The main objective of TC2 is to promote exchange of information and co-operation of experimentalists and the users about the use of geotechnical physical modelling. To achieve the objective, TC2 organises workshops and conferences and publishes learned journal, sponsors international and regional meetings that are related geotechnical physical modelling, maintains web sites and database and established links with other technical committees.

In the year 2000, two new members from China and Columbia joined the committee. At present, TC2 has a total of 22 members from 18 countries. This report presents the present and future planned activities of TC2 for the year 2000.

The highlight of the year’s TC2 activity is the launching of the International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics. The inaugural issue of the journal is now with the press and is scheduled to appear in March 2001. Further information on the journal will be highlighted in the next section.

Another key event in the year 2000 is the International Symposium on Physical Modelling and Testing in Environmental Geotechnics, (http://lpweb.lcpc.fr/~necer/symp2000.htm) held in La Baule France in May 2000, as TC2 is an official supporting body for the symposium. Six TC2 members were directly involved in the Symposium organisation. The Symposium included presentations of the preliminary results of a European research programme involving eleven research teams, all equipped with geotechnical centrifuges, which focused on the application of physical modelling to the study of transport of pollutants in soil. During the symposium, TC2 held a meeting on 15 May 2000 which was attended by 14 TC2 members and interested persons. There was discussion on whether or not to create standards on soil preparation based on the manual of basic centrifuge model tests published in Proceedings CENTRIFUGE 98 Volume 2. It was proposed that suggested guidelines for soil preparation could be published as a series of articles in the new journal as the first step. Upon receiving comments and feedback from physical modelling researchers, the articles can be revised into standards if appropriate. The cooperation with other technical committees and the sponsorship of international and regional meetings have also been reported and discussed at length.

The other TC2 activities in the year 2000 are reported as follows:

1. TC2 continues to maintain its own web site that is linked to other sites in particular the ISSMGE web site. In addition, two e-mail groups, one for TC2 members and the other for physical modelling researchers at large, are set up for effective communication among interested persons.
2. A TC2 member maintains an ‘on-line’ international database CLEOPATRE. As of late 2000, about 1400 references have been included in the computerised database and all references include several keywords drawn from a list of 93 keywords that cover many aspects of physical modelling.
3. The Proceedings of CENTRIFUGE 98 Volume 2 was published by Balkema in mid-2000 which includes all the keynote and special lectures presented at the International Conference CENTRIFUGE 98 and the manual of basic centrifuge model tests.
4. The preparation for the International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics to be held in St. John’s Canada in July 2002 is progressing well. The first bulletin and call for papers was distributed by post and e-mails to a large mailing list in late 2000. A web site, www.c-core.ca/icpmg, is also established to facilitate a rapid communication link.
5. TC2 will also hold a 1.5-hr workshop on physical modelling at the International Conference of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Istanbul in August 2001. Preparation began in November 2000 and TC2 members are requested to make suggestions for speakers for the workshop.
6. TC2 continues to maintain close links with other technical committees of ISSMGE and other learned societies as well as several national technical committees.
7. TC2 is the sponsor of several international and regional conferences. For example, TC2 sponsors the Fourth International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics to be held in San Diego USA in March 2001.

After several years of rigorous preparation, the International Journal on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics was officially launched in early 2000. TC2 member Prof Osamu Kusakabe of Tokyo Institute of Technology is the Editor-in-Chief for the new journal and many TC2 members sit on the Editorial Board. Many flyers and e-mails were sent to interested researchers to invite them to submit papers and subscribe to the journal. The responses for call for papers have been good as there was no problem getting quality papers for the inaugural issue of the journal scheduled to appear in March 2001. The journal will be published four times a year.

All the submitted papers have to go through a rigorous review process by 2 assessors and one editorial board member. Six technical papers and one technical note with authors coming from UK, Switzerland, Japan and Australia have been accepted for the inaugural issue after the review process. In addition, several other papers have been accepted for publications for future issues and many others are in the process of review. It is worthy to note that several papers have already been rejected through the rigorous review process. This would enable the journal to achieve its goal of reaching high technical standard within a relatively short time frame.

The response to journal subscription has been very good in Japan. TC2 members are currently increasing the publicity to interested engineers and researchers worldwide in order to encourage more journal subscribers from outside Japan. The Committee expects the journal subscription to increase gradually once the journal has firmly established itself in the geotechnical physical modelling field.

Year 2001 is expected to be another busy year for TC2 as it hopes to achieve the following goals and organises the following events:

1. TC2 will organise a 1.5-hr workshop within the International ISSMGE Conference in Istanbul in August 2001. TC2 Secretary Dr C F Leung of the National University of Singapore will be the Chairman of the Workshop. As the current TC2 activities are mainly associated with centrifuge modelling, it is planned that researchers on other physical modelling such as pressure chamber, shaking table etc will be invited to take part in the workshop. If appropriate, other TC members will also be invited to facilitate further collaborations among various geotechnical research areas.
2. The deadline for abstracts for the 2002 International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics in Canada is March 2001. This would be a busy year for the conference as the abstracts and subsequent full papers will be reviewed so as to maintain the same high technical standards as for the previous international centrifuge processes. In addition, it is hoped that other physical modelling researchers will submit a good number of abstracts for the conference.
3. TC2 will continue to actively promote the new journal. So far the journal has received good responses for paper submission and journal subscription. As the initial years of publishing a journal are often the critical time, the Editorial Board (of whom many are TC2 members) would work hard to achieve its goal of high technical standard for its published papers. The Board would also work hard to get the journal into Science Citation Index (or similar) as soon as possible such that it can become a first class international journal within a short time frame. In addition, it is planned to publish suggested guidelines for soil preparation for physical modelling as a series of articles in the journal as preclude to the standards for soil preparation.
4. Besides the regular enhancement of the TC2 web site, the CLEOPATRE is expected to go full swing on-line by mid-2001 such as interested persons can download relevant information from the database and relevant software in geotechnical physical modelling for research purposes.

With the launching of the new journal and the call for papers for the 2002 International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics as well as many other activities, TC2 is pleased that it has achieved its objective of promoting physical modelling activities reasonably well. With another fruitful year has passed, TC2 would not rest on its laurel and continues to actively organise its activities and achieve the targets set for its future activities presented in this report. It plans to attract more non-centrifuge physical modelling researchers to take part in its activities and set high technical standard for its new journal such that the journal could become a first class international journal as soon as possible.

Reported by

Dr Ryan Phillips (TC2 Chair) and Dr Colin Leung (TC2 secretary) January 2001.