sousa, Karim S. Karam, Ana Laura Costa & Herbert H. Einstein, Exploration and Decision
Making in Geotechnical Engineering ‐ A Case Study
11. Te Xiao, Dian‐Qing Li, Zi‐Jun Cao, Xiao‐Song Tang, Full Probabilistic Design of Slopes in Spatially
Variable Soils Using Simplified Reliability Analysis Method

 ASCE GSP in honour of Professor Wilson Tang – scheduled for publication before Geo‐
Risk 2017 (ASCE GI‐RAM; Eds.: Hsein Juang, Bob Gilbert, Limin Zhang, Jie Zhang, and Lulu
Zhang)

 Special Collection on “Probabilistic site characterization” in ASME‐ASCE Journal of Risk
and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems (KK) – (11 abstracts accepted)

4. Industry links

 Joint TC205/TC304 Working Group on “Discussion of statistical/reliability methods for
Eurocodes” (Brian, KK)
o Discussions from TC205/TC304/GEOSNet/CEN TC250/SC7 due on March 15 2017
 Discussions should be sent to Jianye (jyching@gmail.com), and Jianye will
forward them to lead discussers. The lead discussers will rely using a
format that is similar to journal discussions.
o Final Chapters due March 31 2017
o The “Joint TC205/TC304 Working Group on ‘Discussion of statistical/reliability
methods for Eurocodes’ – Final Report” would be compiled for presentation in
19ICSMGE

Lead discusser Topic Interim Chapter
report
Malcolm Bolton Limitations of reliability Download Chap 9
(mdb@eng.cam.ac.uk) analysis powerpoint

Jianye Ching Transformation uncertainties & Download Chap 1

(jyching@gmail.com) multivariate soil data report

Peter Day Practical geotechnical design Download Chap 3

(day@jaws.co.za) using reliability based design report

methods
Kerstin Lesny Evaluation and consideration of Download Chap 2
(kerstin.lesny@hcu‐ model uncertainties in report

hamburg.de) reliability based design

Dianqing Li Incorporating spatial variability Download Chap 7
(dianqing@whu.edu.cn) into geotechnical reliability report

based design
BK Low EXCEL‐based direct reliability Download Chap 4
(CBKLOW@ntu.edu.sg) analysis and its potential role to report

complement Eurocodes
Sónia H. Marques Imprecise probabilistic and Download Chap 8
(sonia.h@fe.up.pt) interval approaches applied to report

partial factor design

Brian Simpson Robustness Download Chap 10
(brian.simpson@arup.com) report

Yu Wang Selection of characteristic Download Chap 5

(yuwang@cityu.edu.hk) values for rock and soil report

properties using Bayesian

statistics and prior knowledge
Jie Zhang Bayesian method: a natural tool Download Chap 6
(cezhangjie@gmail.com) for processing geotechnical report

information


 Directory of national reliability‐based design (RBD) groups

To strengthen and coordinate activities between TC304 and national groups, particularly
those engaging in developing reliability‐based design codes, we propose to maintain a
directory at our TC304 website as a start. We welcome participation from anyone who are
interested in RBD codes for geotechnical engineering – formal membership in national
code committees is not necessary.

The sample entries would be posted in our TC304 website. Do submit other national
entries to Jianye.

Country Name Affiliation Email Code committee(s)
Gordon Fenton Dalhousie University gordon.fenton@dal.ca Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code
Dennis Becker Golder Associates dennis_becker@golder.com
Canada Dave Dundas
Richard Royal Military College of
bathurst‐r@rmc.ca
Bathurst Canada
Eurocode 7 (WG1/TG1),
Schweckendiek Deltares / Delft university ENW (Dutch Expertise Network for
timo.schweckendiek@deltares.nl
, Timo of Technology Flood Protection),
WBI2017 (Flood Defences)
Deltares / Delft university
Kanning, Wim wim.kanning@deltares.nl WBI2017 (Flood Defences)
of Technology
Teixeira, Ana Deltares ana.teixeira@deltares.nl WBI2017 (Flood Defences)
Van der Krogt,
Deltares mark.vanderkrogt@deltares.nl WBI2017 (Flood Defences)
Mark
ENW (Dutch Expertise Network for
Calle, Ed Deltares ed.calle@deltares.nl
Flood Protection)
Delft University of
Hicks, Michael m.a.hicks@tudelft.nl
Technology
Delft University of
Vardon, Phil p.j.vardon@tudelft.nl
Technology
Delft University of
Jommi, Cristina c.jommi@tudelft.nl Eurocode 7 (WG3/TG4)
Technology / Deltares
Delft University of
Gavin, Ken k.g.gavin@tudelft.nl
Technology / Deltares
Van der Meer, ENW (Dutch Expertise Network for
Fugro m.vandermeer@fugro.nl
Martin Flood Protection)
The Rijneveld, Ben Fugro b.rijneveld@fugro.nl
Netherlands Jongejan, ruben.jongejan@jongejanrmc.co ENW (Dutch Expertise Network for
Jongejan RMC
Ruben m Flood Protection)
Bisschop, Cor Greenrivers c_bisschop@hotmail.com
Ministry of Infrastructure
Cools, Paul paul.cools@rws.nl
and the Environment
Van Hemert, Ministry of Infrastructure ENW (Dutch Expertise Network for
henk.van.hemert@rws.nl
Henk and the Environment Flood Protection)
De Visser, Ministry of Infrastructure
marieke.devisser@rws.nl
Marieke and the Environment
Koopmans,
Arcadis rimmer.koopmans@arcadis.nl
Rimmer
Wolters, Herm
IV Infra hermjan.wolters@iv‐infra.nl
Jan
Lengkeek, Arny Witteveen & Bos arny.lengkeek@witbo.nl
Everts, Bert ABT bert.everts@abt.eu
Viehofer,
Royal Haskoning DHV thomas.viehofer@rhdhv.nl
Thomas
Tsimopoulou,
Van Oord vana.tsimopoulou@vanoord.nl
Vana
Vastenburg,
HHNK (water board) erik.vastenburg@hhnk.nl
Erik
Effing, Bas Rivierenland (water board) bas.effing@wsrl.nl
Korea Institute of Civil Committee Highway & cable stayed
Park, Jae Hyun Engineering and Building jaehyeon@kict.re.kr bridge design codes & Secretary_KGS
Technology Limit state design discussion group
South Korea
Korea Institute of Civil Committee_Highway bridge design code
Kwak, Kiseok Engineering and Building kskwak@kict.re.kr & Chair, KGS Limit state design
Technology discussion group
 Chung, Choong
Seoul National University geolabs@snu.ac.kr
Ki
Lim, Jong Seok Mokpo National University jslim@mokpo.ac.kr
Committee_Highway bridge design code
Kim, Byung Il Myong Ji University bikim@mju.ac.kr
Korea Expressway
Cho, Sung Min chosmin@ex.co.kr
Coorperation
Jung, Sang
Yonsei University soj9081@yonsei.ac.kr
Seom
Korea Institute of Civil Committee_Cable stayed bridge code
Chung,
Engineering and Building mkchung@kict.re.kr
Moonkyung
Technology
Korea Institute of Ocean Committee_Harbor and port design
Yoon, Gil Lim glyoon@kiost.ac.kr
Science and Technology code
Korea Expressway
Jung, Gyung Ja gjjung@ex.co.kr
Coorperation
Kim, Incheon National
wookdong2@gmail.com
Dongwook University
Kim, Hyun Ki Kookmin University geotech@kookmin.ac.kr
Chonnam National
Huh, Jungwon jwonhuh@jnu.ac.kr
University

China National Code for risk
Huang,
Tongji University huanghw@tongji.edu.cn management of underground works in
Hongwei
urban rail transit
Li, Jie Tongji University lijie@tongji.edu.cn
Jin, Weiliang Zhejiang University jinwl@zju.edu.cn
Dalian University of
Gong, Jinxing gong_jx.vip@eyou.com
Technology
Li, Jingpei Tongji University lijp2773@tongji.edu.cn
Zhang, Jie Tongji University cezhangjie@tongji.edu.cn
Li, Dianqing Wuhan University dianqing@whu.edu.cn
China Shanghai Jiaotong
Zhang, Lulu lulu_zhang@sjtu.edu.cn
University
China construction science
Jin, Xinyang jinxinyang@cabrtech.com
research institute
China construction science Unified standard for reliability design of
Zhao, Jida zhaojida@cabrtech.com
research institute building structures
Harbin institute of Unified standard for reliability design of
Lv, Dagang ludagang@hit.edu.cn
technology building structures
China academy of railway
Zhang, Yuling zyl@rails.com.cn
science
Cao, Zijiun Wuhan University zijuncao@whu.edu.cn
Faculdade de Engenharia
Sónia H.
da Universidade do Porto sonia.h@fe.up.pt
Marques
Portugal (FEUP)
National Laboratory for
Celeste Jorge cjorge@lnec.pt
Civil Engineering

5. Awards/Keynotes ("News")

 KK Phoon & J Ching, “Mobilized shear strength in spatially variable soils”, International
Symposium on Sustainability and Resiliency of Infrastructure (ISSRI 2016), Nov 9‐12 2016,
Taipei, Taiwan
 Gregory Baecher, 2nd Suzanne Lacasse Lecture "Bayesian thinking for geotechnical
engineers", Georisk 2017/ISGSR 2017, June 4‐6 2017, Denver, Colorado
 Gordon Fenton, 5th Wilson Tang Lecture "Future directions in reliability‐based
geotechnical design", Georisk 2017/ISGSR 2017, June 4‐6 2017, Denver, Colorado
 Brian Simpson, “Eurocode 7 and Robustness”, Georisk 2017/ISGSR 2017, June 4‐6 2017,
Denver, Colorado.
 Armin Stuedlein, “Effect of Spatial Variability on Static and Liquefaction‐induced
Differential Settlements”, Georisk 2017/ISGSR 2017, June 4‐6 2017, Denver, Colorado
 Farrokh Nadim, 3rd Suzanne Lacasse Lecture, 19th International Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE 2017), Sep 17‐22 2017, Seoul, Korea
  K Phoon & J Ching, “Homogenization of Shear Strength and Modulus in Spatially Variable
Soils”, 15 IACMAG, Oct 19‐23 2017, Wuhan, China

6. Other business

 The official ISSMGE TC304 website has been revised:
http://issmge.org/committees/technical‐committees/impact‐on‐society/risk
We have re‐organised the format of our agenda so that it is more aligned with our ISSMGE
TC304 website. This will allow us to map updates in our minutes onto this website more
readily.

Members are invited to contribute more ideas to update both TC304 website and our
Geoworld website:
http://www.mygeoworld.info/groups/profile/948/engineering‐practice‐of‐risk‐
assessment‐and‐management‐tc304

Brian noted that TC205 intend to hold a board/technical meeting at the Seoul conference
in addition to the workshops that present the reports of the working groups on reliability.
The meeting will be partly administrative but mainly an opportunity for discussion about
limit state design, partial factor design and performance based design.