In early 1999, TC2 submitted a proposal to the ISSMGE President to change the Committee’s name to "Centrifuge and Physical Model Testing" and to seek endorsement on the Terms and Reference for the new Committee. The proposal was subsequently approved by the ISSMGE in mid-1999. The Chairman of the Committee is Dr Ryan Phillips of C-CORE, Canada and the Secretary is Dr Colin Leung from the National University of Singapore. This report presents the functions, present and further planned activities of TC2 for 1999.

The terms of reference of TC2 as approved by ISSMGE are as follows:

1. To promote exchange of information and co-operation between the experimentalists and the users about the use of geotechnical physical modelling (including centrifuge testing) in simulating boundary value problems in geotechnical engineering.
2. To act as contact persons for the profession for reliable sources of information on geotechnical physical modelling.
3. To monitor the effectiveness of information dissemination in reaching practising engineers and researchers through established journals and conferences; if needed to suggest improvements; and to encourage publication of technical articles in widely available journals and conferences.
4. To develop with other TCs, including TC12, TC14 & TC28, a mutual understanding of the role of physical modelling in addressing their geotechnical challenges.
5. To co-operate with other national and international groups interested in geotechnical physical modelling including TRB technical committee A2K05 - Modelling techniques in geotechnics and ASTM task group D18.09 - Centrifuge Modelling.
6. To promote the organisation of the next TC2 international conference on Geotechnical Physical Modelling to be held in Canada in 2002.
7. To support and encourage the organisation of international, national and regional events on geotechnical physical modelling, including the European NECER workshop in 2000.
8. To encourage presentation of papers on geotechnical physical modelling applications to general sessions of the next Istanbul XV ICSMGE conference in 2001.

At present, TC2 consists of 20 members from 16 countries. The current list of members for TC2 is given in the following table:

4. Report of current activities

Before reporting the activities undertaken by the current committee, it is worthy to mention that a major international conference CENTRIFUGE 98 held in Tokyo in September 1998 had been highly successful. The conference was organised by the previous TC2 committee members of whom at least half are also current TC2 members. It attracted over 250 participants from 16 different countries.

The major activities for 1999 are reported as follows:

1. TC2 has created a web site to provide information on its activities, conferences and sponsored events, with links to other conferences, journals and organisations. In addition, the users can view an international geotechnical centrifuge user and facilities database, and visit a geotechnical centrifuge library to acquire knowledge on centrifuge principles and technology courtesy of the Japanese Geotechnical Society. The web site address is

http://www.engr.mun.ca/~ccore/cgs/tc2/index.html.

Two listserves have also been established to contact TC2 members and people involved in centrifuge model testing. These addresses are tc2-s@geo.citg.tudelft.nl and tc2-l@geo.citg.tudelft.nl respectively.

2. The international co-operative test program on preparation of sand for centrifuge modelling involving 18 centrifuge laboratories worldwide is completed. The final report is currently under preparation and will be published together with the Manual of Basic Centrifuge Model Tests in the Proceedings of CENTRIFUGE 98 Volume 2 by AA Balkema Publishers in 2000. The program is conducted in conjunction with the Japanese Geotechnical Society.
3. TC2 has established links to other TCs, including TC12, TC14 and TC28. For each link, a committee member is assigned to be the liaison person to work out possible joint programs with the other TC on a mutual benefit basis. In addition, TC2 has also established contacts with a number of technical committees from other societies, including NECER (in which the current TC2 Chair is on its advisory panel), US National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board Committee A2K05 Modeling Techniques in Geomechanics, and ASTM D18.09.
4. TC2 is an official supporting body for the International Symposium on Physical Modelling and Testing in Environmental Geotechnics to be held in La Baule France in May 2000 and the Fourth International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics to be held in San Diego USA in March 2001.
5. TC2 plays a key role in the preparation for publishing an International Journal on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics. Prof. T Kimura, immediate past chairman of TC2 and his students donated 2 million Japanese yens as the seed money for the journal. It is planned to have the first issue of the journal in early 2001.
6. Nine present and past TC2 members including past TC2 Chairmen Profs A N Schofield and T Kimura attended an International Workshop on Centrifuge Modeling held at the National University of Singapore in November 1999. The workshop focused on new centrifuge technology, equipment, data acquisition systems, actuators and other robotics for inflight tests, inflight site-investigation, soil placement methods and, instrumentation and image processing. The workshop has provided an opportunity for a small group of active centrifuge users to explore ways to improve the technology used in centrifuge testing and also cross-check the technique and methodology used in centrifuge testing.

4. Future planned activities

Besides the planned activities for the year 2000 mentioned above, TC2 will involve actively in the following:

1. TC2 will continue look for new members, especially those involved in geotechnical physical modlelling, to fulfil its aim stated in its expanded terms of reference on physical modelling other than centrifuge modelling.
2. The next TC2 international conference on Geotechnical Physical Modelling will be held in St. John, Canada in July 2002. The first bulletin will be released in late 2000.
3. Besides the regular enhancement of the TC2 web pages, an on-line database (proposed name is Centrifuge LiteraturE On PhysicAl Modelling – Technical and Theoretical ReferencEs CLEOPATRE) is planned. This enables the users to enter keywords to use the database interactively.
4. To promote the awareness of geotechnical physical modelling, TC2 intends to affect the forthcoming International Conference of ISSMGE to be held in Istanbul Turkey in August 2001 by encouraging presentations in the general sessions on the topic.

4. Summary

TC2 has changed its name to Centrifuge and Physical Model Testing in mid-1999 and this report presents the new terms of reference for its expanded role. Through the hard work of its committee members, TC2 is pleased to report the achievements of its present activities. The most noticeable contribution would be the Report on the International Co-operative Test Program on Preparation of Sand for Centrifuge Modelling and the Manual of Basic Centrifuge Model Test to be published in early 2000 in conjunction with the Japanese Geotechnical Society. In addition, the creation of TC2 web pages enables information to be easily accessible by geotechnical researchers and engineers worldwide.

TC2 will continue its role to promote geotechnical physical modelling and intends to play a major part by actively participating in international events, working with other technical committees, creating an international on-line physical modelling database and establishing an International Journal on Physical Modeling on Geotechnics.

Reported by

Dr Ryan Phillips (TC2 Chair) and Dr Colin Leung (TC2 Secretary) January 2000.