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Introduction |
1 Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK (I.Jefferson@bham.ac.uk)
2 Ludlow SY8 1EE, UK
3 Peter Brett Associates, Caversham Bridge House, Waterman Place, Reading RG1 8DN, UK
4 School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK
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The concept of a Symposium-in-Print (SIP) on Subsidence-Collapse for the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology arose from an initiative over 30 years ago by the British Geotechnical Society, utilizing Géotechnique as the vehicle for publication. A call for papers on the chosen theme is issued and, once the normal journal review process has been completed, an issue is devoted entirely to the papers accepted. A meeting is then held soon after at which a selection of the papers is presented and discussed. Discussion raised at the symposium and in subsequent correspondence is then published a year or so later.
The Subsidence-Collapse SIP has been organized jointly by the Editorial Board of the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, the Engineering Group of the Geological Society of London, the Midlands Geotechnical Society, and the University of Birmingham, who also hosted and organized the logistics of the symposium at their Edgbaston site, on 4 September 2008.
Aspects of Subsidence-Collapse to be considered include occurrence, impact and mitigation. Papers were invited concerning these phenomena on a range of construction activities, including:
• subsidence-collapse case studies caused both by naturally formed and man-made cavities or tunnels;
• investigation options, limitations and strategies;
• hazard and risk evaluation and management;
• public safety concerns and funding issues;
• monitoring and mitigation techniques.
Some of these features develop rapidly, within the time scale of construction, whereas others have developed over millions of years. Actual ground failures are very rare as natural events;
