ROCKMECH
Rock Mechanics, Geomaterials, Slope Stability and Tunnelling

Climate change impacts on landslides in Alpine areas using a machine learning-based approach and detection sensors

Managing climate change impacts on landslides in Alpine areas using a machine learning-based approach and detection sensors. An update on the Rockmech group's ongoing work was presented at the 4th Macao International Conference on Smart City Technologies - Powering Resilient and Sustainable Cities: Innovations in AIOT. To manage the risk associated to destructive natural events in the Alpine areas, whose occurrence is being modified by global warming, the need arises to update susceptibility maps to include climate change effects. An example of a machine learning-based approach has been shown. Based on the identified risk, EWS, such as the new cutting-edge fibre optic-based detection system Optialp, can be successfully implemented to mitigate risk and save human lives. The work prepared by Alessandra Insana, Valerio De Biagi and Amirreza Pourfatollah was presented by Marco Barla as an invited speaker at the conference.

The three days at the University of Macao were also a great opportunity to meet the researchers and PhD students working with Prof. Wan-Huan Zhou and open new opportunities for Polito-UM collaboration.

La galleria anti-ghiaccio

Oggi, su La Stampa e Il Secolo XIX, si è parlato del sistema di anti-gelo geotermico sviluppato nell'ambito del Dottorato di Ricerca di Simone De Feudis, sotto la supervisione dei Proff. Marco Barla e Alessandra Insana ed in collaborazione con Autostrade per l'Italia.
Sfruttando il calore geotermico dell'ammasso roccioso a tergo della galleria Olimpia (Alessandria), si previene la formazione di ghiaccio su una porzione della della corsia di emergenza all'esterno del fornice. A tal fine, la galleria Olimpia è stata attivata termicamente durante i lavori di rinnovo strutturale del rivestimento, risultando così un unicum al mondo nel suo genere.
Dopo aver dimostrato la bontà e la viabilità del sistema in via preliminare (https://iris.polito.it/handle/11583/2989386), i primi risultati della sperimentazione in vera grandezza sono attesi per il prossimo inverno.

The 2024 Aperitivo on the Rocks

The Rockmech team was out for an aperitivo last night to share, meet and enjoy. A very local habit lively interpreted by the today's global nature of the team which includes researchers from China, Colombia, France, Iran and, of course, Italy from North to South. So, not only martini (or vermouth, as we say here) on the rocks but also aguardiente, ayran, moutai and ...what else.

Symbolically, the 2024 group photo is taken in front of the Frejus tunnel monument in the central Piazza Statuto in Torino. It is a pyramid of large stones from the Frejus Tunnel with a Winged Genie at the top. On the various boulders of the fountain, there are also the statues of some Titans killed by the Winged Genius. Following the positivist spirit of the historical period in which the work was made, the statue would be an allegory of the victory of Reason (the Winged Genius) over brute force (the Titans), necessary to build the tunnel. Reinterpreting, it is a nice message also for the world today, thriving between cruel wars where the Reason seems lost.

The Frejus tunnel has rich connections with the research team and the Politecnico di Torino. Built in 1871 the 13,6 km tunnel to connect Torino and Italy to France, is the first tunnel under the Alps and the first in the world to see the use of mechanised systems for excavation such as the pneumatic automatic drilling machine. The pioneering efforts needed to excavate the Frejus tunnel recall the studies on deep excavations, tunnelling, brittle behaviour, and squeezing conditions which are still current topics of researchers of the team together with the current challenges in ground engineering addressing sustainability, energy and climate change. 

The timeless connections between the past and the future of engineering and of the Rockmech team of the Politecnico di Torino is probably the take-home message from the nice evening.