January 24, 2022
The first of the new year’s British Drilling Association (BDA) webinars was delivered on 19th January 2022 and discussed the important topic of ‘Instrumentation and Monitoring: A Critical Link in Ground Engineering.’
The webinar was presented by Daniele Fornelli, Associate Technical Director, Geotechnical Observations Limited, and sought to identify the role of instrumentation and monitoring (I&M) in ground engineering in its widest sense, as well as looking at geotechnical, environmental, structural, and asset protection and management considerations.
Daniele also looked at the status of I&M as a critical link in ground engineering and discussed the importance of high-quality I&M in the context of a data-driven approach to the design and implementation of temporary and permanent works.
The webinar also highlighted the importance of high quality I&M in the context of a data-driven approach to the management of geotechnical assets, in terms of maintenance programming as well as maintenance intervention design and realisation. Time was also given over to the concepts of “Geotechnical Health Monitoring” and “Asset Health Monitoring”.
The webinar emphasised the need to give timely attention to I&M as an integral part of the design process and how it is essential to ensure that adequate provision is made for the storage, dissemination, visualisation, validation, analysis and interpretation of the vast amount of data that current I&M systems can generate.
The importance of baseline monitoring – i.e., pre-construction or pre-implementation I&M, often included in ground investigation – was highlighted and sources of baseline monitoring data identified.
The webinar also provided a summary of the present-day scope of I&M and the various monitoring techniques and types of instruments available – particularly useful for those unfamiliar with I&M. References to direct and remote monitoring were also provided.
A recording of the webinar is available for those that missed it or those that wish to refresh some of the key topics discussed.
The recording can be found here: BDA Webinar – January 2022 – Instrumentation and Monitoring: A Critical Link in Ground Engineering – British Drilling Association
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