Discussion on Papers 5 and 6

Dr D. M. McCann (Paper 5)

The object of the research was to examine the possibility of preparing a geotechnical map of the area based not on the distribution of an individual parameter, such as the undrained shear strength, but on the combination of all the measured parameters into similar groups which were then zoned. Cluster analysis was used to group the data which consisted of parameters for 56 samples. Paper 5 describes the reduction of these samples into seven main groups, the distribution of which was then mapped by hand, though automatic mapping is now available. It is worth noting that the map can be updated very rapidly and automatically with the later addition of further reliable data. The technique produced a geotechnical map which describes the variation of a range of parameters and attempts to include information at more than one depth.