Introduction

The experimental and theoretical characterization of the pre-failure deformation properties of geomaterials has developed enormously over the past 15 years. Intensive studies have been carried out at many centres, and the new research results have made an important impact on practice, particularly in the UK and in Japan. Recognizing these developments, a Geotechnique Symposium in Print (SIP) on Pre-failure Deformation Behaviour of Geomaterials was held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, on 4 September 1997. This volume brings together the reprinted Geotechnique SIP papers, seven new papers, and the written discussion submitted to the ICE.

The September SIP was the successful outcome of an idea first suggested in March 1995 during the ICE Conference on Advances in Site Investigation Practice. Professor Michele Jamiolkowski was keen that the British contingent on the recently formed ISSMFE Technical Committee TC-29 should organize a conference in London to follow up the first International Symposium on Pre-failure Deformation Properties, which had been held the year before in Hokkaido, Japan. Concerned that a full International Conference on the same theme might not be viable so soon after Hokkaido, we hit upon the idea of an International Symposium in Print, published and produced by Geotechnique, and sponsored and promoted by both the BGS and the ISSMFE (through TC-29).