> Introduction
Geotechnique Department
The Geotechnique Department is one of LNEC department units and presently it has 50 staff elements. It was officially established in 1961, with the designation of Geotechnique Service.
The Geotechnique Department assignments are mainly focused on building foundations, bridges, reservoirs, silos, towers and other civil engineering works; embankment dams, rockfill and tailings dams and their foundations; slopes and support works, including buried pipes, infra-structural fills and their foundations; solid waste fills.
The activity of the Department is carried out in the fields as follows:
- Studies of characterisation of geomaterials, embankment dams, evaluation of the behaviour of road and railway embankments, supported by mathematical modelling and management of geotechnical hazards;
- Behaviour, pathology, rehabilitation and strengthening of foundations; slopes and soil support works and execution of load tests on piles and anchorages;
- Engineering geology, geophysical survey and environmental geotechnique;
- Behaviour, observation and safety of tunnels, pathology and application of maintenance, rehabilitation and strengthening techniques, as well as soil strengthening and improvement techniques.
The activity is broken down into planned research projects, studies under contract and other scientific and technical activities, and is supported by various laboratories, equipment and numerical models available at the Department.
 Laura Maria Mello Saraiva Caldeira (Head of the Geotechnique Department) |
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, I.P. |
The Organization Chart of the Buildings Department is divided into four Divisions:
Brief history of Department