Geotechnical Engineering Research

“Virtually every structure is supported on soils or rock; those that are not, either fly, float or fall over” (Handy 1995). Therefore, understanding of analysis, design, and research related to the soils, rocks, and similar material cannot be over emphasized.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at SIUC has a state-of-the-art geotechnical engineering research laboratory. Most of the instruments are less than five years old. The geotechnical engineering research laboratory is equipped to perform shear strength tests using triaxial compression and direct shear equipment, hydraulic conductivity tests using flexible wall permeability equipment, consolidations tests, swelling tests, California bearing ratio tests, and bearing capacity tests on model foundations. Most of the equipments are attached to a digital data acquisition system for obtaining precise measurements. Currently, the geotechnical engineering experimental research projects include determination of strength stiffness and durability of soils and similar materials amended with various admixtures, tensile and flexural strength characteristics of soils and similar materials, and effects of geogrids on the bearing characteristics of various soils.