GeoEngineering Centre
The GeoEngineering Centre is a collaborative venture between 18 faculty members and approximately 100 graduate students and post-doctoral students led by Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada. Drawn from three different engineering departments at the two universities, the Centre's members are dedicated to innovation and advancement of knowledge in geotechnical, geohydrological, geochemical, geomechanical, and geosynthetics engineering.
The interests of researchers within those five groups are varied. The hydrology group investigates groundwater, looking in particular at regional groundwater flow, sustainable use of groundwater resources, ground contamination by organic solvents, and multiphase transport processes. The group has established links with international research organizations, government agencies, and private industry. The Centre’s geotechnical research includes studies on natural and artificial earth slopes, tunnels and deep excavations, pipes, culverts and other buried infrastructure, shallow and deep foundations, earth retaining structures, unsaturated soil behaviour, clay performance in barrier systems, geotechnical earthquake engineering, railway and highway geotechnics, and tailings retention structures. Various aspects of this expertise are world-renowned.
Geomechanical engineering researchers are examining the design of surface and underground works for mining and tunnelling, and long-term stability of abandoned mine workings. Geosynthetic research undertaken by the Centre includes studies on reinforcement to enhance the stability of walls, foundations, tunnels, and embankments, on the use of geomembranes and geosynthetic clay liners to limit contaminant migration from landfills, on the mechanical, chemical, and biological performance of geosynthetics, and the durability and service life evaluation of geosynthetic components and systems. Research in geochemistry includes studies of the long-term stability of mine waste contamination and migration, and groundwater tracer migration studies.