92874 - DESIGN OF FOUNDATIONS AND RETAINING STRUCTURES

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

Having successfully completed this module, students will be able to: • understand the different soil-structure mechanisms; • use alternative design strategies for shallow and deep foundations; • evaluate earth pressures on retaining walls; • deal with the different modes of failure of rigid and flexible retaining structures; • understand the basic features and assumptions of some well-established methods of analysis; • carry out analyses using limit equilibrium methods and limit analysis; • understand use and implications of numerical approaches such as FDM and FEM; • carry out geotechnical calculations for the design of foundations and of embedded soil retaining structures.

Contenuti

Requirements

Prior required knowledge is considered to be acquired by the accomplishment of the Geotechnical Engineering course.

Fluent spoken and written English is a necessary pre-requisite: all lectures and tutorials, as well as all study material will be in English.

Course contents

The course aims at developing the students' knowledge of geotechnical engineering. It explores the application of soil mechanics principles to the geotechnical design of foundation systems and retaining walls.

Design of shallow foundations. Bearing capacity of shallow foundations under general loading in homogeneous soil. Solutions for the design in layered soils. Settlement analysis using theoretical approaches and in-situ test interpretations.

Design of pile foundations. Pile types. Axial capacity of single pile and piles subjected to horizontal loads. Settlement and deformation of piles, load-transfer curve methods. Capacity and displacements of pile groups. Pile testing.

Design of retaining structures. Types of earth retaining structures and modes of failure. Limiting earth pressure from limit analysis. Stability analysis of rigid and flexible retaining structures. Retaining wall deflections and associated soil movements. Mechanical stabilised earth walls.

Geotechnical design using international codes. The geotechnical design of the structures presented in the course are developed in accordance to the typical International Standards.

Testi/Bibliografia

Lecture notes

M. Budhu. Soil mechanics and foundations, 3^rd edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2010.

K. Fleming, A. Weltman, M. Randolph, K. Elson. Piling Engineering, 3^rd edition. Taylor & Francis, 2009.

A.J. Bond, B. Schuppener, G. Scarpelli, T.L.L. Orr. Eurocode 7: Geotechnical design worked examples. JRC Scientific and policy reports, 2013.

Metodi didattici

The lectures are presented with the aid of slides and integrated with demonstrations at the board. Practical examples are illustrated during the course, also with applications of numerical methods.

Lectures and/or seminars by invited foreign professors can be included.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Each student is in charge of preparing a technical report on the geotechnical design of a structure system developed during the course. The report is discussed in the final oral exam, together with an assessment of the competences acquired during the course.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Guido Gottardi

Consulta il sito web di Carmine Gerardo Gragnano