News

26 marzo 2024

Webinar SIG 'Risposta strutturale di gallerie soggette a fenomeni tempo-dipendenti'

In seguito alla vittoria del VIII concorso nazionale “Premio di Laurea – Società Italiana Gallerie”, Francesco Campana e Simone De Feudis del Politecnico di Torino terranno la 7° puntata di "Pillole di Tunnelling", ciclo di webinar a cura del Gruppo Young Members della Società Italiana Gallerie.
La puntata si intitola: "Risposta strutturale di gallerie soggette a fenomeni tempo-dipendenti" ed analizzerà l'interazione di gallerie con geomateriali dal comportamento dipendente dal tempo (materiali rigonfianti e spingenti) e con grandi frane lente (deformazioni gravitative di versante).
In particolare, Simone e Francesco si soffermeranno sui due rilevanti casi di studio italiani di gallerie dislocate lungo l'autostrada A1 Milano-Napoli, approfondendo la calibrazione del comportamento tempo-dipendente dei materiali coinvolti, la ricostruzione della situazione tenso-deformativa preliminare all’interazione e la simulazione nel tempo dei principali fenomeni geotecnici.
La 7° puntata di "Pillole di Tunneling" si terrà il giorno 26 marzo 2024 alle 18:00 e vi si potrà accedere collegandosi al seguente link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgtqiZdDmpo.

15 marzo 2024

Riunione di progetto GEOREFIT

Il progetto PRIN Georefit - Closing knowledge gaps on energy GEOstructures for REtroFITting of buildings and infrastructures - entra nel vivo con la riunione di progetto di venerdì 15 marzo 2024 presso il Politecnico di Torino.

L'evento si svolgerà in Aula Albenga del DISEG, secondo il programma allegato.

30 febbraio 2024

Size dependent behaviour of intact rocks: recent findings and future direction

On Friday the 30th of February at 16:30 in aula Albenga (DISEG, Entry 1, 2° piano) Dr. Hossein Masoumi, from the Università New South Wales in Australia, will deliver the seminar: “Size-dependent behaviour of intact rocks: Recent findings and future direction”. You are welcome to join.

Abstract: The design of structures on or within rock masses requires an estimate of the strength of the intact rock blocks within the mass. These blocks of rock can be many orders of magnitude greater in size than laboratory samples typically tested. The properties obtained from these samples must therefore be ‘scaled’ to equivalent field values. This presentation talks about current methods for scaling strength and other rock properties and, in lieu of noted limitations, presents a constitutive model for intact rock that incorporates size effect. It also includes recent findings and works published regarding size or scale effects in intact rocks under various loading conditions.

14 febbraio 2024

Fabre conference in Genova - Existing bridges and tunnels: research, innovation and applications

Genova hosted the 2nd Consorzio FABRE conference, completely dedicated to refurbishment, risk management and safety of existing infrastructures: bridges, viaducts and tunnels.

Four presentations took place from the Rockmech team to highlight the research activities on the conference topic. Maintenance works in existing tunnels are an exciting opportunity to introduce energy retrofitting of the linings. Different technologies are put forward in the two presentations on the topic (by Alessandra Insana and Simone De Feudis), one of which is being installed in the tunnel along the A26 motorway.

To improve maintenance works safety, particularly during crown milling and demolition, the ground-based radar interferometry technique can be used effectively as shown in the application in a tunnel in central Italy by Francesco Antolini. Finally, a case study of the interaction between a large landslide and a bridge is discussed to highlight the importance of geotechnical monitoring and early warning systems.

1-2 Febbraio 2024

Physical meeting of the ELGIP Working Group on Climate Change Adaptation

On the 1st and 2nd February 2024 Alessandra Insana and Amirreza Pourfatollah attended the ELGIP Working Group physical meeting on Climate Change Adaptation, hosted by Professor Marco Uzielli at the School of Engineering of the Università degli Studi di Firenze and organized by the ELGIP Working Group on Climate Change Adaptation led by Hjördis Löfroth.

First, a visit the Montisoni site took place, where a gravitational movement had compromised a rural roadway. The stabilization intervention included a good mix of green and grey measures, including micropiles and Nature Based Solutions (NBS), such as crib walls and herbaceous revegetation. A great example of how nature can support engineers in making design sustainable!

25 gennaio 2024

3rd COST Action Global Meeting in Istanbul

The 3rd COST Action FOLIAGE (European network for FOstering Large-scale ImplementAtion of energy GEostructure) Global Meeting was held in Istanbul (Turkey), at Bogazici University, on the 25th and 26th of January.

It was a fruitful 2 intensive days of face-to-face meeting to summarize the achievements and define the strategies for the COST Action’s second year.

The aim of FOLIAGE is to gather all needed information to reduce the existing barriers that hinder the adoption/diffusion of energy geostructures and foster development by creating a multi-disciplinary network between the different stakeholders (like local authorities, communities, designers, academics, contractors).

The PoliTO group was among the largest delegation and actively took part to different Working Groups (WG).

11 gennaio 2024

Visita tecnica alle gallerie della A26 e allo scolmatore di Genova

Si è svolta giovedì 11 gennaio 2024 la visita tecnica per le studentesse e gli studenti dei corsi di "Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering" e "Analysis and design of Geotechnical Structures and Earthworks" del corso di laurea di Ingegneria Civile - orientamento Geotecnica. Nel corso della mattinata i quasi trenta studenti all'ultimo anno del Corso di Laurea Magistrale, hanno potuto visitare uno dei cantieri di ammodernamento in galleria lungo l'autostrada A26 Genova-Gravellona Toce. Nel pomeriggio il gruppo si è poi diretto alla volta del cantiere della galleria scolmatrice del Torrente Bisagno a Genova.

1 dicembre 2023

St. Barbara Event @ Società Italiana Gallerie

The top spots on the podium for the best Master's Theses about tunnelling belong to the Rockmech Team: Francesco Campana's "Numerical modelling of the interaction between a motorway tunnel and a large landslide" and Simone De Feudis's "Analysis of the Monte Mario tunnel excavated in swelling silty clays".

28 novembre 2023

Lecture for Northeastern University, China

Professor Tao XU, from Northeastern University, in China, invited Alessandra Insana to present the studies on energy geostructures carried out in the last years at Politecnico di Torino within our research group.

3-5 ottobre 2023

Energy geostructures at SEG2023: real-world implementations, numerical modelling and artificial intelligence to drive the energy transition

This week (October 3rd-5th, 2023), the Delft University of Technology hosted the 2023 edition of the Symposium on Energy Geotechnics. Here, inspiring keynote lectures, as well as amazing contributions from all the participants, shared a common driving thread: accelerating the energy transition.