Aspects regarding management of soil risk.

Abstract

The geotechnical investigations of soil and groundwater conditions are an essential part of the design for almost every construction project. Especially at large and challenging projects, problems often occur during the construction works when the detected soil and groundwater conditions (structure, properties) differ from the result of the earlier geotechnical investigation. Time delay in the construction process, modifications of the construction, additional expenditure and in some cases even damages may be the consequences. The so-called “soil risk” occurs, when the soil and groundwater conditions are different to the results of the geotechnical investigation. In any case the soil risk is connected to the chosen construction process and type of construction (“system risk”). Most forensic geotechnical tasks deal with handling of the soil risk respectively system risk. In this paper the legal aspects of managing the soil risk respectively the system risks are explained with special focus to forensic geotechnical engineering and the qualification of publicly certified geotechnical experts. Standards are defined and the applications in engineering practice are shown through several prominent examples of retaining structures of deep excavations, foundations in organic soils and tunnel constructions in urban areas.