Chapter 5: Structural and geotechnical modelling

During his career the author has encountered profound differences in the approaches taken by structural and geotechnical engineers, often leading to a lack of understanding and difficulties in communication. This chapter explores these differences and the reasons for them.

The term modelling is used extensively. It is defined as the process of idealising a structure and the underlying ground, including the geometry, material properties and loading, in order to make the problem amenable to analysis and, hence, assessment for fitness of purpose. It is demonstrated that traditional structural modelling is very different from geotechnical modelling and these differences need to be appreciated if ground–structure interaction problems are to be realistically modelled. It is concluded that concepts such as ductility and robustness underpin the success of both structural and geotechnical modelling and more explicit recognition of these is needed.