Geotechnical engineers ensure the safety and cost-effectiveness of infrastructure assets by addressing uncertainties related to their lifespan and performance during hazards. Safety is often achieved by minimizing adverse outcomes through evaluating the probability of failure based on past experience and reliability analysis. At the same time, emerging technologies in sensing, communication, and computing now make it feasible to continuously and economically monitor geotechnical structures during construction and operation. This enables us to: (a) respond appropriately and effectively if a failure starts to happen, (b) cope with future unknown demands, and (c) find potential improvements for future design, construction, and operation of new infrastructure. The lecture will present three case studies (tunnels, pipelines, and deep foundations) to demonstrate how distributed sensing data and data analytic techniques can provide geotechnical insights, enabling us to adapt to ever-changing demands.

Kenichi Soga is the Donald H. McLaughlin Chair in Mineral Engineering and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California Berkeley. He earned his BEng and MEng from Kyoto University in Japan and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining UC Berkeley in 2016, he was a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He has authored more than 450 journal and conference papers and co-authored the book "Fundamentals of Soil Behavior". His research focuses on infrastructure sensing, performance-based design and maintenance of underground structures, energy geotechnics, and geotechnics from micro to macro. He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He has received numerous awards, including the George Stephenson Medal and Telford Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is also a Bakar Fellow of UC Berkeley, working to promote the commercialization of smart infrastructure technologies.