Integrating Geotechnical Baseline Reports and Risk Allocation Frameworks in Geotechnical Engineering Education

Abstract

The use of geotechnical baseline reports (GBRs) and related risk allocation has been employed in engineering practice for the underground construction industry since the 1970s. The GBR framework has been quite successful in reducing disputes associated with changed ground conditions and resulted in more efficient and less contentious project delivery. This framework is seeing, albeit slowly, broader adoption in the geotechnical engineering community and beyond underground construction. However, students of geotechnical engineering are almost never exposed to this approach of mitigation of risks that arise from uncertainty in ground conditions. The development of a GBR and related components might at first glance seem counter to conventional geotechnical engineering training. The GBR framework requires engineers to quantify ground conditions and soil properties and avoid broad or vague description of these quantities. This paper highlights the benefits of integrating the GBR and risk allocation approach in geotechnical engineering education and proposes a framework to achieve this integration within existing curricula.