Geotechnics and Laboratory

The aim of the course is to equip students with basic soil mechanics knowledge, to be able to analyse and solve from a quantitative point of view the most typical geotechnical engineering problems.

· Understand the key continuum mechanics tools to model the hydro-mechanical behaviour of porous media
· Assess pore pressure distribution in 2D seepage problems
· Use results obtained from the most common laboratory and insitu tests to obtain soil strength and deformability parameters, in view of the specific geotechnical problem at hand
· Calculate shallow foundation settlements for both fine- and coarse-grained soils and their time evolution
· Assess the safety of foundations in compliance with current design standards
· Assess the safety of the main types of retaining structures in compliance with current design standards