ISSMGE Bulletin – Volume 9 Issue 1 February 2015

Research Highlights
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) The Geotechnical Engineering and Geomechanics group

Introduction

The Geotechnical Engineering and Geomechanics group of UPC is in charge of teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels of the Civil and Geological Engineering degrees. No less than 35 Doctorate students and a similar number of Master students develop their activity under the guidance of thirteen full time staff members. The group is active in four aspects of research: the contribution to fundamental understanding and modelling of soil and rock behaviour, the development of advanced computational tools and testing techniques and the participation in applied engineering projects. Achieving a proper balance among these aspects has been a permanent objective of the group over the years. In the computational field the Program “Code_Bright”, which is continuously being updated, is a reference for the analysis of coupled thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and chemical processes in porous media. The laboratory has specialized in multi-physical testing. It is well known for the in-house design and development of special prototypes, instrumentation and medium-scale cells which are in operation in Universities and research centres around the world. Cooperation with Industry and Public Institutions has been very active in underground nuclear waste storage, large civil engineering projects and geological risk.

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya–Professor Eduardo E. Alonso

Eduardo  Alonso  initiated  the  activities  of  the  Department  of  Geotechnical Engineering  and  Geosciences  of  UPC  soon  after  the  foundation  of  the  Civil Engineering School of Barcelona in 1974. He currently directs the Doctorate Program. His research has benefited from his involvement in large engineering projects (dams, railway lines), forensic investigations (landslides, foundation failures) and large- scale European research initiatives (nuclear waste storage, landslides). Topics and highlights of his research activities are:

•   Unsaturated Soil Mechanics. A continuous effort was directed during the past 35 years to develop consistent frameworks for the behaviour of unsaturated soils. Attention was given to a wide range of soils and rocks:

• Collapsible materials, which were successfully described in 19871990 by the so-called BBM (Barcelona Basic Model) in publications by E. Alonso, A. Gens and former Ph.D. student A. Josa.
• Expansive soils and rocks, which received a formal constitutive formulation as an extension of BBM.
• Coarse grained aggregates and rockfill. Sensitivity to relative humidity changes was physically explained, modelled and tested in large testing cells (relevant contributions by former Ph.D. students L. Oldecop, C. Chávez and E. Ortega). Recent activity is directed towards further testing (C. Alvarado and Prof. E. Romero) and comprehensive rockfill description by DEM techniques (M. Tapias).
• Compacted soils and the incorporation of microstructure as described in recent publications in collaboration with N.M. Pinyol and A. Gens.
• Degradation of clay rocks under environmental conditions and rock joints described in recent papers with past doctorate students N.M. Pinyol, R. Cardoso, M.T. Zandarín and J. Pineda.

• Development of computational models for dynamic conditions and large displacements (Material Point Method). A pioneering contribution was the coupled flow-deformation analysis of Aznalcóllar dam (together with F.  Zabala). Further work, performed by  A.  Yerro  and  M.  Alvarado, includes the development of a computational tool for unsaturated soils (an interesting application is rain-induced failures) and the relevance of rate effects.

• Forensic Engineering. Understanding and explaining failures is a formidable experience to learn and to teach. This idea is the guiding objective of the recent books on Geomechanics of Failures (Springer) authored by E. Alonso, A. Puzrin and N.M. Pinyol. Current research is directed towards advanced landslide research including rate and thermal effects in cooperation with Dr N.M. Pinyol.

• Crystal growth in Geomechanics. This subject, which could be included in the vast area of chemical interactions in Geomechanics, started by a detailed monitoring and analysis of the unexpected and impressive damage suffered by tunnels and deep foundations in anhydritic clayey rocks. Basic mechanisms are now better understood. Recent contributions are co-authored by former doctorate students, I. Berdugo and A. Ramon.

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