PROGRAM

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SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME

The conference will provide a forum for all interested parties to meet and discuss both formally and informally issues relevant to the current states-of-practice as well as future directions. The conference combines five themes of common interest, with a number of invited lectures reflecting the activities and interests of delegates from all participating organisations. The five themes are Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Underground Works, Stability of Natural and Excavated Slopes, Environmental Geotechnics and Ground Improvement and Ground Support, with Geoengineering Education and Piling also included.

For each of the five themes, a combination of invited keynote and issues lectures, discussion sessions/workshops and selected paper presentations is planned. Although parallel sessions will be necessary for some of the invited lectures, lectures will be scheduled to provide the maximum opportunity for delegates to attend those of common interest.

This approach is being planned to allow dissemination of current states-of-the-art, to provide ample opportunity for interested groups to openly debate specific issues, and to facilitate the presentation of key papers submitted to the conference. The 12 papers judged to be the best of those submitted will be presented in Plenary Session (the best three will be recognised by an award), and some others may be presented in workshop sessions. There will also be both general and invited poster sessions, again aimed at stimulating interaction between delegates.

Above all, this conference will bring together key international contributors to the development of our disciplines and provide a previously not available opportunity for the pioneers, the recent achievers and the practitioners in geo-engineering to meet both formally and informally in a stimulating technical environment.

The official language of the conference is English. Simultaneous translation services will not be provided.

THEME SUMMARIES

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOTECHNICS

Over the last decade considerable attention has been focused on environmental considerations. Indeed, ground and groundwater protection and restoration of contaminated soil and water are issues that have come under increased public scrutiny. It has become necessary to design and construct safe waste-disposal facilities that employ the best of the available technologies. Nowadays not only must new waste containment facilities meet stringent government requirements, but many existing facilities must either be cleaned up and closed or retrofitted with pollution-reduction/prevention systems, and be monitored to ensure that current legal requirements for non pollution are met.

This theme covers a wide array of issues ranging from the construction of nuclear repositories to remediation of contaminated land and water. The theme will also reflect on the research and development that is taking place in order to address the important new issues of geoenvironmental site investigation, ground and groundwater contamination, remediation, waste containment, construction on derelict land, mining waste, radioactive waste and tailing dams.

The Keynote Lectures will cover solid waste containment and remediation of contaminated ground and groundwater.

The Issues Lectures are devoted to important current issues of waste storage, containment and re-use.

Three Discussion/Workshop sessions are planned and will cover the topics of solid waste containment, contamination and remediation of ground and groundwater and mining wastes and tailings.

An afternoon tour to the Melbourne Docklands project is available for interested delegates.

GEOTECHNICAL EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

Earthquakes affect all areas of geotechnical engineering and have a profound and often devastating impact on society. The impact of earthquakes is at its worst in densely populated areas, and it is for this reason that this theme will concentrate on seismic hazard evaluation and earthquake site response, and the design, retrofit and response of foundations for earthquakes.

The Keynote Lectures will concentrate on earthquake hazard evaluation and site response.

The Issues Lectures will concentrate on the design of earthquake resistant foundations.

There will be one Discussion session devoted to the oral presentation of selected papers submitted to the conference under this theme. A Workshop session on estimating flow deformations and their effects on structures and foundations is also being organised by ISSMGE's TC4 Committee. The final Discussion/Workshop session will be devoted to the presentation of information about geotechnical aspects of recent earthquakes. During 1999 there were several major earthquakes (Columbia, Turkey, Greece, Taiwan). Currently these are producing large amounts of reconnaissance information. This workshop is the ideal opportunity to draw together lessons from these events.

An afternoon tour of the Seismology Research Centre is available for interested delegates.

GROUND IMPROVEMENT AND GROUND SUPPORT, PILING

The growth and range of application of Ground Improvement and Ground Support techniques has been impressive over recent years. This technology has permitted significant development and construction in areas and with methods and materials which, in the past, would have been considered marginal if not impossible. The cost effectiveness of the broad range of specialist methods has been a crucial factor in their increasing acceptance in day to day engineering. The purpose of this theme is to bring together the many and varied aspects of Ground Improvement and Ground Support to provide a comprehensive coverage of what can and probably will be achieved through the application of this rapidly growing technology.

The Keynote Lectures will provide a general overview of the technology and its development to include range of techniques available, principles of application, situations where used (and not to be used), guidelines for application, equipment required, evaluation of performance and emerging trends.

The Issues Lectures will be focussing on specific areas which have and/or will provide major challenges in the coming years with expert opinions of how these will emerge and the means by which these challenges may be met.

Three workshops are planned on topics relating to Ground Improvement and Ground Support. These workshops will consider a number of issues including current and future developments, areas of application, quality control procedures, durability, compatibility, corrosion, performance evaluation and case studies.

Due to the broad interest expressed in piled foundations, a special session has been scheduled under this theme to consider developments in piling practice and design.

STABILITY OF NATURAL AND EXCAVATED SLOPES

Slopes is an area in which soil and rock engineering and engineering geology all play an important role. The typical practical problem requires detailed consideration across the full spectrum of practice of the three "sister" societies. The stability of slopes theme at GeoEng2000 will allow and encourage active cooperation and interaction between specialists from both geology and engineering.

The purpose of the theme is to critically review the state of the art for natural and constructed slopes. It will cover the mechanics, strength and analysis of stability and deformation of slopes. There will be a particular emphasis on future directions, including Quantitative Risk Assessment and performance based design.

The Keynote Lectures will provide a state-of-the-art overview of constructed and natural slopes in soil and rock.

The Issues Lectures will focus on areas that have developed rapidly in the last decade and will present useful state of the art and practice reports prepared by authors with varied backgrounds and from geographically diverse regions.

Three workshops are planned. It is proposed that these will be on post failure deformation of slopes, very large rock slopes and QRA versus determinism in slope engineering. Each of these will have a few selected papers presented in detail followed by a panel of selected provocateurs to lead focused discussion.

Overall, the theme will present a focused worldview of slope engineering as it enters the new millennium.

An all-day tour to the brown coal open cut mining activities in the Latrobe Valley is available for interested delegates.

UNDERGROUND WORKS

This theme is devoted to civil engineering works in tunnels and caverns, and underground mining excavations. Planning the optimum use of subsurface space requires consideration of the temporary or permanent uses to which the space is to be put. A good understanding of the geotechnical and geological characteristics of the formations enclosing such space is also necessary, as is a good appreciation of the construction methods to be used. Major geotechnical problems may be involved in the excavation of the soil or rock materials from a tunnel or cavern, and in the temporary or permanent reinforcement or support of the opening.

The Keynote Lectures will provide a general overview of underground works in the full range of geomaterials from soil through to hard rock.

The Issues Lectures will focus on specific areas of current and future interest.

The three Discussion/Workshop sessions will cover the broad areas of classification systems, managing risk and constraints on underground development.

Day tours during the Conference will inspect tunnelling, coal mining, and 19^th century and modern gold mining operations. Post-Conference tours will provide the opportunity to inspect tunnel and cavern construction works in the northern cities of Sydney and Brisbane, and mining for coal, uranium, copper and gold in South Australia.

GEOENGINEERING EDUCATION

Geo-engineering education affects us all. The nature and quality of our graduate intake and the opportunities for continuing education will define the future of our disciplines. In a climate of ever increasing demands for innovation, cost efficiency, fast-tracking and interdisciplinary co-operation it would appear that Society demands more and more in terms of quality and versatility of its professions. Strangely, this is co-incident with a world-wide trend for a decrease in funding and an apparent lack of commitment by Society to higher education. The Geo-engineering profession and Geo-engineering education are not immune from these trends.

The Keynote Lecture will address this fundamental dilemma as well as considering traditional teaching methods, new trends in internet-teaching, problem- and project-based learning with a view to establishing the relative effectiveness and costs of these techniques. The importance of instilling a clear understanding of the roles of mechanics, empiricism and their interplay in the Geodisciplines will also be explored. The future of continuing education in an environment of high workloads and industry cut-backs will be examined in the light of the need to bridge the gap between theoretical developments and practice.

The Workshop Session will allow the issues raised in the keynote address to be explored. A lively debate on educational techniques and technologies, teaching vs learning, curriculum, support of the higher education sector and continuing education is anticipated.

Due to the very full conference program, formal presentations of submitted papers will be limited. Acknowledging this, the Organising Committee will invite the authors of the remaining better papers to present them as posters in the formal evening poster sessions. Authors of any other papers may present them in the informal daytime poster sessions by arrangement.

GEOENG2000 AWARDS

Awards will be presented to the authors of the best 3 papers as judged by the Technical Committee and the Presidents of IAEG, ISSMGE and ISRM. The authors will then present their papers. At this session the Rocha Medal will also be presented to Dr P Cosenza, who will give a short presentation on his research topic.

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

The twelve best papers submitted to the conference will be determined by the Technical Committee. The authors of the three papers judged to be the best of these will be presented with an award as above. The remaining nine will be presented in one of three parallel sessions.

SYMPOSIA

A number of Commissions and Technical Committees of the participating International Societies have arranged specialist symposia for the Saturday or Sunday before the Conference commences. With one exception, these will be held at the University of Melbourne.

PROCEEDINGS

The proceedings will consist of 2 hard-bound volumes and a CD. Volume 1 will contain all of the invited papers including keynote lectures, invited lectures and issue lectures. Volume 2 will contain one page extended abstracts for all submitted papers. The final full-length papers will be published on CD. The extended abstracts must be submitted at the same time as the full paper. Papers and extended abstracts received after the due date will not be included in the proceedings.

For those who are interested, hard copies of the full length version of all submitted papers will be available on order after the conference at a cost to be determined.

GEOFAIR2000

A wide and varied exhibition of equipment, software, instruments and machinery for geotechnical and geological education, investigation, design, and construction will be co-ordinated by the Conference Organising Committee in conjunction with specialist scientific exhibition planners and experts from our industry.

GeoFair2000 will be held in the Melbourne Convention Centre, in the midst of GeoEng2000 Conference space, and a degree of exposure of Conference delegates to the exhibition will be ensured. The general engineering and scientific community will also be able and encouraged to attend GeoFair2000.

Expressions of interest in participating in GeoFair2000 will be welcomed by the Secretariat at any time.

SOCIAL PROGRAM

Leisure time and socialising can often be one of the most productive parts of a conference, with new relationships and networks forged between participants. We have put together a Social Program aimed at providing delegates and their accompanying persons with opportunities to meet both informally and formally to enjoy fine wines, food and entertainment. We hope you will be able to join us at the Ice Breaker, welcome reception and conference dinner, as well as for the array of tours of Melbourne and the surrounding area.

ICE BREAKER DAY AT MITCHELTON

Date:
Sunday 19 November

Venue:
Mitchelton Winery

Time:
Coaches depart from the Melbourne Convention Centre at 10:00 and return at 18:30

Cost:
A$50.00 for registered Delegates and Accompanying persons
A$90.00 for Day Delegates

Dress:
Casual

Enjoy a relaxing bus trip through the Australian countryside before arriving at the Mitchelton Winery where you can experience fine Australian food, wine and culture in a bush setting by the picturesque Goulburn River. Sample some of our fine wines before and during a delicious lunch of local food and fruits. There will be opportunities to buy Australian wine for your own enjoyment, so bring your credit card. Enjoy some of our local culture, didgeridoo playing, try your hand at sheep shearing, or just sit around and meet new friends or renew old acquaintances.

WELCOME RECEPTION
Sponsored By Mirafi Geosynthetics and Maccaferri

Date:
Monday 20 November

Venue:
You Yangs Exhibition Hall, Melbourne Convention Centre

Time:
18:00 - 20:00

Cost:
Inclusive for Registered Delegates and Accompanying Persons
A$55.00 for non-registered participants

Delegates and accompanying persons will have an opportunity to meet in an informal atmosphere during the Welcome Reception. This informal and relaxed function allows you to become familiar with the Conference venue and be officially welcomed to the Conference and to Melbourne.

CONFERENCE DINNER
Sponsored By Golder Associates

Date:
Thursday 23 November

Venue:
Bellarine Rooms, Melbourne Convention Centre

Time:
19:30 for 20:00

Cost:
A$60.00 for Registered Delegates and Accompanying Persons
A$120.00 for Day Delegates and non-registered participants

Dress:
Lounge Suit

The official dinner is an important part of any Conference and we aim to make this one memorable. This night will provide delegates and their accompanying persons the opportunity to enjoy a sumptuous meal, good Australian wines, excellent vocal and musical entertainment all in a social setting conducive to a memorable evening.

TECHNICAL TOUR PROGRAM - SITE VISITS

The Conference Organising Committee, mindful of the intensity of the Technical Program for the week, have arranged a limited program of Technical Tours on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Although, these are generally scheduled for the afternoon only, visits to destinations beyond the metropolitan area of Melbourne have by necessity been scheduled to a full day excursion due to travel distances. If there are insufficient registrants selecting any particular Technical Tour, the Organising Committee reserves the right to cancel that tour and will endeavour to arrange a similar or alternative tour on another day to that indicated in your preference. The Technical Tours beyond the Melbourne metropolitan area (Latrobe Valley and Ballarat) offer delegates the opportunity to see parts of rural Victoria in the late Spring season as well as observing items of technical merit.
Technical Tours need to be booked and paid for by 20 October, 2000.

LATROBE VALLEY - Slopes

Tuesday 21 November & Thursday 23 November
9:00 - 18:00
A$50.00 per person

The Latrobe Valley of Victoria is about 180 km east of Melbourne, and houses the nation's greatest concentration for electricity generating capacity and its largest coal mining operation. The visit will cover a tour of one of the three major brown coal open cuts (Loy Yang, Morwell and Yallourn). Prior to embarking to specific mines in the Valley, delegates will be given a brief introduction to the power industry at the Power Works Visitor display. Delegates will be provided with appropriate safety equipment, but are reminded that they should wear appropriate clothing to enter the open cut. Footwear size will have to be nominated prior to the visit (English sizes only). Light morning and afternoon refreshments will be provided as well as lunch at the Power Works Visitor Centre.

SEISMOLOGY RESEARCH CENTRE - Earthquakes

Tuesday 21 November
14:00 - 17:00
A$35.00 per person
Based on a minimum of 20 delegates

The Seismology Research Centre (SRC) operates a network of approximately 100 seismographs and accelerographs in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. Annually they locate about 400 earthquakes in the network. Most of these earthquakes are too small to be felt, but they do provide information on relative levels of earthquake activity. Staff will brief delegates on the role of the Centre, its activities and give a demonstration of the equipment in their laboratories at Bundoora, a northern Melbourne suburb. The SRC has developed a system designed to provide alarm, damage scenario and response information after moderate or large earthquakes.

MELBOURNE DOCKLANDS - Geoenvironment

Thursday 23 November
14:00 - 16:00
A$25.00 per person
Based on a minimum of 20 delegates

A key geoenvironmental project is the redevelopment of the Melbourne Docklands. The Docklands Authority, as a statutory authority in the State of Victoria, is responsible for the redevelopment of the former Victoria Dock of the Melbourne Port.

It involves the remediation of the 8 hectare old West Melbourne Gas Works site to a standard where it can be safely developed for public parkland and commercial and residential use. Depending on the status of the project in November 2000, delegates may be able to witness either containment or remediation works in progress and be given a presentation on the works undertaken to that time and to be completed before the land is redeveloped. The site is in close proximity to the GeoEng2000 Conference venue but delegates will be transported each way by coach to ensure their orderly arrival for the technical overview presentation by the project managers.

SOVEREIGN HILL (half day tour) - Underground Works & Historic Village

Tuesday 21 November
13:00 - 18:30
A$60.00 per person
Based on a minimum of 48 delegates

In order to travel to the rural city of Ballarat and witness the experience of Australia's goldrush days of the 1850's, delegates will depart at the conclusion of the morning keynote sessions. The principal attraction will be a guided tour of the recreation of an underground mine which encompasses old workings. Includes: Light lunch, afternoon tea.

SOVEREIGN HILL (full day tour) - Underground Works & Historic Village

Thursday 23 November
9:00 - 17:30
A$70.00 per person
Based on a minimum of 20 delegates

As for the half day tour, this site visit not only includes the Sovereign Hill award wining outdoor museum, but also may visit either an open cut or underground gold mine, a wildlife and reptile park or sheep shearing display at the Great Southern Woolshed and Hepburn Springs in Daylesford which is renowned for its mineral springs (groundwater).

TECHNICAL PRE AND POST CONFERENCE TOURS

YARRA RANGES - GEOLOGY / SLOPES

Saturday 25 November to Sunday 26 November
8:00 - 21:30 (Day 1 Saturday)
8:00 - 19:00 (Day 2 Sunday)
A$350.00 but excluding lunch on Day 1
Based on a minimum of 25 delegates

Accommodation is 4 star at the "York on Lilydale" and single room-twin share status reduces the cost by A$50.00 per person.

This tour commences with a bus ride to the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne in the Dandenong Ranges. This area of scenic interest also has a number of landslides, including a 60,000 tonne debris flow in 1891. The tour will then proceed to Healesville Sanctuary where delegates will see Australian Fauna including the platypus, depicted as the Conference motif. Lunch will be of the delegate's choice and to their own account. From the Sanctuary you will be taken to your overnight accommodation and delegates will have some free time, before departing for the Kellybrook Winery in the acclaimed Yarra Valley for a three-course dinner, including wines. Delegates may choose to sample and purchase other wines. On Day 2, we will travel through the Yarra Valley to the O'Shannessy dam and then to the Upper Yarra Dam which are key storages for Melbourne's water supply. Both are again in areas of scenic beauty and both are also located in areas where significant landslides have been located close to the dam abutments and outlet works. Technical discussion will be provided to those interested delegates, or admire the beautiful countryside. A hamper/BBQ lunch will be provided. Following lunch, the tour will proceed to Yarraburn Winery where the vigneron and cellarman will be happy to conduct an informative tour and tasting. For those not interested in wines, it should also be possible to explore the main street of the nearby town of Yarra Junction. Our bus will then depart for Melbourne and return you to your hotels.

SOUTH WESTERN VICTORIA - GEOLOGY / GEOMORPHOLOGY

Friday 24 November to Monday 27 November
Depart at 15:00 Friday
Return at 17:30 Monday
A$900.00 per person
Based on a minimum of 15 delegates

Accommodation is 3 star in rural Victoria motels, single room status. Twin share accommodation reduces the cost by A$150.00 per person. The tour will depart shortly after the lunch and Closing Ceremony of GeoEng2000 to reach the coastal town of Anglesea where an introductory presentation will be made on the geology geomorphology of the forthcoming tour.

On Day 2 the Alcoa Coal Mine servicing the power station for the Point Henry Smelter will be visited and mine rehabilitation areas will be observed. The tour will travel the spectacular Great Ocean Road and observe slope stabilisation and landslide hazards. After lunch at the delightful sea side resort town of Apollo Bay the tour will continue through the Otway Ranges through spectacular Australian forests and observe coastal geomorphology and an overnight stay at Port Campbell.

On Day 2 the tour will encompass further landslides and anchoring works followed by travel through the rural Victoria and onto a winery tour at Great Western and concludes for the day at Halls Gap at the eastern end of the Grampians.

On Day 3 the tour will visit a lookout at Halls Gap and then proceed to either Stawell Gold Mine or a gold mine tour in nearby Ballarat.

If the gold mine operations are not available in November 2000, the tour will encompass inspection of degraded and salinity affected land and view fauna (kangaroos) at Zumpsteins before returning late afternoon to Melbourne.

Your accommodation and meals from time of pick up to return to Melbourne are covered in the cost quoted.

TUNNELLING IN SYDNEY AND BRISBANE

Saturday 25 November to Wednesday 29 November
Share Twin $1659.00
Single Supplement $ 407.00
Delegates should arrange for Melbourne-Sydney sectors to be included in their air ticketing

Includes:

3 nights accommodation in Sydney (3-4 Star)

1 nights accommodation in Brisbane (3-4 Star)

Airfare Sydney to Brisbane on 28 November

Airport transfers on 28 November

Luncheon cruise on Sydney Harbour

Afternoon City & Bondi beaches tour

Full day Blue Mountains tour including lunch

Technical day tour in Sydney

Technical & sightseeing tours in Brisbane

The tour is based on a minimum of 10 passengers travelling (maximum 30)

Fly to Sydney on Saturday morning. Cruise on Sydney Harbour and visit the Sydney Opera House on Saturday afternoon. Visit the spectacular Blue Mountains and make the acquaintance of Australian native fauna on Sunday. Inspect tunnelling and underground construction projects on Monday. Fly to Brisbane on Tuesday morning, for afternoon sightseeing tours. On Tuesday, inspect tunnelling projects, and visit the University of Queensland experimental mine. On Wednesday morning, visit the Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment. On Wednesday afternoon you are free to depart for an optional tour of Far North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, or to visit the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast beach resorts, or to return home.

LOCAL TOURS

Local tours will run throughout the week starting with a City Orientation Tour on the Saturday and Sunday preceding the Conference. Delegates may like to take the opportunity to take a break from the Conference and enjoy one or more of these tours. For further information on tours available please contact the Conference Secretariat.