The one-day CPD course will be delivered online through Zoom.

As infrastructure development rapidly expands, available land cannot meet the demand. Reclamation becomes an effective avenue to increase our land supply. The marine geology of Hong Kong typically includes a thick layer of soft marine deposits on the seabed, a layer of alluvium, layers of decomposed soils with decreasing degrees of weathering, and bedrock. The compressibility of the soft marine deposits renders the reclamation settlements unacceptable for the infrastructure to be constructed on them. Therefore, the soft marine deposits were previously dredged and removed for new reclamations. Due to the environmental impacts of dredging and the limited availability of suitable fill materials, the practice of dredging has been discontinued, and it has become necessary to improve the engineering performance of the soft marine deposits in situ to suit the infrastructure to be built on them. Moreover, the hydraulic fill used for the reclamation is too loose due to the placement process, rendering it susceptible to excessive settlements under loads and liquefaction during earthquakes. Therefore, ground improvement is required for both the soft marine deposits and the hydraulic fill. As the soft marine deposits are fine-grained and the hydraulic fill is coarse-grained, different ground improvement techniques must be adopted to suit their respective engineering purposes. 

This one-day Web-CPD course will cover the principles of ground improvement. The course contents will be concentrated on the two major techniques commonly used in Hong Kong's reclamations: (1) surcharging with prefabricated vertical drains for the soft marine deposits, and (2) in situ deep compaction techniques for the hydraulic fill. Moreover, the technique of deep cement mixing, sand piles, and stone columns for the soft marine deposits will also be included. 

Surcharging is commonly used for reclamations, particularly when dredging of soft marine deposits has been effectively abandoned due to environmental protection policies in Hong Kong. The concepts of consolidation will be briefly reviewed to eliminate all previous misunderstandings. The principles and design of surcharging will be covered in detail in the course. Moreover, the design of prefabricated vertical drains using the design methodology developed by the instructor (Yeung 1997, 1999) will be presented. The design methodology has been included in geotechnical engineering textbooks and widely adopted in the industry (Das 2011). Other methods for the improvement of the geotechnical engineering properties of soft marine deposits, such as deep cement mixing, sand piles, and stone columns, will also be introduced. 

Compaction is the oldest and most widely adopted ground improvement technique, and it is widely used in Hong Kong for site formation and slope stabilization. However, only the in situ deep compaction techniques commonly used in reclamations in Hong Kong, such as vibro-compaction, sand pile, high-energy impact compaction, and rapid impact compaction, will be covered in detail in this course. 

References

Das, B.M. (2011). Principles of Foundation Engineering, SI. Cengage Learning, Stamford, Connecticut.

Yeung, A.T. (1997). "Design curves for prefabricated vertical drains." Journal of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, 123(8), 755-759.

Yeung, A.T. (1999). "Closure on 'Design curves for prefabricated vertical drains'." Journal of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, 125(40, 340.

Methods of Payment: 

1. Make a deposit to "Advanced Technovation Limited" at HSBC Account No. 400-304267-001 and get a receipt;

2. FPS 3116993 and take a screen capture; or

3. Prepare an e-cheque payable to "Advanced Technovation Limited".

Registration: 

1. Register online at adv-technovation.com and submit the image of the receipt or screen capture, or an e-cheque;

2. Fill in the reply slip and e-mail the completed reply slip with receipt, screen capture or e-cheque to support@adv-technovation.com

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