Recent technical advancement in natural terrain landslide risk mitigation measures in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT The Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) has been steering technical development work to facilitate enhancement in natural terrain landslide risk management in Hong Kong. Collaborations between GEO, the academia from both local and overseas institutes and geotechnical professions have been initiated in recent years to carry out studies on various aspects, including the development of design methodologies for debris-resisting barriers, the investigation of debris impact mechanics and debris–barrier interaction as well as the improvement of detailing of debris-resisting barriers. The concerted efforts have put Hong Kong in a leading position amongst other countries in the area of combating landslide risk. Many of the studies have brought about significant impacts to the engineering practice in many different regions, and have been made reference with by practitioners worldwide in establishing directions of technical development work on the subject. This paper presents the technical advances in natural terrain landslide risk mitigation measures in Hong Kong. It covers a wide spectrum of innovative studies jointly carried out by the GEO and various experts in respect of advanced numerical modelling, laboratory flume testing, centrifuge modelling and large-scale physical modelling, etc. These studies shed light on the potential of rationalising the present barrier design approaches.