Geotechnical News • September 2016
37
GEO-INTEREST
Sustainable field training in geology and geological engineering:
Tunnelling and underground works field course in Greece
Nicholas Vlachopoulos and Efrosyni-Maria Skordaki
As with any graduate program within
the realm of Geological and Geotech-
nical Engineering, there is a unique
requirement to conduct field exercises
in order to expose the students to the
geology, real-life projects, experiences
and working conditions with a view
to reinforcing concepts that have been
introduced in the traditional university
classroom environment. Not only do
the students benefit from such hands-
on experiences, but the construction
companies and contractors also benefit
by positively influencing the students
through the showcasing of their pro-
fession.
To this end, an international field
course involving 4 universities was
conducted from Monday, December
7th, 2015 until Sunday, December
13th, 2015. This graduate course is run
annually by Dr. Paul Marinos (past-
President, International Association
of Engineering Geologists (IAEG)) at
the National Technical University of
Athens (NTUA). This year, as in pre-
vious years, the course was planned,
organized and conducted in col-
laboration with the Civil Engineering
Department at the Royal Military Col-
lege of Canada (RMC), the Geological
Sciences and Geological Engineering
Department at Queen’s University,
NTUA and the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki (AUTH). An active, Can-
ada-Greece inter-university collabora-
tion in this regard has been established
between these universities spanning
more than 12 years. Organizers and
instructors for the Canadian Universi-
ties were Dr. Nicholas Vlachopoulos,
RMC/Queen’s and Dr. Mark Die-
derichs, Queen’s University. Eight
graduate students from RMC-Queen’s
Canada participated in the course. This
‘Canadian Contingent’ was accompa-
nied by eight graduate students from
the graduate program of the Geology
Department at AUTH, and twenty-one
graduate students from the graduate
program of the Schools of Mining and
Metallurgical Engineering and Civil
Engineering from the NTUA. Dr.
Vassilios Marinos, Assistant Profes-
sor at AUTH also contributed with his
expertise during the course.
The course involved circumnavigat-
ing Greece and visiting tunnelling
sites (primarily road, rail, and mines)
throughout the country. Greece is
a country born of intense tectonic
processes; being at the boundary of
the African and Eurasian tectonic
plates. Highly deformed and altered
sediments and low grade metamor-
phic rock masses dominate the near
surface environment creating a variety
of technical challenges for tunnelling
and slope stability related to modern
infrastructure. The students certainly
witnessed these issues first-hand. The
underground construction works were
conducted in limestones, clays, gneiss,
molassic rocks, flysch, phyllites,
ophiolites, basement schists and fault
zones. The tunnels were at various
stages of construction and the graduate
student work along the way included
geological model construction, seismic
hazard prediction, ground classifica-
tion and tunnel design with student
presentations in the evenings among
other deliverables.
There are certainly many active or
recently completed tunnelling sites in
Greece at the moment. Sites included
on this course included: Kakia Skala
Road & Rail Tunnels, Corinth Canal,
Panagopoula Road Tunnel of Corinth-
Patras Highway. Klokova Tunnel of
the Ionian Highway, Gkiona Hydraulic
Tunnel of Mornos-Athens, Kallidromo
Rail Tunnel, Platamonas Tempi Road
Tunnel, Thessaloniki Subway Tunnel,
Euclid Station and Kalamaria Exten-
Staff and Students from RMC, Queen’s University, NTUA and AUTH
participating in the field course.
