UoM Porous Media Research Lab & Energy Geotechnics

The PMRL & Energy Geotechnics Lab within the Geotechnical Research Group focuses on energy geotechnics, near surface geophysics and machine learning, AI, and numerical modelling applied to geotechnical engineering. They have more than a decade experience in R&D and commercialisation of shallow geothermal energy technology (energy geo-structures: energy piles, tunnels, walls, slabs), the thermo-hydro-mechanical aspects of soils and porous rocks, and the use of electromagnetic and mechanical waves for soil/material characterisation, including IoT, machine learning and robotic automation.

Facilities: Geothermal (ground-source heat pump) design (software) and lab and in situ testing (thermal conductivity, TRT units); Advanced laboratory soil testing (triaxial, consolidation) and in situ geophysical testing (GPR, EM, Seismic, services detection); Soil moisture monitoring and mapping (roads, materials); Machine Learning and AI in geotechnical engineering. They complement lab studies with full-scale field testing and monitoring. They develop new tools, procedures and advanced technology for engineering.

Contact: A/Prof.Guillermo A. Narsilio, Deputy Head (Research), Infrastructure Engineering / Geotechnical Eng, Faculty of Engineering and IT, +61 3 8344 4659, narsilio@unimelb.edu.au, http://pmrl.eng.unimelb.edu.au