Recent technical advancement in natural terrain landslide risk mitigation measures in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

The Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) has been steering technical development work to facilitate enhancement in natural terrain landslide risk management in Hong Kong. Collaborations between GEO, the academia from both local and overseas institutes and geotechnical professions have been initiated in recent years to carry out studies on various aspects, including the development of design methodologies for debris-resisting barriers, the investigation of debris impact mechanics and debris–barrier interaction as well as the improvement of detailing of debris-resisting barriers. The concerted efforts have put Hong Kong in a leading position amongst other countries in the area of combating landslide risk. Many of the studies have brought about significant impacts to the engineering practice in many different regions, and have been made reference with by practitioners worldwide in establishing directions of technical development work on the subject.

This paper presents the technical advances in natural terrain landslide risk mitigation measures in Hong Kong. It covers a wide spectrum of innovative studies jointly carried out by the GEO and various experts in respect of advanced numerical modelling, laboratory flume testing, centrifuge modelling and large-scale physical modelling, etc. These studies shed light on the potential of rationalising the present barrier design approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Debris flow
• landslides
• boulder impact
• centrifuge
• flexible debris-resisting barrier
• rigid debris-resisting barrier
• non-linear finite element analysis
• impact test

Acknowledgements

This paper is published with the permission of the Head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office and the Director of Civil Engineering and Development, the HKSAR Government. The first and third authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by Research Grants Council theme-based project – T22–603/15-N.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Grants Council, University Grant Committee [Grant Number T22-603/15 N].

Notes on contributors

Julian S H Kwan

Ir Dr Julian S H Kwan is now a Chief Geotechnical Engineer in the Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO), Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), the HKSAR Government. He joined the GEO after obtaining his Ph.D. degree from the Imperial College London. He is in charge of the technical development work in the GEO to support the formulation of slope safety policies. Ir Dr Kwan leads a team of professional engineers to steer centrifuge tests and physical tests for studying debris flow mechanics and debris–barrier interactions. His team also develops numerical modelling techniques for debris mobility analysis and undertakes landslide susceptibility analysis.

Harris W K Lam

Ir Harris W K Lam is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer in the GEO, CEDD, the HKSAR Government. He has a wide range of experience in geotechnical engineering covering slope stabilisation, natural terrain hazard mitigation, landslide investigation, slope maintenance and emergency repairs, etc. He is now managing a team of staff in the GEO, focusing on the research and technical development of natural terrain hazard mitigation measures in Hong Kong.

Charles W W Ng

Ir Prof Charles W W Ng is currently the CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability, Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Associate Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He is the President of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Bristol in 1993. After carrying out a period of post doctoral research at the University of Cambridge between 1993 and 1995, he returned to Hong Kong and joined the HKUST as an Assistant Professor in 1995 and rose through the ranks to become a Chair Professor in 2011. Ir Prof Ng was elected as an Overseas Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge University, in 2005 and was elected as a Changjiang Scholar (Chair Professor in Geotechnical Engineering) by the Ministry of Education in the Mainland China in 2010. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE), The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (FHKIE) and the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (FHKEng). Ir Prof Ng has published some 270 SCI journal articles and 230 conference papers and delivered more than 50 keynotes and state-of-the-art reports on five continents. He has supervised 46 Ph.D. and 41 MPhil students to graduation and mentored dozens of postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars.

Nelson T K Lam

Ir Prof Nelson T K Lam is a Professor at the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at The University of Melbourne. He has 35 years of experience in structural engineering and has been working in the specialised field of earthquake engineering, impact dynamics and structural dynamics. He is a member of the Seismic and Dynamic Events Panel commissioned by the London Headquarter of The Institution of Structural Engineers. His achievement in research in this field was recognised by the award of the Chapman Medal (1999) and the Warren Medal (2006) by Engineers Australia; and the Chapman Medal for the second time in 2010. He is also a recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence given by Engineers Australia in 2012 and Academic Staff Teaching Award by Melbourne School of Engineering in 2013. His early career as a Structural Engineer was with Scott Wilson International throughout the 1980s, and he attained British chartered engineer status during that period. He was awarded the degree of B.Sc. in civil engineering with first class honours at the University of Leeds, the UK in 1981, M.Sc. degree in concrete structures at Imperial College of Science & Technology, London in 1982 and Ph.D. degree in earthquake engineering at The University of Melbourne in 1993.

S L Chan

Ir Prof S L Chan is the Chair Professor in Computational Structural Engineering at Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and his research interest covers non-linear structural analysis with applications to design, steel, composite and glass structures, membrane and flexible nets, buckling and stability.

Jack Yiu

Ir Jack Yiu is an Associate in Arup, Hong Kong. His genuine interest and strong technical background in geotechnical engineering have led to his involvement in a wide variety of significant infrastructure projects such as the 2012 London Olympics, Singapore MRT Downtown Line, the Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Brunei-Temburong Bridge. His particular expertise is in deep excavation and numerical methods for geotechnical design, which has led him to be the leading geotechnical engineer for a number of recent Hong Kong MTR consultancy packages. He has recently developed his new expertise in natural terrain/slope hazard mitigation measures and the associated advanced dynamic analysis. He was the project manager of the pilot numerical investigation in landslide debris–flexible barrier structure interaction for the GEO in Hong Kong.

Johnny C Y Cheuk

Ir Dr Johnny C Y Cheuk is a registered Civil and Geotechnical Engineer. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Cambridge University, and he is currently the Director of Operations and the Executive Director of the geotechnical business line of AECOM Asia Company Limited in Hong Kong. He handles a wide spectrum of geotechnical projects for public and private clients. Ir Dr Cheuk is the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society, and an Adjunct Professor at The University of Hong Kong.