Limit equilibrium methods: Basic principles. Typical applications – ultimate limit load of a shallow foundation, ultimate depth of a vertical cut, ultimate inclination of a slope.
Slope stability: Infinite slopes. Plane failure in slopes of finite length. Mechanism of circular failure – methods of slices: Fellenius, Bishop simplified. Mechanism of slip surfaces of arbitrary shape: Janbu method. Slope stability according to Eurocode 7 (EC7). Slope stability under seismic loading. Applications using specialized limit equilibrium software.
Numerical methods: Basic principles of numerical simulations. Simple soil constitutive models. The shear strength reduction technique. Applications using a specialized finite elements software.
Probabilistic methods of analysis: Reliability index, probability of failure, reliability of geotechnical structures. Reliability analysis methods: first order second moment (FOSM) method, point estimate method (PEM), Monte Carlo simulations.
Topics in environmental geotechnics: Geotechnical design of landfills. Geotechnical characterization of extractive industry’s wastes (waste dumps, tailing dams).
