Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Guwahati

Geotechnical engineering specialization was started under civil engineering department in 2005. Since its inception, all the faculties, students, research scholars and associated lab staff have actively contributed to its development. The laboratory is equipped to perform all the necessary basic characterization of soils, rocks and geosynthetics along with several advanced testing facilities. The vision of this division is to utilize the state-of-the art knowledge for solving problems related to subsurface.

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.

Various Laboratory equipment for Soils

Physical characterization

Compressibility and Swelling tests

Compaction

Flow parameters characterization

Strength characterization

Geosynthetics testing

Rock Testing

Advanced Instrumentations
	Cyclic Triaxial Testing system
	Multi Channnel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) Testing Cross-hole testing Down-hole testing
	Block Vibration Test Setup
	Soil Chemistry Analyzer
	Stress-path Controlled Triaxial Test Setup
	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
Model Testing Facilities
Foundation model testing for Bearing Capacity (through loading frame)	Retaining wall model testing
Physical Characterization

	Apparatus to estimate Specific Surface Area
	Apparatus to carry out EGME investigation
	Dessicating Apparatus

Permeability Characterization
	Guelph Permeameter (Field Setup)

Compressibility and Swelling Characterization


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
Rock Testing
	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
Software Plaxis 2D Plaxis 3D Geostudio 2007 FLAC 2D FLAC 3D	SurfSeis Soil Vision Professional V4X COMSOL SHAKE 2000 AnsYs Abaqus

Research

Major research area includes:

Soil characterization
Shallow and Deep foundations
Reinforced soil structures
Seismic stability of slopes and retaining walls
Design of offshore foundations
Field instrumentation and testing
Ground improvement techniques
Geo-environmental engineering
Soil dynamics
Seismic hazards of Urban Centers
Analysis and design of machine foundations
Engineering seismology
Seismic soil-structure interaction
Landslides

People

Faculty

	Abhishek Kumar (Associate Professor) Research Interests: Seismic hazards of Urban Centers Ground Motion Simulations Liquefaction Seismic hazard for Nuclear Power Plants Site response studies for deep basins Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) and Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) Subsoil Investigations and Geotechnical Engineering Soil Dynamics Dynamic testing’s on Piles Ground Improvement, Reinforced earth structures Deep Excavations
	Arindam Dey (Associate Professor) Research Interests: Geosynthetic engineering applications in pavement and railway geotechnics Optimization and soft computing in geotechnical engineering, Seismic health monitoring using active and ambient vibrations, Numerical modeling in geotechnical engineering, Stability of ash dykes and embankments Landslides and slope stability analysis Reliability and uncertainty analysis in geotechnical engineering Subsurface profiling and soil investigation Soil dynamics and earthquake engineering
	Anil Kumar Mishra (Associate Professor) Research Interests: Effect of contaminants on bentonite Swelling-Shrinkage behaviour of clay On the use of fly ash as a liner material at waste disposal site Unsaturated soil mechanics
	Baleshwar Singh (Professor) Research Interests: Marine geotechnology Soil stabilization Modelling of deep foundations Pavement subgrade, characterization and modification
	Ravi K. (Assistant Professor) Research Interests: Geo-environmental engineering Geo-energy systems Engineering behaviour of unsaturated soils Research on hazardous waste management
	Sreedeep S. (Professor) Research Interests: Behavioral Studies on Unsaturated Porous Media Characterization of Geomaterials (soils and rocks) Thermal Characteristics of Geomaterials Contaminant Transport and Retention Studies Waste Containment Studies Utilization of Wastes
	T. V. Bharat (Associate Professor) Research Interests: Engineering behavior of clays, Design of landfill liners, Mechanics of unsaturated soils Settlement behavior of slurried mineral wastes Inverse analysis of geotechnical & geoenvironmental engineering problems