The 9th International Conference on Geosynthetics (9ICG) of the IGS was held in Guarujá, Brazil, on 23-27 May 2010 with more than 800 participants. It was the first ICG in the southern hemisphere and an outstanding event. This short report shows up some of the most important news.
The 9ICG Technical Program included presentations of a Welcome Lecture, 2 Prestigous Lectures, 3 Keynote Lectures and 23 presentations by Theme Speakers of Discussion Sessions, delivered by the most distinguished professionals and researchers of the geosynthetics discipline.
The keynote lecturers of the 9ICG were
- Sandro Sandroni (“Brazilian Research and Practice with Geosynthetics” – 9ICG Welcome Lecture),
- Daniele Cazzuffi (Italy – “Geosynthetics in Barrier Systems for Dams”),
- Steve Perkins (USA – “Geosynthetics in Pavement Reinforcement Applications”) and
- Andy Fourie (Australia – “Improving the Performance of Mining Infrastructure through the Judicious Use of Geosynthetics”).
For the preparation of each lecture the keynote lecturer led a team of experts from different regions of the world. Thus, the lectures covered the use of geosynthetics on a worldwide basis.
The conference also hosted the traditional
- Giroud Lecture, delivered by Prof. H. Brandl (Austria – “Geosynthetics Applications for the Mitigation of Natural Disasters”),
and two Prestigious Lectures, delivered by
- J.P. Giroud (USA – “Development of Criteria for Geotextile and Granular filters – The 2008 Terzaghi Lecture”) and
- R.D. Holtz (“Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil: From Experimental to Familiar – The 2010 Terzaghi Lecture”).
The 9ICG Discussion Sessions allowed the audience to discuss applications, design procedures and other hot topics on geosynthetics with leading experts from different parts of the world. These sessions approached
- the use of geosynthetics in mining engineering,
- retaining walls design and performance,
- geosynthetics in landfills,
- geosynthetics in agriculture and aquaculture,
- soil-geosynthetic interaction,
- geotextile filter clogging,
- new techniques for soft soil stabilization,
- long-term performance of geosynthetics,
- environmental and hydraulic applications,
- geocontainers,
- pavements and codes of practice for reinforced soils.
The Discussion Session Speakers were: Richard Bathurst (Canada), Dennes Bergado (Thailand), Malek Bouazza (Australia), Gerhard Bräu (Germany), Benedito Bueno (Brazil), Barry Christopher (USA), Steve Corbet (UK), Neil Dixon (UK), Mauricio Ehrlich (Brazil), R. Jonathan Fannin (Canada), Chris Jenner (UK), Nathalie Touze-Foltz (France), Jean-Pierre Gourc (France), Georg Heerten (Germany), Michael Heibaum (Germany), Colin J.F.P. Jones (United Kingdom), T. Katsumi (Japan), Chris Lawson (Malaysia), Nicola Moraci (Italy), J. Müller-Rochholz (Germany), Anna L. Nunes (Brazil), Mauricio Ossa (Chile), R. Kerry Rowe (Canada), E.C. Shin (Korea), Fumio Tatsuoka (Japan), Arnstein Watn (Norway) and Jorge G. Zornberg (USA).
About 200 paper presentations addressed important geosynthetics applications, such as in retaining structures, steep slopes, embankments on soft soils, waste disposal, erosion control, environmental protection works, drainage and filtration systems, road and railways and special applications.
The Meeting the Industry sessions focused on case-histories involving the use of geosynthetics and allowed a close contact among members of the geosynthetic industry and practitioners, designers and researchers.
The conference technical program also included 11 Training Lectures and 4 Short-Courses on different themes delivered by leading experts on geosynthetics. The proceedings of the 9ICG (CD and printed versions) include the lecture papers, discussion session papers and 318 peer reviewed technical papers by authors from 42 countries.
