Event Information

The Finnish National Group of ISRM and the Finnish Association of Civil Engineers RIL invite you to the 7th International Symposium on In-Situ Rock Stress to be held during 10–12 May 2016 in the beautiful city of Tampere, Finland. There have been six previous International Symposia on the rock stress topic, starting in 1976 in Sydney, Australia, and with the most recent one being held in Sendai, Japan, in 2013. This 7th Symposium will be a natural continuation of the in-situ rock stress topic, which is of great importance to most rock engineering projects. In spite of the numerous research and development projects that have been undertaken in the subject of rock stresses, a great deal remains to be achieved in order to confidently establish the stress field and its variation at a particular site, plus the alteration to the stress field as construction proceeds. We now have much improved stress measurement methods and associated 3-D computer programs—and the development is moving fast.

Accordingly, we hope to welcome all interested rock stress practitioners, modellers, designers and contractors to this 2016 rock stress symposium in Finland. We are sure that the 7th Symposium will contain much new material and will be an excellent forum for presenting your work, keeping up to date with developments, and networking.

Finland is an excellent venue for the Symposium because of the large amount of rock engineering construction and the fact that rock stresses play an important role in the design of Finnish rock engineering projects—even in the shallow underground facilities. Although the high horizontal stresses can be utilized in stabilizing rock caverns, such high stresses can cause rock damage around the rock facilities, so understanding the stress field and designing accordingly is one of the keys to success. Technical excursions and field trips are being planned.