Division B – Hydraulics & Geotechnical Engineering

Division of Hydraulic and Geotechnical Engineering

The Division of Hydraulic and Geotechnical Engineering (DHGE or Division B) has as its primary aim to advance education and research within the Civil Engineering Department of UNIWA in the scientific fields of Hydraulic Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering. To this end, it operates the Hydraulics Laboratory, the Hydraulic Structures and Port Engineering Laboratory, and the Soil Mechanics Laboratory.

DHGE supports core (compulsory for all civil engineering students) courses, as well as courses leading to two distinct specializations: a) Hydraulic Structures and b) Geotechnical Structures. The courses provide students with the required knowledge and competences in theoretical and applied topics of hydraulic and geotechnical engineering, for a professional career in these fields of civil engineering, or for pursuing graduate studies.

DHGE offers the MSc Program “Integrated Design of Hydraulic and Geotechnical Structures”, which promotes interdisciplinary thinking and helps graduate students develop expertise in advanced methods and techniques for the integrated analysis, design and construction of hydraulic and geotechnical structures.

More specifically, DHGE supports the following educational and research topics:

Hydraulic Engineering: theoretical and experimental hydraulics, environmental hydraulics, computational hydraulics, groundwater hydraulics, applied hydrology, water supply and management works (dams, reservoirs, hydrodynamic installations, aqueducts, urban water supply networks, water reclamation systems), flood mitigation, processing of potable or black/grey water and liquid waste – discharging of waste water into water bodies, soil and groundwater remediation, management of saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers – (artificial) replenishment of aquifers.

Port and Coastal Engineering: water wave mechanics, seaport design, port structures, shore protection works.

Geotechnical Engineering: analysis and simulation of soil mechanical behavior, application of analytical and numerical methods for the solution of geotechnical engineering application, experimental soil and rock mechanics, analysis and design of geotechnical structures, foundations, retaining structures, slope stability, probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering, engineering geology, rock mechanics, mechanical analysis of rock slopes, landslides risk, tunnels, earthquake resistant geotechnical structures, coupled flow – strain applications of fully and partially saturated soils.