Equipped with state-of-the-art, fully automated geotechnical engineering equipment, our Geotechnical Laboratory is part of the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Digital Construction at our Hawthorn campus. 

The Geotechnical Laboratory underpins research by the Geotechnical Engineering group which has been successful in obtaining continuous research funding and consulting projects from industry, local, state and federal government.

The UTM-100 Universal Testing Machine at the Geotechnical Laboratory here at Swinburne

Current projects

  • geotechnics of pavements using recycled demolition materials

  • recycled waste materials in geotechnical engineering applications

  • geotechnical laboratory testing, field instrumentation and in-situ testing

  • ground improvement, soil stabilisation and geosynthetic applications 

  • land reclamation and dredging

  • soft soils and problematic soils

  • footings on expansive clays

  • unsaturated soils mechanics 

  • behaviour of mine tailings under static and cyclic loads

  • pavement stabilisation

  • modelling and testing of alternative landfill covers.

Specialised and basic equipment

  • multi-directional cyclic simple shear facility

  • cyclic triaxial with local strain measurement

  • repeated load triaxial

  • four-point beam fatigue 

  • static and dynamic indirect tensile strength

  • shear wave velocity using bender elements

  • unconfined compression strength

  • static triaxial and stress path and K0 triaxial 

  • interface shear resistance for geosynthetics and soils (large and small)

  • direct shear and residual shear (large and small)

  • Rowe consolidation (large and small)

  • one dimensional consolidation 

  • swell-shrinkage

  • soil suction

  • California Bearing Ratio

  • Los Angeles abrasion 

  • all required basic geotechnical and pavement equipment.

Related courses

  • Team Engineer drawing graphic planning

    Civil Engineering

    Civil engineering is a pillar of modern society — literally. Learn to plan, design, construct and maintain infrastructure in our civil engineering courses.
    Discover more (Civil Engineering)
  • Engineering diagram blueprint paper drafting project sketch architectural. industrial drawing detail and several drawing tools

    Construction Management

    Construction is more than just building something. It takes a fundamental understanding of design, maintenance and management to enable efficient, safe and effective construction — the kind of understanding you’ll gain through our construction courses.

    Discover more (Construction Management)

Contact the Geotechnical Laboratory

Whether you’re a PhD student, media, or an organisation looking to collaborate and partner with us, please contact Professor Arul Arulrajah on +61 3 9214 5741 or via aarulrajah@swinburne.edu.au.

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