Department of Geotechnical Engineering

The Department of Geotechnical Engineering was established in 1982, bringing together the former chairs of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering under Framework Law 1268/82 on Higher Education. It belongs to the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens.

Because the subject is inherently interdisciplinary, the Department’s teaching and research relate directly to the other Departments of the School of Civil Engineering. The Department comprises six members of academic staff, three members of laboratory teaching staff and five members of administrative and technical staff, and it runs two laboratories: the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics and the Laboratory of Foundation Engineering.

• Site investigation and laboratory determination of the mechanical behaviour of soils under static and dynamic loading, and in-situ measurement of soil parameters.
• Water flow through soils.
• Engineering behaviour of rocks, rock masses and geological formations.
• Constitutive modelling of soil and rock materials.
• Slope and retaining-structure stability analysis.
• Analysis, design and construction of foundations for civil engineering works.
• Dynamic behaviour of soils, foundations and geotechnical structures.
• Soil–structure interaction under static and dynamic conditions.
• Seismic behaviour of underground structures, quay walls and bridge piers.
• Analytical and numerical methods in soil mechanics, foundation engineering and soil dynamics.
• Analysis of geotechnical failures, with an emphasis on seismic failures.
• Protection and restoration of the geo-environment.
• Engineering geology and hydrogeology of karstic formations.
• Geotechnical characterisation and behaviour of unstable soil and rock masses in tunnels and dams.