WTC 2016

When and where

April 22-28
San Francisco
www.wtc2016.us

Monday: The Opening Ceremony will welcome Peter Kaiser, a professor and Chair for Rock Engineering and Ground Control at the Bharti School of Engineering of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada, and the 2013 TAC tunneller of the year. Leading the Muir Wood Lecture, Peter Kaiser will develop its proposals to meet the challenge of deep underground construction projects, a reflection deriving from deep-mining and tunnelling experiences in the Alps.

During the afternoon, a special workshop will be dedicated to the Building Information Modelling (BIM), an intelligent process based on 3 to 5D modelling for an infrastructure project planning, conception, simulation and construction. Experience sharing, prospective analysis of future BIM developments, testimonials of engineers, will punctuate the workshop.

Tuesday: From 8.30 AM to 12.30 PM, the ITA Open Session will feature advances the industry is achieving across a broad cross-section of topics affecting the underground construction business. It will notably include conventional and mechanized tunnelling, controlled blasting, fiber-reinforced precast concrete segments, the measurement and interpretation of in-situ stresses for application to high stress environments and pressurized conveyances, the challenges that we face in developing underground space in urban settings, and the management of construction risk through improved contracting practices.

Then, on the afternoon, the ITA Committee for Underground Space (ITACUS) will organise a "Think Deep" session dedicated to "Tunnels: the new urban paradigm". In the perspective of the UN Habitat III Conference, that is to take place next October in Quito, Peru, the ITACUS will launch discussions around central questions. As the role of cities is crucial to engage sustainable development policies, what solutions can tunnels and underground provide to contribute to a new urban agenda? Should public authorities only favour underground people transportations through Mass Rapid Transit Systems? Key speakers, like Ray Sterling, Professor Emeritus and Research fellow in Civil Engineering at the Louisiana Tech University, will introduce the public to the concept of urban underground freight.

On the evening, the countries willing to host the World Tunnel Congress 2019 will present their candidacy.

Wednesday: As the global Internet of Things market is booming (until reaching a USD 11tr potential impact per year in 2025, for up to 80 billion connected objects), it currently makes strong inroads into the underground space industry. What are the impacts of the accelerating digitalization on tunnels and underground spaces? How does digitalization currently manifest itself in the tunnelling industry? What are the ongoing developments and innovations in that matter? During a special session launched on Wednesday morning 27th (8.30-11.30), the ITA Technological Committee will tackle these crucial questions in attendance of a guest speaker from SIGMA.

Also, selected ITA Tech's prime sponsors will give concrete examples of underground projects in which they have implemented the latest digital technologies: Big Data management, monitoring, measuring, control, automation, machine diagnosis, maintenance, safety, risk reduction, process optimization.