Geomechanics

Summary

The course covers engineering applications and challenges in geomechanics, including stress-strain behavior of geomaterials in variousconditions, triaxial testing,and constitutive frameworks for elasticity and plasticity.Practical insights are gained through workshops with geomechanics professionals

Content

Keywords

Mechanical behaviour of geomaterial, constitutive models, elasto-plasticity, numerical modelling in geomechanics, laboratory and in-situ testing

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

Soil mechanics and groundwater seepage

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Recognize the stress path(s) to which the soil is subjected in the context of the engineering application of interest
• Use methods for evaluating the in-situ stress state
• Recognize the most suitable constitutive model for the problem of interest in relation to the soil and the problem itself
• Judge capabilities and limitations of constitutive models
• Assess / Evaluate Evaluate the geotechnical parameters governing the geomechanical problem
• Design laboratory or in-situ tests for the determination of the needed parameters
• Interpret /Process the experimental data resulting from a laboratory campaign in order to obtain the parameters of interest
• Assess / Evaluate the soils response under various environmental conditions (unsaturated, non-isothermal, dynamic)
• Use consciously a finite element software for creating a geomechanical model appropriate for the problem of interest

Transversal skills

• Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.
• Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.
• Communicate effectively with professionals from other disciplines.
• Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
• Use both general and domain specific IT resources and tools
• Access and evaluate appropriate sources of information.

Teaching methods

• Ex cathedra and exercices

Assessment methods

Final exam (written): 60% of the final mark

Mid-term exam (written): 20% of the final mark

Continuous assessment (workshops and projects): 20% of the final mark

Supervision

Resources

Bibliography

Lectures notes and handouts given during the course

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/CIVIL-402