UK-China GeoNet: Research Network on Geotechnical Engineering

在过去的二十年里，中国经历了快速的经济发展，设计和建造了许多大型岩土工程，包括长江三峡大坝，连接全国许多地区的铁路和公路，以及许多城市的地下交通系统。许多这些项目提出了重大的技术挑战，岩土工程师，这导致了一个非常高的出版率，无论是实践和理论，由中国岩土工程师。许多国际公司已参与这些建筑活动。可以肯定的是，中国的高速发展将在未来二十年内持续下去。然而，英国岩土工程研究人员还没有建立一个国家级的框架，以系统和协调的方式与中国同行进行互动。目前，英国岩土工程界落后于日本和美国的竞争对手，日本和美国都有一个积极的与中国合作的国家战略。因此，我们应该建立这样一个国家网络，使英国岩土工程研究人员和工程师能够与中国领先的同行建立战略伙伴关系，这是非常及时的。该项目旨在与中国建立强有力的研究联系，并建立一个中英岩土工程网络（即UK-China GeoNet），以促进中英两国研究人员和实践者之间的创新思想的国际交流。其目的是汇集英国和中国的领先研究团队，并开展有效的合作。英国研究人员将向中国输出尖端研究成果的同时，也将意识到中国工程师在困难的地面条件下建造许多工程项目时遇到的许多新问题。这将反过来刺激和开辟新的研究领域，为英国和中国的研究人员。这种高水平的战略性国家合作伙伴关系将有助于英国岩土工程行业在快速增长的中国建筑市场中竞争。

China has experienced rapid economic development over the last twenty years which has seen the design and construction of many large scale geotechnical projects including the Three Gorges Dam over the Yangtze River, railways and highways linking many parts of the country as well as underground transport systems in many cities. Many of these projects presented significant technical challenges to the geotechnical engineer, and this has led to a very high rate of publication, both practical and theoretical, by Chinese geotechnical engineers. Many international companies have become involved in these construction activities. It is certain that the high rate of the development in China will continue for the next twenty years. However no national level frameworks have been set up for UK geotechnical researchers to interact with their Chinese counterparts in a systematic and coordinated way. At present the UK geotechnical community is lagging behind their competitors in Japan and USA, who both have an aggressive national strategy for collaborating with China. It is therefore most timely that we should set up such a national network that would allow UK geotechnical researchers and engineers to forge a strategic partnership with leading Chinese colleagues. This project aims to build strong research links with China and establish an UK-China Network on Geotechnical Engineering (i.e. UK-China GeoNet) to promote the international exchange of innovative ideas between researchers and practitioners in China and the UK. The aim is to bring together leading research groups in the UK and China and develop effective collaborations. While UK researchers are expected to export cutting-edge research results to China, they would also become aware of many new problems as encountered by Chinese engineers in the construction of many engineering projects in difficult ground conditions. This will in turn stimulate and open up new lines of research for UK and Chinese researchers. This high-level, strategic national partnership will help the UK geotechnical industry to compete in the rapidly growing Chinese construction market.