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Article Summary: Towards Risk-Driven Site Characterization

The main idea of the article is site characterization as an engineering procedure. Most

engineering works will begin construction on a ground, thus, be exposed to ground related risks.

The ground related risks can be caused or influenced by many environmental factors. Civil

engineers can conduct many tests associated with site characterization to determine and

minimize the chances of occurrence of risks associated with the site characterization. It is the

role of every engineer in charge of a construction site to take account of the probable risks by

evaluating the ground on which construction is to be done. The engineers have to ensure that the

ground is geologically, structurally, and hydrologically sound to support the construction. When

engineers fail to conduct size characterization, it is highly probable that some risks will occur

and their consequence can be costly.

Some of the uncertainties that characterize ground uncertainty include fuzziness,

randomness and incompleteness. Randomness is the apparent lack of a geographical pattern. This

implies that there are difficulties in ascertaining a certain distribution of the ground properties.

Fuzziness on the other hand is the lack of solidness of the ground which might lead to sloppiness

and landslides. Incompleteness, on the other hand, is an engineering fault which means having

inadequate information about the ground on which the construction is supposed to take place.

Therefore, incompleteness is a fault related to human error. It is recommended for engineers to

conduct some sampling for risk perceptions. Some of the factors that influences site
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characterization include project objectives, the kind of risks involvement, the proposed risk

redemption and risk mobilization. With all the relevant information at hand, the engineers can

therefore make meaningful decisions.