Environmental Geotechnics deals with a wide variety of applications, such as the characterization of polluted sites and landfill waste, the design of containment systems for subsoil pollutant control, radioactive waste disposal, geo-energy exploitation and bacteria-driven soil modification, among others. Reliable and effective predictions of the actual behaviour and performance of these very complex systems require a deep understanding of the coupled hydro-bio-chemo-mechanical phenomena that occur at very different scales. Future progress in the scientific state of the art and substantial advancements in the standard practices will therefore be closely related to the development of shared knowledge among different disciplines. The extension and refinement of theoretical modelling and the experimentation capabilities stimulated by geo-environmental applications more in general provide the framework for substantial advancements in the soil and rock mechanics fields.
Coupled Phenomena in Environmental Geotechnics collects the special lectures and papers presented at the International Symposium on Coupled Phenomena in Environmental Geotechnics (Torino, Italy, 1-3 July 2013), which was organized by the Italian Geotechnical Society within the framework of Technical Committee TC 215 of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The book, with contributions not only from the geotechnical community, but also from related and complementary disciplines, is of particular interest to engineers and academics in geotechnical and environmental engineering.