The Section for Geotechnics
About the Section
Using up-to-date equipment, and with the help of experienced experts, the Section can provide technical and expert support in the field of earthworks and geotechnical monitoring. Our experts participate in national and international research and development projects, including the presentation of papers at conferences in both Slovenia and other countries. In the case of works to the road and railway infrastructure, as well as earth dams, the performance of these works and the installed materials is monitored by means of quality control procedures. Ground investigation works are also performed, as well as inspections of foundations for simpler structures, whereas, in the case of more demanding geotechnical structures, static and dynamic stability analyses are performed.
Research work:
- investigations into the dynamic behaviour of soils in earthquakes or due to traffic
- geomechanical investigations into suction under triaxial loading conditions
- geomechanical investigations into the shear characteristics of cracked rocks and unbound materials
- introduction of laser scanning when studying the roughness of cracks
- the use of geosynthetics in the road and railway infrastructure
- the resilience of the road infrastructure under different climatic conditions
Expert activities:
- geomechanical subsoil investigations for buildings and civil engineering structures including tunnels
- geomechanical tests in the laboratory
- geomechanical field investigations
- external control of earthworks and road pavements
- technical monitoring of structures such as tunnels and roads
- pile integrity tests
- expert analyses of the condition of roads on the basis of visual inspections and road pavement tests
Accreditation
The Laboratory for Soil Mechanics forms part of the Section, and is accredited for certain geomechanical tests of soils and rocks according to the requirements of the standard SIST EN ISO/IEC 17025.
Education and training in the following fields:
- mentorship of Ph.D. candidates
- mentorship of undergraduates and postgraduates for M.Sc. programs
- provision of obligatory training during undergraduate study
- education and training in the fields of road construction, maintenance and renewal
Measuring and testing equipment
Research equipment:
- Dynamic torsion tri-axial hollow cylinder apparatus
- A Bishop-Wesley tri-axial cell equipped for measurements of suction, small strains, and shear wave velocity
- ATOS – an optical scanner for the measurement of the roughness of cracks
- A large-size direct shear test apparatus for testing unbound materials and rock joints
- Cyclic tri-axial apparatus for testing of gravel materials
| More important projects (from the year 2000 onwards): | ||
|---|---|---|
| PROJECT | FINANCING | DURATION |
| The “Building and Civil Engineering Structures” | MŠZT | 1999-2003 |
| The “Building and Civil Engineering Structures” Program | MVZT | 2004-2008 |
| Third party quality control of the materials used to construct the dam and other structures of the Avče Pumped-storage HPP, and monitoring of these structures during and after their construction | Soške elektrarne | 2007-2009 |
| Study of the stability of the railway-line next to the Boštanj Reservoir – dynamic analyses | HSE | 2006-2007 |
| External control of the following tunnels: The Karavanke motorway tunnel – repair works, the Karavanke railway tunnel – repair works, and the Golovec, V Zideh, Trojane, Podmilj, Jasovnik, Kastelec, Dekani, Barnica, Tabor, Šentvid, Leščevje, and Cenkova motorway tunnels, and the Markovec tunnel |
DARS | 1998-2014 |
| The influence of the content and basic characteristics of fine particles in unbound layers on the freeze/thaw resistance of unbound and bound layers in pavement structures | DRSC | 2010-2012 |
| Geological-geomechanical investigations for the Slano blato landslide | Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning | 2002-2004 |
| Main investigation of the geosphere and hydrosphere for the needs of LILW repository construction at Vrbina – Krško | ARAO | 2007-2009 |
| Optimization of the design of ballast and sub-ballast layers, with and without the use of geogrids Geomehanske preiskave za objekt nadstrešnice in toplohrama |
ARRS | 2008-2011 |
| Geomechanical investigations for the new building of NUK – the National and University Library of Slovenia | Ministry of Science and Sport | 2007 |
| Modelling of the Vrhovo | Savske elektrarne | 2010 |
| Geological-geomechanical investigations for BLOCK 6 of the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant | TEŠ | 2007-2010 |
| Third party quality control of the motorway construction program in Slovenia | DARS | 1996-2009 |
| Third party quality control of the construction of Block 6 of the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant Zunanja kontrola izgradnje HE Boštanj, HE Blanca, HE Krško |
TEŠ Savske elekrarne |
2010-2014 |
| DIRECT-MAT, DIsmantling and RECycling Techniques for road MATerials – sharing knowledge and practices | FP7 | 2008-2011 |
| P2R2C2, Pavement Performance Remediation Requirements following Climate Change, ERA-NET project | CEDR | 2008-2010 |
| SMART RAIL – Sustainable Maintenance and Analysis of Rail Transport Infrastructure | FP7 | 2011-2014 |
| SPENS – Sustainable Pavements for European New member States | 6. FP (koordinator projekta) | 2006-2009 |
| The effect of ground settlement of the transition zone between bridge structures and road pavements on the longitudinal road profile | DARS | 2006-2008 |
| Guidelines for the performance of geotechnical monitoring | DARS | 2006-2007 |
| COST 345 – Procedures required for assessing highway structures | EC | 1999-2002 |
| COST 348 – Reinforcement of pavements with steel meshes and geosynthetics | REIPAS EC | 2002-2006 |
| COST 350 – Integrated assessment of environmental impact of traffic and transport infrastructure | EC | 2002-2006 |
| Tests to determine the strength and stiffness characteristics of soils under static and dynamic conditions for design purposes and estimates of the safety of large geotechnical structures | IRGO, Evropski kohezijski skladi | 2012-2015 |
| Non-destructive determination of the shear properties of stone material by means of a 3D optical scanner | ELEA, Evropski kohezijski skladi | 2012-2015 |
| Development of geosynthetic reinforced soil bridge abutments LINEAL, European Cohesion Funds | LINEAL, Evropski kohezijski skladi | 2012-2015 |
| Study of the possibilities of construction of underground structures in Slovenia | ARAO | 2000-2002 |
| Study of the possibilities of the underground excavation of natural stone in Slovenia | ARAO | 1998-2005 |
| Repair of several sections of the Karavanke motorway tunnel | DARS | 1998 – 2014 |
| Geological-geotechnical investigations for the design of motorway tunnels in Slovenia: the Karavanke, Debeli Hrib, Mali Vrh, Golovec, Trojane, Pletovarje, Golo Rebro, Šentvid, and Tabor motorway tunnels | DARS | 1990-2013 |
| Consultation, measurements and cooperation in the geological and geotechnical monitoring of all motorway tunnels in Slovenia | DARS | 1996-2013 |
| Characterization of rocks in connection with the construction of a railway tunnel through the Karst | DARS | 2009-2011 |
| Inspection of the state of motorway tunnels in the Republic of Slovenia | DARS | 2010-2016 |
Work in the field of Slovenian Technical Assessments and Agreements:
Slovenian Technical Assessments and Agreements are issued for various recycled materials
Memberships in international organizations:
- The Slovenian Chamber of Engineers
- FEHRL – Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories
- EURNEX – The EUropean rail Research Network of EXcellence,
- UIC- The International Union of Railways
- The Slovenian Geological Society
- SloGeD – the Slovenian Geotechnical Society
- ISSMGE (International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering)
- IGS (International Geosynthetics Society)
Head of the department:
Assist. Prof. Stanislav Lenart
PhD (Civ. Engin.)
e-mail: geomehanski.laboratorij@zag.si
Phone: 01 280 42 61