I am pleased to welcome you to the December issue of Geotechnical Engineering. At the close of the year we lose a number of panel members who stand down after 3–4 years of valued input to the journal. Earlier this year I advised that I was keen to maintain the representation of panel members from contractors and it looks as though we will be able to achieve that; I will say more about the new members in the first issue of 2011.
I would like to express thanks to the five members of the panel who are leaving the editorial panel at the end of 2010. We appreciate the time and hard work provided by Roger Barsby, Andrew McNamara, Joel Smethurst, Chris Pound and K. C. Law along with Philip Smith who has been Deputy Chairman during 2010. We are also very grateful for the service provided by six international panel members Timothy A. Newson, Paul Garnica, Renato Lancellotta, Michael J Kavvadas, Nick Wharmby and Douglas P. Stewart.
Recently I have been fortunate to attend two events that provided the opportunity to celebrate the excellence of some of the journal's award winning papers over the last two years. In September I co-chaired the Geotechnical Engineering Lecture, hosted every two years by the BGA. The evening event was well attended and the audience enjoyed two presentations; Benoit Jones provided interesting observations and a summary regarding innovative sprayed-concrete lined tunnelling. Chris Mundell provided an informative presentation describing the limit equilibrium assessment of drystone retaining structures and the thorough trial work that supported this paper.
I was also please to attend the annual ICE Paper Awards day in October. This was recognition for papers published during 2009; the Panel had been pleased to submit a number of Geotechnical Engineering papers for consideration. Two Geotechnical Engineering papers were selected to receive awards. The John Mitchell Medal – for the best paper in Geotechnical practice, site-based innovation or geotechnical safety – was awarded to Mundell et al. (2009). The Crampton Prize – for the best paper on practical geotechnical engineering – was awarded to McCabe et al. (2009). It was a pleasure to help celebrate the authors' success and I hope that recognition through the awards provides motivation for prospective authors to demonstrate innovation and seek excellence in the papers they submit.
We have five papers included in this issue. In the first paper, Zhang et al. (2010) describe instrumented field tests on bored piles at sites in Zhejiang, China. Testing was undertaken to investigate the load transfer and deformation behaviour of single piles up to 120 m long. The findings are reported along with the load–settlement behaviour of the piles within a piled raft group during and after construction of the building they supported. They report on the performance of the single piles when the group of piles is loaded and observations concerning the distribution of load taken across the pile group. The second paper considers particle shape in relation to density and permeability of sands. Göktepe and Sezer (2010) study a range of different sands to determine data concerning shape characteristics. Compaction and constant-head permeability tests are undertaken using these materials. Statistical analyses are used in developing equations and relationships with regard to density and permeability.
The next two papers deal with rock and carbonate sand mass behaviour. Turanboy and Ülker (2010) highlight the importance of understanding rock mass behaviour and the associated influence of discontinuities. In conjunction with a model that can assist in the determination and analysis of rock mass structure, software is presented for analysing the geometric characteristics of discontinuities in a rock mass. A comparison is made with field measurements. Lees et al. (2010) present a project that increased working loads in the grand assembly area Drydocks World, Dubai. This was achieved through three-dimensional finite-element analysis of the large ground bearing slab and underlying carbonate sand. Accuracy of the monitoring systems was improved by adopting night working. Confidence in the results allowed higher stiffness to be adopted for the carbonate sands.
The final paper presents research finding with regard to cyclic loading of grouted sand. Mollamahmutoglu and Yilmaz (2010) investigate whether there is a loss in the strength of silica-grouted sand after cyclic loading. A range of silica grout type is injected into the sand and allowed to cure for different periods of time. Compressive strength tests and cyclic load testing is undertaken and allow conclusions regarding the performance of the grouted samples.
