Judgement in geotechnical engineering practice

Brito, José António Mateus de

doi:10.28927/SR.2021.063821

person José António Mateus de Brito #

schoolTPF - Consultores de Engenharia e Arquitetura, S. A., Lisboa, Portugal

0000-0003-2955-0623

person#Corresponding author. E-mail:
jmateusdebrito@gmail.com

Declaration of interest

The author declare that he has no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Manuel Rocha (1913-1981) was honoured by the Portuguese Geotechnical Society with the establishment of the Lecture Series bearing his name in 1984 Having completed the Civil Engineering Degree at the Technical University of Lisbon (1938) he did post-graduate training at MIT. He was the driving force behind the creation of the research team in Civil Engineering that would lead to the foundation of the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC), in Lisbon. He was Head of LNEC from 1954 to 1974 and led it to the cutting edge of research in Civil Engineering His research work had great impact in the area of concrete dams and rock mechanics. He was the 1^st President of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and organized its 1^st Congress in Lisbon (1966). He did consultancy work in numerous countries. He was Honorary President of the Portuguese Geotechnical Society, having promoted with great commitment the cooperation between Portugal and Brazil in the area of Civil Engineering, and member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Recognized as a brilliant researcher, scientist and professor, with a sharp, discerning intellect allied to a prodigious capacity for work and management, he was truly a man of many talents.

The 2020 Manuel Rocha Lecture was presented by José Mateus de Brito, 71 years old, Geotechnical Consultant, former Head of Geotechnical Department, Partner and Member of the Board Directors of TPF and Cenor Engineering Consulting Companies in Lisbon, Portugal. He got his degree in Civil Engineering in 1972 at Instituto Superior Técnico. He was Assistant Professor of Soil Mechanics, Foundation Design and Seismic Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico, between 1972 and 1989. He is Geotechnical Expert and Counsellor Member of the Portuguese Engineers Association. He has been involved in consulting and design, including large dams, reservoirs and tailing dams, canals, highways, metros, railways and tunnel systems, bridge and building foundations, cut and cover urban excavations, pile support systems, foundations and soil improvement. He has also experience in supervision, control and management of hydraulic schemes and metro and rail systems. He was Project Manager of recent relevant projects like Sivas Sarkisla Bozkurt Dam, Turkey; Algiers Metro Line 1 – Emir Abdelkader Square-Martyrs Square, Algeria; Foundation Treatment of Road Accesses to Northern Lisbon Logistics Platform, Portugal; Cerro da Mina Reservoir at Somincor Mine, Portugal; Lisbon Metro Terreiro do Paço Underground Station, Portugal. José Mateus de Brito is author and co-author of more than one hundred communications at national and international congresses and delivered several lectures. He has integrated several committees, namely the Dam Safety Commission in Portugal. He was awarded with the Tectonika Engineering Prize 2018 for the work of recognized value developed in geotechnical engineering at the International Construction and Public Works Fair, Lisbon.

STEP	DESCRIPTION
Define, Investigate and Characterize	Define project needs, then gather relevant information and data. Use interpolation, extrapolation, deduction and inference, along with judgement, to develop a generalized mental and analytical model of the subsurface conditions
Analyze	Use evaluated information, empirical correlations, engineering knowledge and judgement to determine input parameters for the mental and analytical model to analyse and predict possible performance. Use judgement to fill data gaps and simplify complex projects conditions to render a manageable model
Design	Apply the mental and analytical model to determine specific requirements for the design to meet project requirements. Develop trial designs. Use judgement to assess viability, safety and constructability of design options and select the optimal combination for project conditions. Use model and judgement to predict the performance of the final design
Observe and Evaluate	Monitor actual performance during construction and operation. Question models and judgement where unexpected outcomes occur. Use models and judgement to modify remaining construction or operating conditions where needed. Learn and document what to do differently next time

COGNITIVE BIAS	DESCRIPTION
Availability	Over-relying on information that’s readily available or easily recalled
Authority bias	Attributing greater accuracy and more influence by opinion of an authority figure
Concrete information	Putting higher value to information from our own experience or that of trusted colleagues rather than abstract information in a document
Conservation bias (belief revision)	Favouring prior evidence over new evidence
Information bias	Biased conclusions resulting from inaccurately measured or classified data or information
Neglect of probability	Disregarding probability when making a decision involving uncertainty
Not invented here	Aversion to ideas, products or methods developed by others
Overconfidence	Having more confidence in the accuracy of individual’s knowledge, judgements and actions than is justified
Self-serving bias	Claiming more responsibility for successes than failures
Shared information bias	Spending more time and energy discussing already familiar things and less time on unfamiliar things