Speaker Prof. Pierre-Yves HICHER Professor of the Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical Engineering Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France Abstract Instability of granular material is an important topic in geotechnical engineering because it may lead to catastrophic events such as the collapse of earth structures. There are two aspects in the study of instability, namely, material instability (also known as intrinsic/constitutive instability) and geometrical instability. The phenomenon of localisation formation in a specimen of finite size can be studied as a boundary value problem for which initial inhomogeneities, as well as boundary conditions, play an important role. However, it has been shown that the occurrence of localisation can be predicted at a constitutive level. More recently, several authors have demonstrated ...

Speaker Dr. Behzad FATAHI Senior Lecturer of Geotechnical and Railway Engineering, Centre for Built Infrastructure Research (CBIR), University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia Abstract Bioengineering including native vegetation is an ancient method of improving the stability of slopes. In modern railway engineering, this technique is re-captured for increasing the soil stiffness and shear strength of sub-grade beneath rail tracks. Tree roots provide three stabilising functions: (a) reinforcement of the soil, (b) dissipation of excess pore pressures and (c) establishing sufficient matric suction to increase the shear strength.The main focus of this presentation will on investigating the effects of vegetation on soil matric suction, ground settlement and lateral movement (radial consolidation). A mathematical model developed for the rate of root ...