Geotechnical News • March 2016
35
GEOTECHNICAL INSTRUMENTATION NEWS
greatly further our profession.” Inspir-
ing words indeed!
During the three day Symposium
programme sixty five papers were
presented. The scene was set with an
excellent presentation from Dr Philip
Pells entitled “Monitoring – the good,
the bad and the ugly” highlighting
the pitfalls when the application of
instrumentation is poorly understood.
The presentation, which focused on
some well-known case histories such
as the double helix underground car
park at Sydney Opera House (the
“Good”), the Heathrow Express tun-
nels (the “Ugly”) and Vaiont Dam
(the “Very Ugly”) reminded us that
monitoring, whether simple of com-
plex, should only be implemented if
we have valid theoretical and physi-
cal models against which to evaluate
the results. Pells also told us that it is
very important to listen to those who
disagree with us, particularly experi-
enced geologists because they often
see things that engineers miss. Wise
words indeed and a reminder that our
subject is not just about the gadgets
and the data. Keynote addresses were
also given by Dr Andrew Ridley (UK)
on “Soil suction – what it is and how
to measure it”; Martin Beth (France)
on “The challenges of supplying good
quality and useful data for significant
projects”; Dr WAllen Marr (USA)
on “Performance monitoring as a risk
management tool in dam safety” and
Dr Ian Gray (Australia) on “The mea-
surement and interpretation process
to determine the state of stress in rock
including the effects of fluid pressure.”
The conference was divided into
morning plenary sessions and after-
noon parallel sessions. The subjects
covered were emerging technolo-
gies, tunnelling, water flow, mining,
transport infrastructure, slope stability
and case histories. The Best Young
Engineer Paper Award was given
to Michele Salvoni for his paper
entitled “Improvement of pseudo-3D
pit displacement mapping technique
through geodetic prism data integra-
tion.” In addition to the prestige and
the monetary prize Michele was also
invited to represent young profession-
als on the new FMGM Secretariat, a
development that was introduced to
the delegates during the Symposium.
The traditional symposium dinner
was held on a Sydney Harbour boat
cruise which showcased, to the 130+
international and local attendees and
their guests, the fantastic harbour and
its iconic landmarks.
As had been agreed in Berlin (2011)
the next FMGM Symposium will
be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in
2018. The local organising commit-
tee, led by Professor Pedricto Roche
Filho (PUC-Rio) will be supported
by a new permanent FMGM Secre-
tariat. The Sydney Symposium was
informed of the new Secretariat (a
new development) by Andrew Ridley.
The Secretariat will be hosted by the
British Geotechnical Association and
is composed of representatives from
the existing International Advisory
Panel and new people from across
the international community. Further
information to come.
In summary I would say that the 2015
FMGM Symposium was another
overwhelmingly successful event and
the long trip (for many of us) was very
much worthwhile. I look forward to
the next Symposium in Brazil and
renewing enduring friendships.
Andrew Ridley
Geotechnical Observations Limited
The Peter Vaughan Building
9 Avro Way Brooklands
Weybridge Surrey KT13 0YF
Tel: +44 1932 352040
Email: andrew@geo-observations.
com
The Future of FMGM
Andrew Ridley
FMGM is an acronym derived from
the name of a series of international
symposia entitled “Field Measure-
ments in Geomechanics” that deal
with the use of instrumentation to
monitor the performance of engi-
neering structures. The applications
include dams, foundations, tunnels
and other underground openings,
embankments, natural slopes, land
reclamation, mining facilities, reposi-
tories for industrial or nuclear waste
and offshore structures. The FMGM
symposia are staged every three or
four years; the last symposium was
held in Sydney Australia in September
2015 and the next will be held in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil in July 2018.
Until now FMGM has been run in an
informal way, the responsibility for the
symposia being handed over from one
group to the next, essentially based
on personal relations and friendships.
Chairpersons of previous symposia
and their professional associates have
functioned as a
de-facto
Secretariat.
There has not been any fixed proce-
