The iYGEC conference series aims at bringing together young people who may be studying for a PhD or MSc or at the early stage of their career in engineering or academia. The idea is to enable delegates to communicate with others who are doing research or starting out in the geotechnical profession and to share their experience. Traditionally, the participants are selected by their respective member society. For this 5th edition of iYGEC, the participation is extended to all young geotechnical engineers.

The book presents the Proceedings of the 5th iYGEC held at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, Marne-la-Vallée, France, on August 31–September 1 2013. This event was organised by the French Society of Soil Mechanics (CFMS) under the auspice of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

The papers published in these proceedings were peer-reviewed by experts in the field of geotechnical engineering. The topics covered are quite large, including laboratory testing, field testing, geology and groundwater, earthworks, soil behaviour, constitutive modelling, ground improvement, earthquake, retaining structures, foundations, slope stability, tunnels and observational method.

We would like to acknowledge the work done by the reviewers, for their fundamental contribution in ensuring the quality of the published papers. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from the ISSMGE and the CFMS, which were absolutely essential for providing a good condition for our young geotechnical engineers, especially in terms of accommodations and registrations.

We do not forget of course to acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Séverine Beaunier (Pont Formation Conseil) without whom the Conference would not obtain such a success.

Yu-Jun Cui

Fabrice Emeriault

Fahd Cuira

Siavash Ghabezloo

Jean-Michel Pereira

Michael Reboul

Hugo Ravel

Anh Minh Tang