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 work:
- 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 / 2004-08 |
| 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 | 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 | 2007-2010 TEŠ |
| 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 |
TEŠ 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 2006-2009 (koordinator projekta) |
| 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)
