224-0255/02 – Environmental and energy geotechnics (EEG)
| Gurantor department | Department of Geotechnics and Underground Engineering | Credits | 5 |
| Subject guarantor | prof. Ing. Naďa Rapantová, CSc. | Subject version guarantor | prof. Ing. Naďa Rapantová, CSc. |
| Study level | undergraduate or graduate | Requirement | Compulsory |
| Year | 1 | Semester | summer |
| | Study language | English |
| Year of introduction | 2018/2019 | Year of cancellation | |
| Intended for the faculties | FAST | Intended for study types | Follow-up Master |
Subject aims expressed by acquired skills and competences
• To introduce students to the principles of environmental geotechnics and its application in practice.
• Explain the energy aspects of geo-structures and their application in sustainable construction.
• To teach students to work with modern methods and tools for the analysis and design of geotechnical solutions in the context of green buildings.
• To provide good practice examples for integrating environmental and energy considerations into civil engineering.
Teaching methods
Lectures
Tutorials
Project work
Summary
The subject Environmental and Energy Geotechnics is interconnected on an interdisciplinary basis with environmental natural science issues and the use of geothermal energy through ground heat exchangers, including the use of foundation structures. The course provides students with a deeper understanding of innovative geotechnical practices with an emphasis on sustainability, renewable energy use and environmental protection. The course includes a synthesis of geotechnical knowledge in relation to its application to environmental protection and design, including the specification of the impacts of construction implementation and procedures for predicting and limiting human impact on the environment. By completing the course, the student will gain extended information in the areas of natural science disciplines (pollution and heat transfer in rock environment) including basic tools used in environmental engineering.
In the area of energy geotechnics, students will be introduced to the engineering design and sizing of systems for the exploitation of low-potential geothermal energy through borehole heat exchangers and foundation and earth structures.
Compulsory literature:
Sarsby, Robert W.. (2013). Environmental Geotechnics (2nd Edition). ICE Publishing. Online version available at: https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpEGE00003/environmental-geotechnics/environmental-geotechnics.
Laloui, L., & Di Donna, A. (Eds.). (2019). Energy Geotechnics: SEG-2018. Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering.
Laloui, L., & Di Donna, A. (Eds.). (2021). Advances in Energy Geotechnics. Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering.
Kolo, I., Brown, C. S., Nibbs, W., Cai, W., Falcone, G., Nagel, T., & Chen, C. (2024). A comprehensive review of deep borehole heat exchangers (DBHEs): subsurface modelling studies and applications. Geothermal Energy, 12.
Chen, H., & Tomac, I. (2023). Technical review on coaxial deep borehole heat exchanger. Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources.
CIBSE. (2013). Ground Source Heat Pumps - CIBSE TM51: 2013. CIBSE. Online version available at: https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpGSHPCIBE/ground-source-heat-pumps/ground-source-heat-pumps
Recommended literature:
Laloui, L., & Di Donna, A. (2013). Energy Geostructures: Innovation in Underground Engineering. Wiley-ISTE.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118761779
Brandl, H. (2006). Energy foundations and other thermo-active ground structures. Géotechnique, 56(2), 81–122.
Selected publications from journal Environmental Geotechnics E-ISSN 2051-803X
Brandon, Thomas L. Valentine, Richard J.. (2017). Geotechnical Frontiers 2017 - Geotechnical Materials, Modeling, and Testing - Selected Papers from Sessions of Geotechnical Frontiers 2017, March 12-15, 2017, Orlando, Florida. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Online version available at: https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpGFGMMTS6/geotechnical-frontiers/geotechnical-frontiers
Toth, Aniko Bobok, Elemer. (2017). Flow and Heat Transfer in Geothermal Systems - Basic Equations for Describing and Modeling Geothermal Phenomena and Technologies. Elsevier. Online version available at:https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpFHTGSBE7/flow-heat-transfer-in/flow-heat-transfer-in
Additional study materials
Way of continuous check of knowledge in the course of semester
E-learning
Other requirements
Project on the selected topic of environmental and energy geotechnics.
Calculation of given problem tasks.
Prerequisities
Subject has no prerequisities.
Co-requisities
Subject has no co-requisities.
Subject syllabus:
Lectures:
1. Geotechnics and the environment. Impact of building structures on individual components of the environment (geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, etc.).
2. Geotechnical risk assessment, management and sustainability. Risks and their evaluation - types of risks, risk management. Baseline ("Baseline") study. Environmental Impact Assessment EIA, Risk Analysis, Feasibility Study.
3. Geohazards. Types of geohazards - endogenous and exogenous (eg earthquakes, slope instability - landslides, floods, droughts). Survey, critical assessment. Preventive and reparative measures.
4. Soil and groundwater contamination. Sources of contamination, types of contaminants. Mobility of contaminants, transport mechanisms.
5. Investigation of contaminated sites, soil and water sampling. Remediation - Selection of the remedial method (In-situ methods, Ex situ, Containment reactive barriers, etc.).
6.-7.Construction of waste dumps (including mining). Types of waste, characterization and properties. Design of engineering barriers - covers, liners, underground impermeable walls. Application of geosynthetics in geo-environmental engineering - geotextiles, geocomposites, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners. Structural elements - stability of geotechnical structures of landfills (modification of slopes). Environmental impacts of landfills and their elimination (degassing, closure - remediation).
8.-9. Environmental impacts of mining activities – abandonment of mines. Mining waste - tailings, tailings dams, leaching fields - construction and remediation. Geotechnical problems of mining activities - stability of quarry walls - dewatering ("depressurization"). Environmental impacts of abandoned mines - flooding, shafts stability, gas emanations.
10. Monitoring of legacies from mining, potential use of old mine workings and mine water.
11. Energy geotechnics. Low-potential (shallow) and high-potential (deep) geothermal systems. Exploitation of geothermal energy - open-loop and closed-loop systems.
12. Thermal energy storage in the rock environment (BTES, ATES).
13-14. Possibilities of exploitation and storage of heat through geotechnical constructions, foundation structures (eg energy piles), underground structures (eg heat exchangers in tunnel lining), earth structures (horizontal heat exchangers).
Practical training:
1.- 4.Development project of municipal waste landfills.
5.-7. Calculations of contaminant transport in groundwater - analytical calculations, including using freeware BIONAPL, BIOPLUME, etc.
8-12. Designing a system of drilling heat exchangers.
13-14. Literature review on the selected topic in the field of environmental and energy geotechnics.
Conditions for subject completion
Occurrence in study plans
Occurrence in special blocks
Assessment of instruction