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Geotechnical Engineering for the Sustainability of Buildings
01UVKNB
A.A. 2025/26
Course Language
Inglese
Degree programme(s)
Master of science-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Edile - Torino
Course structure
| Teaching | Hours |
|---|
Lecturers
| Teacher | Status | SSD | h.Les | h.Ex | h.Lab | h.Tut | Years teaching |
|---|
Co-lectures
Context
| SSD | CFU | Activities | Area context | ICAR/07 | 6 | B - Caratterizzanti | Edilizia e ambiente |
|---|
2024/25
The course Geotechnical Engineering for the Sustainability of Buildings is part of the educational path of Building Engineering, with the aim to give the tools needed for designing sustainable, safe and resilient buildings. The interaction between the ground and the structure is indeed one of the basic problems to be solved in design.
The course aims to provide the students with the tools for facing and solving the problems related to the safety and the energy and environment sustainability of buildings, from a geotechnical point of view, in the light of the current regulations.
The knowledge on the mechanical behaviour of soils from previous courses and some skills on the mechanical behaviour of rock masses provided by this course, are extended to the characterization of soil and rock masses for the determination of geotechnical design parameters. The geotechnical problems related to the construction phases of a building are then faced, with particular attention to the stability of excavations and the building foundations. Some stabilization/retaining systems with low environmental impact for the mitigation of natural slopes and excavations instability risk are described and the approaches for their design are presented. Bioengineering solutions for the stabilization/support of slopes are described.
The common solutions for building foundation are described and some basics on the design procedure are provided. Furthermore, geothermal systems for the energy sustainability of buildings are described, with particular regard to deep foundations (energy piles).
Some applications of the methods described during the lectures are planned by using available softwares, providing an opportunity to develop the skills needed for conscious use of such tools.
The course Geotechnical Engineering for the Sustainability of Buildings is part of the educational path of Building Engineering, with the aim to give the tools needed for designing sustainable, safe and resilient buildings. The interaction between the ground and the structure is indeed one of the basic problems to be solved in design.
The course aims to provide the students with the tools for facing and solving the problems related to the safety and the energy and environment sustainability of buildings, from a geotechnical point of view, in the light of the current regulations.
The knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of soils from previous courses and some skills on the mechanical behaviour of rock masses provided by this course are extended to the characterization of soil and rock masses for the determination of geotechnical design parameters. The geotechnical problems related to the construction phases of a building are then faced, with particular attention to the stability of excavations and the building foundations. Some stabilization/retaining systems with low environmental impact for the mitigation of natural slopes and excavations instability risk are described and the approaches for their design are presented. Bioengineering solutions for the stabilization/support of slopes are described.
The common solutions for building foundation are described and some basics on the design procedure are provided. Furthermore, the use of geothermal systems for the energy sustainability of buildings is described, with regards to energy geostructures, an innovative technology in the construction sector, that provides sustainable energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction by taking advantage of the thermal capacity of the soil.
Some applications of the methods described during the lectures are planned by using available software, providing an opportunity to develop the skills needed for conscious use of such tools.
At the end of the course, the students who have attended the teaching successfully will be able to:
Interpret the results of the experimental tests for the estimation of both the characteristic geotechnical parameters
Design a soil or rock excavation and verify the stability of a natural slope
Design stabilization and retaining systems for excavations or natural slopes
Design a building foundation by verifying the geotechnical stability according to current regulations
Facing the geotechnical problems related to buildings, identifying the engineering solution, by means of analytic or numerical tools
Producing a complete and rigorous technical report.
Geothermal design.
At the end of the course, the students who have attended the teaching successfully will be able to:
Interpret the results of the experimental tests for the estimation of both the characteristic geotechnical parameters
Design a soil or rock excavation and verify the stability of a natural slope
Design stabilization and retaining systems for excavations or natural slopes
Design a building foundation by verifying the geotechnical stability according to current regulations
Facing the geotechnical problems related to buildings, identifying the engineering solution, by means of analytic or numerical tools
Producing a complete and rigorous technical report.
Facing a geothermal design.
For a fruitful use of the teaching the following knowledge are required:
- Basic elements of soil mechanics
- Basic elements of structural mechanics
- Basic elements of structural engineering
For a fruitful use of the teaching the following knowledge is required:
- Basic elements of soil mechanics
- Basic elements of structural mechanics
- Basic elements of structural engineering
The course consists of lectures (42 hours) and tutorials (18 hours).
Lectures:
1. Geotechnical characterization of soil and rock and definition of design parameters
2. Safety and sustainability problems of excavations
3. Safety and sustainability of buildings in hilly and mountain environment, with reference to natural slope stability issues
4. Retaining works for excavations and natural slopes with low environmental impact and bioengineering works
5. Shallow and deep foundations:
Settlements calculation
Analysis of the soil-structure interaction, design of shallow foundations
Types, construction techniques and geotechnical problems of deep foundations
Geothermal energy: geothermal exploitation of foundation piles.
Tutorials:
The tutorials consist of some exercises to be solved in the classroom or in the LAIB also by means of softwares and a project to be carried on autonomously (in groups) and delivered in the form of a technical report.
They will deal with:
1. Soil and rock characterization (exercises)
2. Stability analysis of excavations and natural slopes (exercises)
3. Design of a shallow foundation (exercises)
4. Design of a reinforced soil retaining structure for the stabilization of excavation faces or natural slopes (project)
The course consists of lectures and tutorials.
Lectures:
1. Geotechnical characterization of soil and rock and definition of design parameters
2. Safety and sustainability problems of excavations
3. Safety and sustainability of buildings in hilly and mountain environment, with reference to natural slope stability issues
4. Retaining works for excavations and natural slopes with low environmental impact and bioengineering works
5. Shallow and deep foundations:
Hints to settlements calculation
Analysis of the soil-structure interaction, design of shallow foundations
Types, construction techniques and geotechnical problems of deep foundations
6. Energy geostructures theory and applications to improve buildings’ energy self-sustainability and retrofitting.
Tutorials:
The tutorials consist of some exercises to be solved in the classroom or LAIB also by means of software and a project to be carried on autonomously (in groups) and delivered in the form of a technical report.
They will deal with:
1. Soil and rock characterization (exercises)
2. Stability analysis of excavations and natural slopes (exercises)
3. Design of a shallow foundation (exercises)
4. Design of a reinforced soil retaining structure for the stabilization of excavation faces or natural slopes (project)
The course consists of lectures in classroom (real or virtual), in which the theoretical topics are dealt, and tutorials in classroom or Computer Lab (real or virtual) devoted to the applications.
Homeworks focused on the preparation of one project are planned. The drafting of a complete technical report is the final product due by the students.
The course consists of lectures in classroom (real or virtual), in which the theoretical topics are dealt, and tutorials in classroom or Computer Lab (real or virtual) devoted to the applications.
Homeworks focused on the preparation of one project are planned. The drafting of a complete technical report is the final product due by the students.
The slides shown during the lectures will be available on the portal.
The following textbooks are suggested for further readings:
- R. Lancellotta (2009). "Geotechnical Engineering" 2nd edition. Taylor & Francis, Abingdon (UK) and New York (USA)
- R. Lancellotta, J. Calavera (1999). "Fondazioni". McGraw-Hill, Italia
- R. Lancellotta, A. Ciancimino, D. Costanzo, S. Foti (2020). "Progettazione geotecnica secondo l’Eurocodice 7 (UNI EN 1997) e le Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni (NTC 2008)" – Second Edition. Hoepli, Milano (ITALY)
The following textbooks are suggested for further readings:
- R. Lancellotta (2009). "Geotechnical Engineering" 2nd edition. Taylor & Francis, Abingdon (UK) and New York (USA)
- R. Lancellotta, J. Calavera (1999). "Fondazioni". McGraw-Hill, Italia
- R. Lancellotta, A. Ciancimino, D. Costanzo, S. Foti (2020). "Progettazione geotecnica secondo l’Eurocodice 7 e le Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni 2018)" – Hoepli, Milano (ITALY)
- M. Barla (2020). “Elementi di meccanica e ingegneria delle rocce”. Celid, Torino.
Slides;
Lecture slides;
Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;
Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Group project;
...
Compulsory oral exam; group project.
The oral exam relates to the assessment of the knowledge and comprehension of the subjects according to the points of section “Expected learning outcomes”. The duration is about 30 minutes and the evaluation is based on: clear presentation, suitability of terminology, ability to use the concept learned, ability to suggest solutions to proposed questions, ability to discuss the approaches and justify the choices made in the own project. The maximum grade is 33/30.
The group project has to be delivered by the deadline specified during the course: punctuality when delivering is mandatory. The evaluation is based on: fairness of results, structure and clarity of the report, which has to be drafted according to a rigorous technical paper. The maximum grade is 30/30.
The final grade is calculated as: 0.6 (oral exam) + 0.4 (project).
Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.
Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Group project;
Compulsory oral exam; group project.
The oral exam relates to the assessment of the knowledge and comprehension of the subjects according to the points of section “Expected learning outcomes”. The duration is about 30 minutes and the evaluation is based on: clear presentation, suitability of terminology, ability to use the concept learned, ability to suggest solutions to proposed questions, ability to discuss the approaches and justify the choices made in the own project. The maximum grade is 33/30.
The group project has to be delivered by the deadline specified during the course: punctuality when delivering is mandatory. The evaluation is based on: fairness of results, structure and clarity of the report, which has to be drafted according to a rigorous technical paper. The maximum grade is 30/30.
The final grade is calculated as: 0.6 (oral exam) + 0.4 (project).
In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.