Published on: 10/07/2023

CNRIG 2023 just ended - tunnels, rockfalls and snow among the topics presented

The VIII edition of the CNRIG (Convegno Nazionale dei Ricercatori di Ingegneria Geotecnica) was held in Palermo between the 5th and the 7th of July.
The conference entitled “Geotechnical Engineering in the Digital and Technological Era” was organised through the unity of purpose of "Università degli Studi di Palermo", "Università degli studi di Enna Kore", "Università degli studi di Catania" and "Università degli studi di Messina".
It has been an intensive and fruitful three-day conference through which attendees shared their research developments in the form of oral presentations or posters.
Among all, the contributions from the Politecnico di Torino and the Rockmech team were the following.

- "A Simple Parametric Numerical Model to Assist the Design of Repair Works and Maintenance of Tunnels" by Simone De Feudis, Alessandra Insana and Marco Barla.

This contribution, presented during the poster session, analysed the support that numerical modelling, even kept at a very basic level, could provide to designers to define the proper conditions of applications of typological prompt interventions aimed at temporarily counteracting tunnel ageing.

- "A Semi-quantitative Approach to Assess the Propensity of Rockfall Source Areas to Instability Based on the Susceptibility Index to Failure (SIF): the Case Study of Capo Calavà (Italy)" by Maria Lia Napoli, Monica Barbero, Francesco Castelli, Marta Castelli and Valentina Lentini.

This contribution, which was shared through an oral presentation during the "Processes involved in deformations and instabilities" session, presented a practical semi-quantitative methodology to assess the probability of failure of unstable rock blocks for different environments and scales of interest.

- "Some Improvements of a Visco-Plastic Constitutive Model for Snow" by Gianmarco Vallero, Monica Barbero, Fabrizio Barpi, Mauro Borri-Brunetto and Valerio De Biagi.

This contribution, shared in the form of a poster, presented some improvements to an existing constitutive model for snow that was developed in the framework of the nonlinear theory of elasto-visco-plasticity.

Congratulations to Maria Lia Napoli, Monica Barbero and Marta Castelli, whose paper was selected as one of the five contributions to be submitted for an extended version to the RIG (Rivista Italiana di Geotecnica).