The ISC (International Conference on Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization) conferences are the major events in the life of ISSMGE’s TC102 (Technical Committee for Ground Property Characterization from In-Situ Tests). Since 1998, it will be the 6th time that geotechnical engineers and geophysicists from all over the world will gather and share their knowledge and experiences.
Besides the conventional site characterization topics, the conference will also focus on some other recent challenges . As numerical modelling plays a more important role in geotechnical practice, there is an increasing demand for links between in situ test results and material model parameters. Some recent research projects in this field (e.g. sophisticated numerical analysis of in situ tests) are very promising, thus a proper forum for discussing those results may be an important starting point in these areas.
A special session will be dedicated to this topic which aims to facilitate cooperation between specialists in both fields. Another important aim is to facilitate more active cooperation between geotechnical engineers and geophysicists. While the combined use of the two disciplines can be very beneficial, the use of geophysics in everyday geotechnical works is still limited. In addition to having a session for geophysical testing, we are planning another special session dedicated to potential benefits of cooperation between these two fields, where best practices are presented and discussed. Such a forum may be beneficial for both geophysicists and geotechnical engineers.