Jointly organised by:

Center for Usable Space, NTU & Housing and Development Board (HDB)

Seminar on The Urban Slope

Date : 25 January 2018 (Thursday)

Time : 1:00 – 5:00 pm (Registration starts at 1 pm)

Venue : Nanyang Technological University, North Spine

Lecture Theatre 20, 50 Nanyang Avenue

Singapore 639798

SDU/PDU points : Pending accreditation

Click here to register by 19 Jan 18

Unsaturated soil mechanics has been a rapidly emerging science over the past few decades. This

science can be applied to advantage in obtaining solutions that are sustainable as well as solutions

that provide long-term environmental protection. In order to meet the desired goals of sustainability

and environmental protection, it is necessary for geotechnical engineers to undergo a paradigm

shift in their understanding and application of unsaturated soil mechanics.

In this seminar, participants could hear from speakers with vast experience and research studies in

the application of unsaturated soil mechanics for slope stability, including the research and

development of the GeoBarrier System, and useful analysis tools for estimating unsaturated soil

behaviour.

Synopsis

Programme

1:00pm Registration - distribution of monograph

1:30pm Welcome address by Prof Wang Rong, Chair, School of Civil and Environmental

Engineering, NTU

1:35pm Welcome address by Mr Wang Chien Looi, Deputy Director, Centre of Excellence for

Environmental Sustainability Research, HDB on "Urban Slopes"

1:40pm Presentation by Ms Jernice Kew - " Approach and implementation of GeoBarrier

System - A Green Option to Stabilise Urban Slope“

2:20pm Presentation by Prof Harianto Rahardjo - "Geobarrier system for slope protection

against rainfall-induced slope failure“

3:00pm Refreshment

3:25pm Presentation by Prof Jeong Sangseom – “Proposed early warning systems for

landslides in the Seoul metropolitan area”

4:05pm Presentation by Professor Delwyn G. Fredlund - "Role of Soil-water Characteristic

Curve in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics“

4:45pm Q & A session

5:00pm End of seminar

Seminar on The UrbanSlope

Mr Wang Chien Looi is Deputy Director of Infrastructure and Development Researchin Building Research Institute, HDB. He has over 30 years of civil engineeringexperience ranging from planning to design/construction andmaintenance/rehabilitation. He leads R & D studies that range from stormwatermanagement/rainwater harvesting, green commuting to slope stabilization andfloating wetlands /mangroves to enhance water quality. He is also a resource personfor the Civil and Structural Engineering Specialist Panel on civil engineering works in

Speaker’s Profile

Prof. Harianto Rahardjo is currently a Professor of the School of Civil &Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.Prof Rahardjo has served as the Head, Division of Infrastructure Systems andMaritime Studies (2008-2014), the Vice-Dean and Associate Chair (Research), CEE,NTU (1999-2007) and Director of NTU-PWD Geotechnical Research Centre, NTU(1996-1998). He has amassed over 35 years of teaching, research and consultingexpertise in geotechnical engineering. Professor Rahardjo’s research interests are inthe behaviour of unsaturated residual soils, the effects of flux boundary conditions on geotechnicalstructures, rainfall - induced landslides (assessments & instrumentation). One of his most recentresearch activities involve the application of unsaturated soil mechanics in capillary barrier systemsfor slope stabilization and landfill capping through laboratory testing, numerical analyses and fieldinstrumentation. Prof Rahardjo has incorporated the capillary barrier system into Geobarrier systemthat acts as an earth retaining structure. He has also applied unsaturated soil mechanics to soilimprovement for tree stability and to understanding the effects of rainfall on tree stability. ProfRahardjo has been awarded Inaugural Lecture for Asia Pacific (AP) – UNSAT 2016 in Guilin, China. Heis a member of Professional Engineers of Singapore and Saskatchewan, Canada. He is Core Memberof the TC106 Committee of International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering(ISSMGE) on Unsaturated Soils and Member of the JTC1 on Natural Slope and Landslides. He hasserved as an engineering consultant and advisor to various international projects.

the HDB and is presently the key Project Investigator for the 3 year long R & D project on GeoBarrierSystem for building underground structure. He has jointly contributed 5 International Patents forthe R & D projects he has lead, is in charge of a project team that has won 1 international award, 1regional award and 8 national awards in 2016 – 2017 and jointly submitted in 11 technical papersfor seminar/conference.

Ms Jernice Kew is a Senior Engineer in Infrastructure and Development Researchin Building Research Institute, HDB. She has over 10 years of planning, design,construction and maintenance experiences in civil and environmental engineeringworks e.g. slope and soil engineering, UrbanWater and flood management,rainwater harvesting and water treatment systems. In her current R & D works,she has to use engineering softwares, GeoStudio and Mike Urban and implant

in-situ instruments/sensors, as tools for her numerical analyses, stress testings andcalibration/affirmation of the simulation models of GeoBarrier Systems (GBS) and UrbanWaterHarvesting System (UWHS).

Seminar on The UrbanSlope

Speaker’s Profile

Prof. Delwyn G. Fredlund is Professor Emeritus at University of Saskatchewan,Canada who has spent over 40 years conducting research into the behavior ofunsaturated and expansive soils and slope stability analysis. Prof. Fredlund is also aspecialist geotechnical engineer in Golder Associate (Canada) in the area of soilmechanics for saturated and unsaturated soils and in particular the analysis of slopestability. He has been responsible for assisting in the formulation of the hazardmanagement network associated with the stability of the levees along the YangtzeRiver. He liaises with the clients at the World Bank and in China. Prof. Fredlund has

Prof. Jeong Sangseom who is presently Professor of Yonsei University, Korea hasspent over 30 years conducting research into the behavior of deep foundationsand unsaturated soils. Most of his career was spent at Yonsei University, wherehe organized the Soil-Substructure Interaction Laboratory for research into allaspects of foundations and unsaturated soils behavior. In particular, his researchstudies have involved all areas of unsaturated soil slopes; e.g., stability ofreinforced slope, fully hydro-mechanical coupled model, GIS-basedsusceptibility assessment of landslides, groundwater flows, and early

been the recipient of numerous awards such as the Blight Lecture, 2017, Tan Swan Beng Lecture,2014, Zen Guo Xi Lecturer, 2007, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China T.H. Wu Lecturer, 2007, OhioState University. Terzaghi Award, 2005, given by the American Society for Civil Engineering, andStermac Award from Canadian Geotechnical Award; to name few. He served as the Chairman of TC6committee on Unsaturated Soils, of the ISSMGE for 12 years and he is also a member of theCanadian Academy of Engineering. Prof. Fredlund has devoted his professional efforts towardsmeeting the needs associated with the furtherance and implementation of unsaturated soilmechanics into geotechnical engineering practice; both in Canada and around the world. Prof.Fredlund is also the author, along with Prof. Harianto Rahardjo, of the first textbook on unsaturatedsoils “Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils“, published by John Wiley in 1993. He recently authoredthe second textbook “Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice”, by D.G. Fredlund, H.Rahardjo and M.D. Fredlund and published by John Wiley in 2012. Prof. Fredlund has been awardedOrder of Canada in 2004 from the Federal Government of Canada for his significant contribution toCanada and other countries around the world.

warning system for landslides using rainfall thresholds. He is currently President of KoreanGeotechnical Society (KGS) and Director of Green Infrastructure Technology for Climate Change(GIT4CC) Research Center from 2011 to 2018. He has been served as Vice-chairman of TC212 (DeepFoundations) since 2010 and currently he is Chair of Asian TC-18 (Mega Foundations) in ISSMGE. Prof.Jeong has authored and served as a reviewer for many geotechnical journals. He has co-edited 15national geotechnical engineering text books and authored about 75 SCI articles in high reputableinternational journals, 134 national journals, 85 international conference papers, 80 consultingreports and 44 patents in deep and shallow foundations, unsaturated soils, and slope stability.

Seminar on The UrbanSlope

Direction to LT 20