The subsurface which includes soils and rocks is the ultimate load bearing stratum. Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering that deals with the engineering behavior of subsurface or earth materials. It includes (a) soil mechanics, which is essential to identify, characterize and study the mechanics of soil/rock and (b) applied soil mechanics, which transfers the behavioral knowledge to practice. This includes investigating existing subsurface conditions and materials; determining their engineering behavior that are relevant to the project considered, assessing risks posed by site conditions; designing earthworks and foundations.

A typical geotechnical engineering laboratory helps in identifying the engineering behavior of geomaterials (soils and rocks) and byproducts such as fly ash etc. There are different physical, chemical and geotechnical properties determined in the laboratory that is required for identifying the geomaterials. This information is used by geotechnical engineer for designing the type of foundations, earthworks such as dams, embankments, tunnels, reservoirs, pavement subgrades, and specialized applications like waste containment systems. The preciseness of such design is entirely based on the experimental information obtained from a geotechnical laboratory. Therefore, geotechnical engineering laboratory has a great role to play in rendering the subsurface a safe and stable load bearing medium.

 

 

Instruments for Soil Characterization

Physical Characterization
	Set of IS Sieves for Sieve Analysis
	Hydrometer
	Atterberg Limit Apparatus
	Apparatus to estimate Specific Surface Area
	Apparatus to carry out EGME investigation
	Dessicating Apparatus
Compaction Characterization
	Standard Proctor Mould
	Proctor Needle (Manual)
	Dial Gauge Penetrometer
Permeability Characterization
	Guelph Permeameter (Field Setup)
	Constant Head Permeameter
	Falling Head Permeameter
Compressibility and Swelling Characterization
	Consolidometer/Oedometer
	Swelling Test Apparatus
Strength Characterization
	Ordinary Triaxial Apparatus
	Direct Shear Test Apparatus Apparatus for testing conventional sample sizes Apparatus for testing big sample sizes
	Unconfined Compression Strength (UCS) Test Apparatus
	Vane Shear Test Apparatus(Laboratory Setup)
	Compression Testing Apparatus for Testing Strength of Rocks
	Brazilian Test Apparatus for Testing Tensile Strength of Rocks
	Point Load Test Apparatus for Index Classification of Rocks
	California Bearing Ratio(CBR) Test Apparatus
Advanced Instrumentations
	Block Vibration Test Setup
	Soil Chemistry Analyzer
	Stress-path Controlled Triaxial Test Setup
	Bearing Capacity Loading Frame
	Ion Chromatograph
	Geotextile Testing Apparatus
	Apparatus for Unsaturated Soil Characterization
	Volumetric Water Content Sensors
	Apparatus for Analyzing Thermal Property of Soils
	Automated Data Acquisition Systems

 

Research

Major research area includes:

1. Soil characterization
2. Shallow and Deep foundations
3. Reinforced soil structures
4. Landslides
5. Constitutive modeling
6. Soil dynamics
7. Analysis and design of machine foundations
8. Engineering seismology
9. Seismic soil-structure interaction
10. Seismic stability of slopes and retaining walls
11. Design of offshore foundations
12. Field instrumentation and testing
13. Ground improvement techniques
14. Geo-environmental engineering

People

Faculty

A. Muralikrishna (Assistant Professor)

   Soil investigation
   Reinforced soil structures
   Geosynthetics and ground improvement
   Earthquake geotechnical engineering

 

Anil Kumar Mishra (Assistant Professor)

   Chemical compatibility studies of soil-bentonite mixtures
   Waste (municipal, industrious and hazardous) management and disposal
   Unsaturated soil mechanics

 

Arindam Dey (Assistant Professor)

   Geosynthetic reinforced foundation beds
   Geotechnical lumped parameter and contunuum mechanics modeling
   Parameter estimation of geotechnical models
   Optimization, GA, ANN and Soft computing in geotechnical engineering
   Ground modification and improvement practices
   Soil-structure-foundation interaction
   Reinforced soil structures
   Landslides and slope stability analysis
   Seismic and ambient health monitoring of geotechnical structures
   Reliability and uncertainty analysis in geotechnical engineering
   Forensic investigation in geotechnical engineering
   Subsurface profiling and soil investigation
   Soil dynamics and earthquake engineering

 

Baleshwar Singh (Associate Professor)

   Marine geotechnology
   Modeling of onshore and offshore foundations
   Soil stabilization and ground modification
   Pavement subgrade and site characterization

 

Sreedeep S. (Associate Professor)

   Behvioral studies on unsaturated porous media
   Characterization of geomaterials (soils and rocks)
   Thermal characteristics of geomaterials
   Contaminant transport and retention studies
   Waste contaminant studies
   Landslides

 

Sujit K. Dash (Associate Professor)

   Reinforced soil structures
   Shallow and deep foundations
   Ground improvement techniques

 

Staff

Kumar Pallav (Scientific Officer)

Hariram Upadhyay (Senior Technician)

Information

• Indian Standard Codes
• Central Library
• Geotechnical Companies
• Central Instrumentation Facilities