Subtheme: 7.4 Conceiving Reliable Engineering Geological Models for mining activities, infrastructures and building design, risk and urban planning
Session Convener: Vessia G.1 – e-mail: g.vessia@unich.it
Session coordinators: Dematteis A.2, Piattelli V.1
1University “G.d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Italy.
2Lombardi Engineering Ltd, Switzerland.
Session Description
The Engineering Geological Model (EGM) represents the reconstruction of the subsurface geomorphological, geophysical and geotechnical conditions through 1D, 2D or 3D geological models aiming at many different engineering risks, urban planning and exploitation activities over territories of variable sizes. Conceiving an EGM is a two-step task: at first the Conceptual Model shall be reconstructed on geological bases, then subsurface parametrization will be performed to get to the Observational Model. Both steps are requested to provide reliable interpretation of the real complexity of the underground geological and geotechnical conditions. Increases in reliability occur through the accumulation of both conceptual and observational knowledge within the EGM, usually through various stages of investigations that are carried out as the project progresses. Complexity of the geology must be assessed early on in project life as part of this definition of acceptable uncertainty, as inadequate definition of geological complexity oftentimes leads to inappropriate definition of the true reliability of an EGM. To quantify the reliability of the EGMs many different methods can be used for both Conceptual and Observational models to deal with Geological and Mechanical variability and uncertainties. Care should be taken with sophisticated EGM’s that are not backed up by an appropriate level of solid site-specific data, matched to geological complexity, which can give a false sense of accuracy leading to a delusion of great understanding, with hidden deficiencies only surfacing once unexpected surprises occur during construction or operation stages.
Aim of the Session
This Session intends to collect contributions from industry and academia concerning the methods and case histories encompassing but not being limited to conceptual models checks, geostatistics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and data driven approaches in quantifying the reliability of the EGMs according to their specific purpose in mining, civil engineering design and urban planning. Finally, good practices adopted in cases studies worldwide are highly welcomed.