6.

5 CPD

(BEM Approved Hours)

Ref: IEM15/SWAK/393/S

The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (Sarawak Branch)

Ultimate Professional Centre, No 16, 2nd Floor, Jalan Bukit Mata Kuching, 93100 Kuching, Sarawak
Tel: 082-428 506 Fax: 082-243 718 E-mail: iemsarawak@gmail.com Website: www.iemsarawak.org

Seminar on Instrumentation and Subsurface Investigation

Co-organized with IEM GETD
Date
Time
Venue

: 5th November 2015 (Thursday)

: 8.30 am 5.30 pm
: Auditorium, Ultimate Professional Centre

Introduction
The ground is a product of continuing natural and man made processes and therefore exhibits a variety of
characteristics and properties that vary from place to place and can change with time. Geotechnical
engineering involves gathering and assimilating limited facts about these characteristics and properties in
order to understand or predict the behaviour of the ground on a particular site under certain conditions. In
addition, instrumentation works are vital in geotechnical engineering design to verify the subsoil behaviour
and to ensure safe construction works.
Topic 1: A case history from the geotechnical instrumentation monitoring to a riverside doublewalled sheetpile cofferdam
by Ir. Yee Thien Seng
Synopsis
An anchor supported double-walled sheetpile cofferdam was implemented by the side of a river to permit
the construction of a major water supply intake works in the dry. It was designed and constructed to support
an excavation down to 5.5 metres below the general river bed as well as to keep out flood waters up to a
level 10.5 metres above the excavation floor. The structure was well instrumented and monitored.
The paper describes the timely detection of the developing distress in the cofferdam from the monitoring
results of geotechnical instrumentation during a rising major flood event. It triggered the investigative
efforts to facilitate the decisions taken for mitigative actions needed to secure the structures integrity. Some
details of the cofferdams construction are also described.
About Ir. Yee Thien Seng
Ir Yee Thien Seng graduated in civil engineering from the University of Malaya in 1978 and has over the
years worked on projects largely involving heavy plant and building foundations as well as large
infrastructures. He had also carried out numerous work on distress evaluations and rehabilitation
engineering. In 1994, Ir. Yee set up his own practice, Geo. Consult, to support the construction industry with
both expert and specialist consultancy; in particular on geotechnical engineering aspects. His participation in
recent projects of significance are the Kuching Deep Water
Port, Shah Alam Expressway, North-South Expressway, Kuantan Port Inner Harbour Development, KuantanKertih Railway and the Rawang-Ipoh Double Tracking Railway. He has authored/co-authored more than a
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dozen technical papers in local and international conferences. Ir. Yee is an expert witness and accredited
checker for design of geotechnical engineering works registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia.
Topic 2: Automated Recording System for Jack-in Pile
by Ir Liew SS.
Synopsis
This paper presents a case study in Malaysia utilizing jack-in piling foundation system for twin residential
towers underlain by limestone formation with notorious karstic features. Conventionally, the piles will be
jacked to twice its working load with expected high rate of pile damage in limestone areas. Based on site
observations and investigation of pile damages during jack-in piling of the test piles, the pile damages were
probably related to the highly erratic and karstic features of the limestone bedrock surface, where excessive
flexural stress may be generated to the pile body when forcing the pile to penetrate and rest on the erratic
limestone surface. A specially devised real time monitoring device was then used to record the pile
penetration length and the variation of jack-in reaction load on the piles during pile installation. Instead of
wishfully thinking that the pile can be installed to the target jack-in reaction load without pile breakage, it
would be more pragmatic to stop the pile jacking immediately at the onset of any distressing signs of pile
being observed, likes sudden reduction of jack-in reaction load when approaching the target founding depth.
A procedure on pile termination and safe reaction load verification was established to improve the pile
survival rate and also to assign appropriate downgraded pile capacity for necessary pile capacity
compensation when the target jack-in reaction load cannot be achieved. It is always easier and more
economical to deal with an intact pile with downgraded capacity than adding compensation piles to replace
the damaged piles with practically no reliable residual carrying capacity.
About Ir. Liew Shaw Shong
Ir. Liew Shaw Shong obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan
University at Taipei in 1991 and worked as a geotechnical engineer in Sino Geotechnology Inc. at Taipei for a
year. In 1992, he continued his post-graduate study in University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia
and obtained his Master of Engineering Science in 1993. He then returned to Malaysia to work as
geotechnical engineer in a multi-discipline engineering consultant firm. During the six years of working, he
has exposed himself to numbers of major infrastructure projects, likes Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong,
Tanjung Pelepas Port, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, etc. In 1999, he jointly established a geotechnical
specialist consulting firm with another two partners to continue the consultancy practice till now. He is now
a senior director of G&P Geotechnics Sdn Bhd. In the past twenty years of his professional career, he has
involved in numbers of forensic investigations of landslide problems at mountainous roads and is one of the
project team members in the National Slope Master Plan Study commissioned by JKR. He also conducted
numbers of short courses and delivered lectures on subjects covering subsurface investigation,
instrumentation, dam engineering, slope engineering, pile and retaining wall designs, geotechnical case
histories and forensic engineering.
Ir. Liew is the Immediate Past Chairman of Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division of the Institution of
Engineers, Malaysia (IEM).
He has published more than 50 technical papers on geotechnical engineering in local and overseas
conferences and seminars. In 2005, he won the Ir. Tan Sri Hj. Yusoff Prize for the best IEM Technical Paper
Award. He is now a senior director of G&P Geotechnics Sdn Bhd; a geotechnical consultant firm in Malaysia.
Topic 3: Parallel seismic to determine lengths of existing piles
by Mr Ng. C N
In parallel seismic, a borehole is drilled next to an existing pile to a depth below the probable depth of the
pile toe. Seismic signals are manually generated by tapping a heavy hammer against the top of the pile or its
extension into the superstructure. The travel times taken by these signals down a pile and through the soil to
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reach the geophones in the borehole vary linearly with the depths of the geophones until the geophones are
below the pile toe. On the straight line of seismic signal traveltimes plotted against geophone depths, the pile
toe depth is where this straight line deviates into another line or a slight curve of gentler gradient.
About Mr. Ng. C N
Mr. Ng. CN obtained his BSc (Hons) in Geology from University of Malaya in 1971 and his MSc in Geology
from University of Malaya in 1974.
Mr. Ng. CN worked as engineering geologist for more than 30 years with particular interest in tropical soils
and application of geology and geophysics in engineering.
Topic 4: Reliability of self-assembled monitoring system for deep excavation projects
by Ir. Dr. Dominic Ong Ek Leong
Synopsis
In recent years, deep excavation has become more common especially in built up city centres and congested
urban areas. For example, deep basements are usually constructed to provide more underground space for
vehicle parking. Unfortunately, it has the tendency to induce ground movements to their surrounding
environments due to the extraction of groundwater to facilitate basement construction works.
Deep excavation and dewatering is major works that alter the initial natural state of the ground condition.
Dewatering generally will cause the surrounding water level to be drawn down, thus giving rise to associated
problems such as ground and building settlements.
Several published studies have examined ground movements induced by groundwater drawn down (LopezFernandez et al. 2013 and Pickles et al. 2003). There are also observations that pore-water pressures
dropped drastically when water table is rapidly draw down (Yang et al. 2010). This paper presents a review
on the responses of the surrounding groundwater table during the dewatering process. The cause of the land
slips occurred at the particular section of the rock slopes will be discussed. Finally, finite-element analysis
and limit stability analysis were conducted to back-analyze the responses of the groundwater table and
stability of the surrounding rock slopes, respectively.
About Ir. Dr. Dominic Ong
Ir. Dr. Dominic Ong obtained his Bachelors Degree from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1998
and his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2004. Currently,
he is the Director (Acting) at the Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Faculty of Engineering,
Science & Computing, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus. He is also actively involved in
geotechnical consultancy works within the local industry and previously in Singapore. Ir Dr Ong has
particular interests in the fields of deep excavation, tunneling, soil-structure interaction, ground
improvement, field instrumentation works and finite element modelling. He currently holds the position of
Executive Committee Member of the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) Sarawak Branch,
Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Sarawak Branch and is also a founding member of the Malaysian
Geotechnical Society (MGS). He is also an Editorial Board Member of the UKs Institution of Civil Engineer
(ICE) journal, Geotechnical Research.
Topic 5: Application of Glostrext Method for Instrumented Load Tests for Local Practices
by Ir. Lee S K
Synopsis
With the availability of various pile instrumentation techniques and numerous publications today, the use of
instrumented pile load tests for monitoring pile performance and investigating on the design parameters in
relation to pile length provision has become very popular in the local piling industry. The common use of
conventional sacrificial cast-in strain gauges and sleeved rod tell-tales method is generally limited to bored
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pile application. In the recent past 5 years, an innovative instrumentation and analysis technique, called
Glostrext method has also been used widely, providing an improved and practical way for instrumentation
application for instrumented load tests. The Glostrext method is practically suitable for application on all
commonly used local pile types including bored piles, barrettes, micropiles, spun piles and RC square piles.
Key advantages of the Glostrext method include: (i) the method enables installation of instrumentation after
pile installation and thus virtually eliminates the risk of instrument damage during pile production and
installation, (ii) remarkable potential of allowing a test pile to be constructed with an efficiency close to a
normal working pile due to its post-install nature, (iii) a useful means in narrowing down the zone for
damage identification when a pile fails in the load test, and (iv) providing an improved method for
determination of pile modulus, an important parameter in the interpretation of instrumented load test
results. Key aspects of instrumented load tests and recent case histories will be discussed beside comparison
of pros and cons on various pile instrumentation techniques and interpretations.
About Ir. Dr. Lee Sieng Kai
Ir. Dr. Lee Sieng Kai has more than 24 years of experience in the field of geotechnical engineering and pile
test instrumentation technologies. He obtained his Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from University of
Malaya in 1990, and was conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Foundation Engineering in
2011 by the same University. His research has been awarded with three GOLD medals in the national and
international innovation competitions. He is a Professional Engineer registered with Board of Engineers,
Malaysia and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Engineers, Malaysia. Presently, he is the managing
director of Glostrext Technology Sdn. Bhd. and Glostrext Technology (S) Pte.Ltd.
Topic 6: Use of Light Dynamic Cone Penetrometer, the JKR Probe.
by Ir. Dr. Hisham
Synopsis
Over the last decade, there has been rapid development in the area of smart sensor technologies, in
particular by using structurally integrated optical fiber sensors to form the basis of smart structure
technology. A variety of sensor configurations have been developed for measurement of strains and
deformations in structures [e.g., localized type such as fiber Bragg gratings and multiplexed long gauge
interferometric sensors]. Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) or Brillouin Optical TimeDomain Analysis (BOTDA) is a distributed optical fibre sensor that allows measurement of strain along the
full length (up to 10km) of a suitably installed optical fibre. Examples of recent implementations of BOTDR/A
fibre optic sensing in piles are described in this talk. Distributed strain profiles were obtained by deriving
strain measurements from optical fibers installed on opposite sides of the pile to allow monitoring of both
axial and lateral movements along the pile. Two examples of distributed optical fibre sensing in piles are
demonstrated using different installation techniques. In a load bearing pile, optical cables were attached
along the reinforcing bars by equally spaced spot gluing to measure the axial response of pile to ground
excavation induced heave and construction loading. Measurement of flexural behaviour of piles is
demonstrated in the instrumentation of a secant piled wall where optical fibres were embedded in the
concrete by simple endpoint clamping. In both cases, BOTDR/A measurements were in excellent agreement
with conventional instrumentation.
About Ir. Dr. Hisham
Ir. Dr. Hisham Mohamad is an Associate Professor at Department of Geotechnics and Transportation,
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and a Research Fellow at UTM
Construction Research Centre. Hisham obtained his bachelor degree in Civil Engineering from Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2002, Masters degree in Soil Mechanics and Environmental Geotechnics at
Imperial College, London in 2004 and Doctoral degree in Geotechnical Engineering at University of
Cambridge, in 2008.
Hisham specializes in the area of Geotechnical Engineering and an expert in fibre-optic distributed sensing
for smart infrastructure. Some of his notable involvements of construction monitoring projects using
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innovative fibre-optic sensing include monitoring tunnel deformation at London Kings Cross and
Singapores Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) Circle Line. In 2013, Hisham joined Geotechnics Division, Ministry
of Mobility and Public Works in Belgium for a year and was involved in monitoring ground excavation and
construction project of the worlds largest shipping lock in Antwerp.
Hisham has co-authored and published over twenty technical papers in leading international journals and
proceedings. His professional services and peers recognition include manuscript reviewers for Soils and
Foundations (Japanese Geotechnical Society), HKIE Transactions (The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers),
and Journal of Engineering Mechanics (American Society of Civil Engineers), Editorial Board Member for
Malaysian Journal of Civil Engineers and Professional Committee Member for Malaysian Society for
Engineering and Technology. He was one of the panellist presenters at the 17th International Conference of
Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (a premier conference organised by International Society for
Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering) in Alexandria. In 2012, Hisham was the invited speaker for the
Mexican Geotechnical Society (Magistral Lecture) in Cancun. He currently serves as the Technical Committee
Member of ASTM F36 OFSS Global Task Group.
Programme
08:30 am 09:00 am

Registration

09:00 am 10:00 am

A case history from the geotechnical instrumentation monitoring to a riverside

double-walled sheetpile cofferdam
by Ir Yee T S

10:00 am 10:30 am

Morning Tea Break

10:30 am 11:30 am

Automated Recording System for Jack-in Pile

by Ir Liew SS.

11:30 am 12:30 am

The Use of Parallel Seismic to Detect Pile Length

by Mr Ng. C N

12:30 pm 13:30 pm

Lunch

13:30 pm 14:30 pm

Reliability of self-assembled monitoring system for deep excavation projects

by Ir. Dr. Dominic

14:30 pm 15:30 pm

Application of Glostrext Method for Instrumented Load Tests for Local

Practices
by Ir. Lee S K

15:30 pm 16:00 pm

Afternoon Tea Break

16:00 pm 17:00 pm

Use of Light Dynamic Cone Penetrometer, the JKR Probe.

by Ir Dr Hisham

17:00 pm 17:30 pm

Discussion