Professor Alessandro Tarantino

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Personal statement

I joined the University of Strathclyde in 2010 as Professor of Experimental Geomechanics to establish a research group in geomechanics and geohydraulics specialised in laboratory and field investigation of multiphase geomaterials.

The common denominator of my research is the presence of at least two fluid phases (liquid and gas) in the medium pore space. Under these conditions, different physical processes with high level of coupling (liquid flow, vapour flow, heat transfer, and solid matrix deformation) control the hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of the porous medium, which is therefore relatively complex to investigate and model.

In Civil and Environmental Engineering, multiphase (unsaturated) porous media are typically encountered in the upper portion of the soil profile, between the ground surface and the ground water table/phreatic surface. Processes occurring in this zone are therefore the focus of my research, and includes rainwater infiltration, groundwater recharge, pollutant transport, soil shrinkage and heave, surface cracking, soil subsidence, and subsurface water flow and runoff (i.e. flood formation), and shallow landslides. Most of these processes have an interaction with the atmosphere and are therefore strongly affected by climate changes.

Multiphase (unsaturated) porous media are also encountered in several geo-infrastructures, including road, railway and flood embankments, dams, and tunnels where mechanical and hydraulic response (stability, deformation, hydraulic conductivity) is controlled by the interaction of the ground with the atmosphere.

Qualifications

I hold an MEng degree in Civil Engineering from the Università di Napoli Federico II in Italy (1993) and a PhD in Geotecnical Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy (1998).

I was awarded the title of Professional Engineer in Italy in 1993.

Publications

Mechanical behaviour of compacted Kaolin clay stabilised via alkali activated calcium-rich fly ash binder
Coudert Elodie, Deneele Dimitri, Russo Giacomo, Tarantino Alessandro
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment Vol 32 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gete.2022.100404
Pre-failure suction-induced deformation to inform early warning of shallow landslides : proof of concept at slope model scale
Coppola L, Reder A, Tarantino A, Mannara G, Pagano L
Engineering Geology Vol 309 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106834
Climate change adaptation of Elbe River flood embankments via suction-based design
Beber Raniero, Tarantino Alessandro, Becker Patrick
International Journal of Geomechanics (2022)
Cross-validation of the high-capacity tensiometer and thermocouple psychrometer for continuous monitoring of xylem water potential in saplings
Dainese Roberta, de C.F.L. Lopes Bruna, Tedeschi Giuseppe, Lamarque Laurent J, Delzon Sylvain, Fourcaud Thierry, Tarantino Alessandro
Journal of Experimental Botany Vol 73, pp. 400-412 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab412
Stability analysis of a cave excavated in granular cohesionless material
De Carvalho Faria Lima Lopes Bruna, Tarantino Alessandro
Géotechnique Vol 71, pp. 1085-1098 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.19.P.269
Investigation on the attractive forces controlling clay particles' interactions
de Morais L P, Tarantino A, Cordão-Neto M P
Geotechnique Letters Vol 11, pp. 1-8 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1680/jgele.21.00053

More publications

Professional activities

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering (Journal)
Guest editor
2008
Géotechnique (Journal)
Editorial board member
1/2011
Geotechnique (Journal)
Editorial board member
2009
External Examiner of PhD Dissertation at Université Grenoble Alpes
Examiner
28/1/2022
External Examiner of PhD Dissertation at Politecnico di Milano
Examiner
14/5/2021
Geotechnique (Journal)
Editorial board member
1/1/2021

More professional activities

Projects

Plants: climate-smart and carbon-efficient nature based solution to mitigate ‘diffuse’ climate-induced landslide hazard
Tarantino, Alessandro (Principal Investigator) Pedrotti, Matteo (Co-investigator)
14-Jan-2021 - 13-Jan-2023
SURICATES Interreg NWE 462 - Sediment Uses as Resources in Circular And Territorial Economies.
Lord, Richard (Principal Investigator) Bertram, Doug (Co-investigator) João, Elsa (Co-investigator) Zawdie, Girma (Co-investigator) Tarantino, Alessandro (Co-investigator)
€5.7M Interreg NWE Industrial Research Partnership
21-Jan-2017 - 21-Jan-2022
2017 Early warning decision support system for the management of underwater scour risk for road and railway bridges
Zonta, Daniele (Principal Investigator) Douglas, John (Co-investigator) Ferguson, Neil (Co-investigator) Tarantino, Alessandro (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2017 - 31-Jan-2018
Inversion Analysis of Surface Seismic Data for Effective Exploration of Oil and Gas Reservoirs
Ren, Jinchang (Principal Investigator) Marshall, Stephen (Co-investigator) Tarantino, Alessandro (Co-investigator) Weiss, Stephan (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2017 - 28-Jan-2019
ANDRA - ERT Field testing
Tarantino, Alessandro (Principal Investigator) De Carvalho Faria Lima Lopes, Bruna (Co-investigator)
23-Jan-2017 - 22-Jan-2018
TERRE: Training Engineers and Researchers to Rethink geotechnical Engineering for a low carbon future (H2020 ETN)
Tarantino, Alessandro (Principal Investigator) El Mountassir, Grainne (Co-investigator) Ferguson, Neil (Co-investigator) Knapp, Charles (Co-investigator) Lunn, Rebecca (Co-investigator) Switzer, Christine (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2015 - 31-Jan-2019

More projects

Address

Civil and Environmental Engineering
James Weir

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