TC Chair: Shinji Sassa

GeoWorld Group: Scour and Erosion (TC213)

 

Short name: Scour and Erosion  (TC213)

International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)

Technical Committee 213, Scour and Erosion 2010-

The technical committee was initiated by ISSMGE to discuss scour processes and countermeasures in the geotechnical community, a topic that was covered primarily by hydraulic engineers and scientists. To spotlight the mutual effects of surface water, subsoil and pore water, the committee encourages hydraulic and geotechnical engineers to discuss the phenomenon of the interaction of water, soil and rock.

TC213 was instigated in 1997 as TC33 "Scour of Foundations" under ISSMGE President Ishihara by Jean-Louis Briaud from Texas A&M University (College Station, USA) who hold the chair from 1997 to 2009. In 2001 President van Impe proposed to change the name of the committee to "Geotechnics of Soil Erosion", giving the follower committee a broader scope, including subjects such as surface erosion, internal erosion in dams, etc. In 2010 Jean Louis Briaud was elected President of ISSMGE and committed the chair to Michael Heibaum. To stress the original topic, the final name of the Technical Committee was set to "Scour and Erosion". In 2015, the chair went to Richard Whitehouse. Shinji Sassa is the current chair of TC213.

The recent milestone of the TC is summarized by the slides with the title "Time Capsule Project (TCP)" and the links shown in the news and literature/publications section.

The wide issue of the TC is covered by biennial conferences, still following the original aim to find a combined geotechnical and hydraulic understanding of scour processes, but discussing as well other consequences of the interaction of water, soil and rock.

In 2010 it was decided to include in TC213 the discussion of filtration processes. This issue had been covered by four "GeoFilters" conferences in 1992 (Karlsruhe, Germany), 1996 (Montreal, Canada), 2000 (Warszawa, Poland) and 2004 (Johannesburg, South Africa). This series of conferences was not followed up, since any issues of filtration are discussed in the TC213 conferences since 2006.