SYNOPSIS

The International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) Technical Committee on Ground Improvement (TC 211) has proposed and established a classification system of ground improvement techniques according to the general nature of the soils (frictional or cohesive) and the inclusion or exclusion of added materials (http://www.bbri.be/go/tc17). This classification system has been presented in the State-of-the-Art report on Construction Methods at the 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (17ICSMGE) in Alexandria, Egypt in October 2009. On the basis of this classification system, selected case histories will be presented highlighting the design concept and the relevant parameters for design, quality control and acceptance criteria. The analytical, empirical and observational methods employed in the selection, construction and performance control of ground improvement is presented. Ground improvement by consolidation, reinforcement and compaction is covered in this presentation.

BIODATA

Mr. Serge Varaksin was born in 1943 in Belgium. After completing his civil engineering degree, he was admitted on a work-study program at Northwestern University at Evanston, USA. He completed his master’s degree under Professor Jorg Osterberg and published his research on relative density below groundwater table in the ASTM, STP 523.  In 1972 he performed his military service at the Belgium Military School as a teaching research assistant to Professor Van Wambeke. During this time, he was exposed to Menard Pressuremeter technologies. Soon after, he joined Menard of France in 1973 after a short stint with Fondedile of Belgium. Since then, he has devoted his career in creating the global network of Menard companies following the corporate visions of the late Louis Menard and Prof. Jean-Marie Cognon. He retired from Menard as the Deputy Managing Director.

Serge Varaksin has given keynote lectures at international conferences and he has conducted touring lectures in Asia, Australia, Africa and America organised by ISSMGE. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers in ground improvement techniques. Currently, he is the co-chairman of ISSMGE TC211 on ground improvement. In 2006, he was given the task to chair the technical committee by Prof. Seco Pinto who was then the President of ISSMGE. In 2010, Prof. Jean L Briaud the current President of ISSMGE requested him to serve his second term as the chairman of TC211. In June 2012, together with Prof. J. Maertens and Prof. N. Huybrechts, he organised an international symposium and short courses on ground improvement which was attended by more than 300 participants from 36 countries. In March 2013, he recorded a webinar on ground improvement for ISSMGE(http://www.issmge.org/en/resources/recorded-webinars/592-concept-and-parameters-latest-research-in-ground improvement-illustrated-by-related-case-histories).