About us

This Department, forms a part of the Civil Engineering degree programme, and guarantees the teaching of the complete set of accredited courses for the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees in Geotechnics.

Geotechnics provides students with the study of design and technology of undergrounds constructions, including reinforced constructions, linear and special underground structures of various purposes, such as road and rail tunnels, metro, underground caves, subterranean collectors, underground spaces including garages, work shops, sport and culture venues, etc. The course also includes building foundations, rehabilitation of underground structures, environmental geotechnics, reinforcing of rock and soil, geotechnical monitoring, mathematical modelling of geotechnical tasks, and in mining structures, such as connecting crosscuts, shafts, pits, reservoir, passageways etc.

Practical teaching takes place in the Geotechnics Laboratory, Geotechnical monitoring and Technical Seismic Laboratories, and a Mathematical Modelling Laboratory.

Along with educational activities, the Department is active in scientific research and closely collaborates with a number of domestic and foreign institutions, as well as on practical geotechnical activities. The Department's research is primarily in the field of: disintegration of rocks, blasting operations, the construction and rehabilitation of underground structures in difficult conditions, reinforcement of underground constructions, calculation of static reinforcement of underground construction and the stability of rock, geotechnical structures, behaviour and changes in rock caused by human activity or natural causes, inverse analysis, geotechnical monitoring, adjustment of rock and soil properties, technical seismicity.

The Department offers the following expert services:

• modelling of engineering behaviour and changes in rock caused by human activity or natural causes;
• consultancy in the areas of disintegration of rock and blasting operations, construction rehabilitation and reinforcement of underground structures;
• assessment of stability of slopes, rock faces, cuttings and embankments;
• evaluation of geotechnical characteristics of rock using inverse analysis;
• calculations of geotechnical structures, such as trench sheeting for pits, underground walls, load bearing walls and foundation structures;
• calculations, and assessments of reinforcing structures of underground constructions;
• laboratory tests assessing the properties of soils.

The Department organises an annual international seminar on Reinforcement, sealing and anchoring of rock mass and building structures, and every two years a international conference on Geotechnics.