The 17th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering-2023 was held in Astana at the Hilton Astana Hotel between August 14 and 18. The forum of this format is being held in Central Asia and in the CIS countries for the first time. The organizers were the L.N. Gumilyov ENU Geotechnical Institute, the Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society (KGS) and the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).
The conference was attended by over 600 scientists and experts from 90 countries, including leaders in the pace and scale of construction in the Asian region: Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Turkey, India, etc.
The main theme of the conference is “Smart Geotechnics for Smart Societies”. Guest lectures and breakout sessions were held during the four days of the conference. Among the issues raised are earthquake-resistant construction and the stability of buildings and structures to the elements, geoenergy, mining, problems of underground space development, soil study, engineering and technical expertise, personnel training for the construction and geotechnical industries, etc.
As ISSMGE Vice President for Asia Keh-Jian (Albert) Show noted, the conference has been being held effectively.
“The day before the conference, we held a meeting of the Presidium, which allowed us to consolidate the efforts of scientists and practitioners to solve complex geotechnical problems in Central Asia. The quantitative composition of the forum is evidence of this. This year, more than 600 participants came to the geotechnical forum in Astana, not only from Asian countries, but also from Europe, who presented modern geotechnical products at the exhibition, which will help speed up the solution of complex geotechnical tasks in the field of soil research,” Keh-Jian (Albert) Show said.
According to him, the next Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering will be held in 2027 in the capital of Thailand – Bangkok. Also in 2025, the first Eurasian Conference will be held in India, Mumbai (the former city of Bombay – auth.).
Professor of Baghdad University, President of the Iraqi Geotechnical Society Mahdi Karkush noted the importance of holding such forums. According to him, within the framework of the conference, a memorandum was signed between the Iraqi Geotechnical Society, the Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society (KGS) and the Macedonian Geotechnical Society.
“The signing of this document indicates that Europe and Asia should unite in order to solve geotechnical problems. Consolidation of European and Asian scientists can only take place at such large-scale conferences of an international scale. The exchange of ideas, advanced technologies is very important, and, what is especially important, young scientists are present at the forum, who are given the opportunity to see all these innovations, they can apply them both in the scientific field and in production,” the Iranian scientist said.
He also added that scientific articles will be published at the end of the conference, they will be analyzed even more deeply, and, of course, applied in the educational process and in practice.
The participant of the conference from the Russian Federation Rafael Sharafutdinov, Director of the N.M. Gersevanov Research Institute, Secretary of the Russian Society for Soil Mechanics, Geotechnical Foundation Engineering, Moscow, also shared his opinion.
“The 17th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering-2023 is held at the traditionally high level inherent in the events held under the auspices of the International Geotechnical Society (ISSMGE). This time, we see quite a large number of delegates from different countries. I consider it relevant, correct and timely to include in the conference program a section dedicated to the Turkish and Syrian earthquakes that occurred this year. Mistakes related to seismic impacts certainly happen, and they need to be discussed, studied and improved. Opinions of foreign colleagues, in particular from the United States, were very interesting, who positively assessed the approach inherent in the CIS countries in the field of seismics, considering it more correct, and the destruction that occurred in Turkey and Syria once again confirms this. In my opinion, this section has just allowed us to analyze errors in this matter, which will allow us to further ensure the safety of residents of our countries. The key sections were also interesting and informative, in which well-known experts in the field of geotechnics spoke, and where it was possible to see the current state of the industry, scientific research of soil mechanics, geotechnics and foundation engineering,” Rafael Sharafutdinov said.
Pulod Aminzade, Director of the Institute of Geology, Earthquake-Resistant Construction and Seismology of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, noted that at the 17th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Astana, quite topical issues in the field of soil mechanics were considered and research results were presented.
“This once again confirms that geotechnics is a connecting element between other sciences, since geotechnics is the land on which we walk, build buildings and live. At the current conference, the topic of seismicity was discussed on the example of Turkey and Syria, it was said about the state of the soil during earthquakes or other dynamic impacts, it simply liquefies, which, of course, is fraught with sad consequences. This topic is important to me, because Tajikistan is also an earthquake-prone country, and we also have these problems,” the guest from Dushanbe said.
The conference included an exhibition of geotechnical and construction equipment, as well as technical tours of the hallmark sites of Astana and Almaty.
Following the results of the conference, Kazakhstani and foreign experts developed practical recommendations for the development of infrastructure in Asian countries.
