ISL KEYNOTE SPEAKERS |
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Dave N. Petley Professor, Director - Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Durham University, UK “Landslides and engineered slopes: Protecting society through improved understanding” There is poor quantification of global losses associated with landslides. Furthermore, although there is a generally-held view that losses from landslides are increasing, there is a dearth of data to support or refute this view. Dave Petley’s keynote will present a review of human losses from non-seismic landslides in the period 2004 to 2010 inclusive. The results show that the most-affected countries suffer a deficit of research into landslides, even though they are likely to be most-affected by changes that might increase landslide occurrence in the future. It is proposed that in order to reduce landslide losses worldwide there needs to be a coordinated research and capacity-building effort in those most seriously-affected less developed countries. |
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Derek H. Cornforth Founder, Landslide Technology, USA “Advances in investigation and analysis for soil landslides: Three selected topics” Derek Cornforth’s keynote will present three selected topics related to the investigation and analysis of landslides using demonstrative case histories. First, LiDAR has revolutionized the mapping of existing landslides by providing more accurate ‘bare ground’ contours. Visual comprehension of landslide features can be enhanced by manipulation of the data. Second, the estimate of lateral movements of a stiff clay landslide during an earthquake is often required for design. The popular Newmark analysis overestimates the observed movements. If the clay shear strength is increased to reflect the much faster rate of shear during an earthquake, the calculated values fall within the range of observed movements. Third, shear pile walls are being increasingly used to stabilize landslides. The landslide force, assumed to be acting just above the shear zone, is resisted by a row of piles with their lower ends deeply embedded into an underlying hard stratum. The shear and bending moments are calculated using p-y curves to characterize the resistance capabilities of the hard stratum. |
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Doug Stead Professor, Chair in Resource Geoscience & Geotechnics, Simon Fraser University, Canada “Rock slope characterization and geomechanical modelling” Characterization of rock slopes has improved considerably over recent years with the continued development of remote sensing technologies. Methods of slope analysis have simultaneously developed from simple limit equilibrium to increasingly sophisticated 2 and 3D continuum and discontinuum approaches incorporating discrete fracture network and brittle fracture. It is important that the engineer and geoscientist optimize remote sensing procedures to maximize their relevance to available slope analyses techniques. Doug Stead’s keynote will review developments in remote sensing (including geophysics) and numerical modelling applied to rock slopes emphasizing the importance of increased integration of remote sensing and numerical modelling datasets. The need to utilize remote sensing data in a progression from conceptual to more complex numerical models will be discussed. |
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Simon Loew Professor, Chair in Engineering Geology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland “Monitoring of potentially catastrophic rockslides” Catastrophic rock slope failures cause significant damage to critical infrastructure and many casualties throughout the world each year. Mitigating these hazards requires: (1) detection of rock slope instabilities capable of catastrophic failure with rapid landslide motion, (2) characterization of these instabilities with respect to geological predisposition, kinematics, driving factors and triggers, and (3) identification of suitable early-warning indicators and prediction of released volumes and post-failure transport characteristics. Simon Loews’s keynote will discuss the contribution of monitoring data to the characterization of potentially catastrophic rockslides. Key monitoring goals will be identified with examples provided from Switzerland, including Preonzo, a high-risk rock slope monitored with relatively cost-effective instrumentation, and Randa, a low-risk research site investigated with a large suite of standard and unique site characterization and monitoring equipment. |
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Che Hassandi Abdullah Director, Slope Engineering Branch, Public Works Department, Malaysia “Malaysia’s national slope master plan – From theory to practice” Dealing with landslide risk reduction is often more challenging than designing slopes in a complex environment. Many papers on landslides do not deal with the realities faced by engineers or organisations tasked with landslide management via legislation, guidelines, and research and development. The Malaysian Public Works Department (PWD) came face to face with these realities after a series of devastating landslides between 1993 and 2003, including the Highland Towers incident in 1993 that killed 48 people. As a result, the Malaysian Government decided that concrete actions had to be taken by establishing a dedicated slope management unit and creating a National Slope Master Plan to reduce the risks and losses due to landslides. Che Hassandi Abdullah’s keynote will share the experiences and challenges of an organisation that not only deals with technical matters, but also has to engage with the public and local authorities through landslide awareness and education. |
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Sergio Mora-Castro Consultant to the World Bank - Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, NATHAT Team-Leader, Costa Rica “Slope instability hazard in Haiti: Emergency assessment for a safe reconstruction” A Mw=7.0 earthquake occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010 claiming at least 230,000 lives, injuring 100,000 and leaving 600,000 homeless. They added to another sizeable portion of the population already affected by previous disasters and political upheaval. It is not the first time -nor will be the last- that a major earthquake hits Haiti. Damage and economic loss amount for over US$ 8 billion (120% of 2009 GNP). The earthquake also triggered liquefaction and more than 7,000 landslides. Sergio Mora-Castro’s keynote will discuss their efforts to assist the reconstruction process by applying “screening” macro-zonation methodologies to rapidly identify slope instability hazards. The precision of basic data conditioned the quality, accuracy and reliability of the outputs, which must be verified in situ and refined as new site specific data becomes available. |
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FIRST HEIM LECTURE |
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Eduardo E. Alonso Professor of Geotechnical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain “Deformation analysis of landslides: Progressive failure, rate effects and thermal interactions” Evaluating landslide risk and its consequences is only partly achieved by “safety factor” concepts, which essentially rely on static equilibrium concepts and forces. Rather, expected displacements, velocities and accelerations are key magnitudes which help to establish the risk of failure and assist in the management of its consequences. Eduardo Alonso’s inaugural “Heim Lecture” will examine three key aspects for landslide initiation and evolution which are difficult to quantify in practice: progressive failure in brittle materials, thermo-mechanical interactions and creep deformations. Landslides covered in the Lecture are described by kinematically acceptable mechanisms which are eventually explained by the development of shear bands or sliding surfaces in clays or claystone materials. Progressive failure will be reviewed and particular attention will be given to the well documented failure of the Aznalcóllar dam. Thermo-mechanical interactions have been invoked as a plausible mechanism to explain the sudden acceleration of an otherwise “stable” slope if examined from the perspective of conventional static stability conditions. The Vajont landslide is examined as an example of the analysis performed. Creep deformations are approached from the concept of rate dependence of shear strength available on shear bands or discontinuities. Rate effects and thermo-mechanical interactions have been included in a calculation framework which is used to estimate the coupling between slow and fast motions. About the Heim Lecture In 2011, the Joint Technical Committee on “Natural Slopes and Landslides” (JTC-1) established an International Lecture dedicated to Albert Heim, that would take place every four years during the International Symposia on Landslides. “The Heim Lecturer should be an active researcher or professional with a strong track record of work on landslides and/or related phenomena. He/she should be a good communicator who can illustrate their lecture with advanced ideas that are considered to be innovative at the time of the lecture, highlighting both the strength and the vitality of the field. They should have a disciplinary background from one or more of the domains of Soil Mechanics, Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology, and they should be able to communicate at a technical level with those from those other fields”. | |
ISL INVITED LECTURES
Scott Burns – Portland State University, USA2012 H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Engineering Geology:
“Urban landslides: Challenges for forensic engineering geologists and engineers”
Giovanni B. Crosta – Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy
“Approaches to rainfall-induced landslides forecasting”
Lucas Dorren – Federal Office for the Environment, Bern, Switzerland
“Integrating forests in the analysis and management of rockfall risks: Experiences from research and practice in the Alps”
Oldrich Hungr – University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
JTC-1 Working Group Report:
“Varnes classification of landslide types, an update”
Serge Leroueil – Université Laval, Québec, Canada
“Progressive failure in natural and engineered slopes”
Roger Urgeles – Institut de Ciències del Mar, Barcelona, Spain
“Fluid flow focusing in passive continental margins: Significance to submarine slope instability”
Yueping Yin – China Institute of Geo-environment Monitoring, Beijing, China
“Characteristics of landslides triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, Sichuan, China”
