Modeling and Simulation in Geotechnical Engineering for Interactive Design and Analysis with Finite Element Methods

Geotechnical Engineering is a branch of Civil Engineering which deals with man made materials (concrete, steel, etc) on top of or as inclusions into soils or rocks which are naturally made. The process of interaction between man made materials and the soils and rocks is through methods of construction which is time consuming. A construction process could take a week to several years, through which the materials could change their properties. Specially soils and rock degrade much quicker due to weathering process, stress release (like in excavations), loading process, or drillings and blasting operations. Another aspect to consider is earthquakes which generate a ware of energy propagating from rock beneath the earth toward ground surface which could result in severe damages to the man made infrastructures. These make modeling and simulation of interaction between those materials a complex process.