Technologies in Geotechnical engineering

Code: -
|
ICAR/07
The course content encompasses the main technological solutions for the execution of geotechnical works; for the mitigation of ground deformation or instability induced by natural or man-made hazards; for improving the mechanical properties of soil and rock masses; for geotechnical actions to protect the built heritage; for environmental protection and energy supply from renewable and non-renewable sources.

Lesson hours:

48

Practice hours:

-

Propaedeuticities:

Geotechnical engineering

Credits:

6

Types of examinations:

The final assessment test will be oral

Teacher:

-

Objectives:

The course aims to provide the basic information on the most popular technologies adopted for the construction and retrofitting of ground-interacting structures (foundations, retaining structures, tunnels) and earthworks (embankments, dams), showing their role on the performance of the geotechnical works and on the modelling approach to be adopted. The student will also be introduced to ground improvement technologies, nowadays offering innovative and sustainable design solutions to civil and environmental engineers. The lectures will introduce the technical principles and the execution methods of the technologies, also by means of pertinent exemplary case histories. Field trips to ongoing construction sites will be planned to have a direct experience of the main technical and execution problems. Classwork will be addressed to approach the basic design problems for some of the technologies described in the lectures. As outcome of the course, the student will be aware of the role of the most relevant traditional and innovative construction, retrofitting and ground improvement technologies in the performance of geotechnical works, and will be able to apply them to design problems in civil and environmental engineering.

Contents:

[1 CFU] PERMEATION INJECTION TECHNIQUE: mixture rheology, an insight on the seepage of non-Newtonian fluids with varying viscosity, properties of a reinforced soil, design criteria, technological limits. Case study: design of ground improvement underneath an embankment.  

[2 CFU] JET GROUTING: technologies with single and multiple fluids (two or three fluids); characteristics of the treated material; evaluation of the average diameter and prediction of the column flaws; most common jet grouting geotechnical applications: linear barrier, jet-grouting bottom plug and its design, radial injections in tunneling technologies; deterministic e probabilistic design approaches; Monte Carlo method. Real case examples of jet-grouting ground improvement. Design of a linear containment barrier for a high contaminated site.

[1 CFU] SOIL COMPACTION: dynamic compaction, vibro-flotation, vibro-compaction, gravel column technologies, compaction grouting 

[1 CFU] DRAINAGE SYSTEM: vertical drains in static and dynamic conditions, horizontal drains in dynamic conditions, vacuum preloading.

[1 CFU] LIQUEFACTION AS A PRACTICAL PROBLEM: cyclic behaviour of soils, liquefaction failure, semi-empirical methods for the risk assessment of liquefaction. Integral indicator. Criteria for the design approach.

[1 CFU] SOIL NAILING: mechanisms of functioning, traditional and helical nails technologies, Design methods. Design of a supported excavation.

[1 CFU] DREDGING TECHNIQUE: behaviour of under-consolidated soils; a brief outline about the consolidation theory in large displacements, dredged sediments recycling for reclaimed land and fill caissons filling; principles of design.

[1 CFU] STABILIZATION AND REINFORCEMENT OF ROCK MASSES: a brief outline about the mechanical behavior of rock masses. The Hoek and Brown yield criterion for intense fractured rock masses. The Barton yield criterion for rock discontinuity. Kinematic of falling boulders. Active and passive net; nailing, rockfall nets.

Teaching materials:

Notes edited by the teacher and projected slides.

Earth pressure and Earth-Retaining Structures. C. Clayton, R. I Woods, J. Militisky, CRC ed.

Geotechnical Engineering, R. Lancellotta, Routledge Ed.

Jet-Grouting: Technology, Design and Control. Croce P., Flora A., Modoni G., CRC ed.