About the future of geotechnical engineering: a view from South America

F.M. Francisca

In the proceedings of: GEO2011: 64th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 14th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5th Pan-American Conference on Teaching and Learning of Geotechnical Engineering

Session: ISSMGE 75th Anniversary

ABSTRACT: What is going to be the geotechnical engineering role in future generations? What challenges Geotechnical Engineers will have in the next 50 years? What are the current and future needs of societies in developing countries in relation to unsolved problems related with Geotechnical Engineering? These and similar questions triggered the author´s thoughts associated to where geotechnical engineering is going to in terms of research, education, design, and practice fields. This paper summarizes the author feelings enriched by significant interactions and discussions with graduate students and colleagues; there is no intention to make an apology of the future, instead, the purpose is to trigger discussions between geotechnical engineers with focus on the relevance and role of our profession in a changing world.

RESUMEN: ¿Cuál será el rol de la ingeniería geotecnica en las próximas generaciones? ¿Cuáles son los desafíos que deberá enfrentar un ingeniero geotécnico en los próximos 50 años? ¿Qué necesita y necesitará la sociedad en referencia a problemas por resolver relacionados con la geotecnia? Estas son algunas de las preguntas que motivaron el pensamiento del autor sobre hacia donde se dirige la ingeniería geotecnica en los campos de investigación, educación, diseño y tendencias futuras. Este artículo refleja el pensamiento del autor, enriquecido por valiosas conversaciones con colegas y estudiantes de posgrado, que han permitido desarrollar ideas básicas que no pretenden ser una apología del futuro sino por el contrario despertar el interés de la sociedad geotécnica en discutir la relevancia y el rol de la geotecnia frente a un mundo cambiante. 1 GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING 2010-2020 The near future of Geotechnical Engineers can be easily predicted by analyzing the research and engineering practice of young Geotechnical Engineers. The best way to do this is looking at the content of papers published in Asian, European, South-American, African and World Young Geotechnical Engineers Conferences. Young professional Engineers, Master and Ph.D. students attended these events and discussed hot topics within the geotechnical field. In most cases, these works are related to research projects or industry proposals that reflect current and near future needs. The 3rd South-American Conference of Young Geotechnical Engineers, held in Córdoba (Argentina) in 2009 brought together over 86 participants from 9 different countries. There were 51 articles organized in six different sessions: soil mechanics, foundation engineering, environmental geotechnical engineering, site and laboratory investigations, embankments and retaining structures, and computational geomechanics. The main topics of papers were related to both classical and innovative geotechnical problems (Table 1). Contributions summarized in Table 1 show that some topics little considered in the last century have become of relevance, capturing the attention of Geotechnical Engineers. For example, problems related to waste disposal, contaminant fate and transport, micromechanical analysis, soil improvement and soil stabilization techniques have similar relative importance than classical soil mechanics and foundation engineering aspects. Table 1. Topics that young geotechnical engineers are working on in South America TOPIC RELATIVE IMPORTANCE Geo-environmental problems 24% Soil behavior and properties 24% Ground Improvement and geosynthetic 11% Seepage flow 5% Shallow and deep Foundations 19% In-situ tests and soil dynamics 6% Constitutive models and numerical methods 11% Some diversity can be observed looking at what is happening in the rest of the world. Table 2 summarizes the relative amount of contributions of different geotechnical topics received in the Fourth International Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference, held in Alexandria (Egypt) in 2009. More than 83 Geotechnical Engineers attended this conference coming from 42 different countries around the world (all regions in which the ISSMGE is divided into were represented). A deeper analysis of the focus of papers presented in these two conferences reveals similarities and differences. The main similarities consist of methodologies, used laboratory facilities, revealed creativity and innovation, and employed research tools. Most significant differences identified were the number of

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