Week 2: Establishing the basis

The last week in Tunnelling and TBM Master course (and also the next ones) are dedicated to cover the paramount concepts in terms of the behaviour of the ground and the investigation of its properties.

Professor Claudio Oggeri held a very interesting lecture on Geological and Geotechnical Surveys with some case histories from his professional experience that were a key factor to understand the application field of each technique.

Professor Claudio Oggeri lecture on Geological and Geotechnical surveys.

Professor Corrado Fidelibus provided an outstanding three day intensive training on Soil Mechanics. From Terzaghi's principles to his tunnelling practical experience he covered thoroughly the most important concepts of Geotechnics. Before designing any underground structure it is necessary to go back to the very basic concepts of the hydromechanical behaviour of the ground.

Students and Professor Corrado Fidelibus after Outline of Soil Mechanics lecture.

To conclude the week Professor Luigi Sambuelli from Politecnico di Torino explained the principles of the most usefull Geophysical Survey Techniques. These are a source of cheap and quick information for tunnelling projects but they require great experience for the interepretation of the results. An interesting point was the comparison offered by Luigi between the cost of a TBM full day-stop (aprox. € 150.000) and the approximate cost of Geophysical Investigation per meter (€50/meter), a concept that may remark the power of this technique.