Keynote Speaker

Prof. Alessandro Mandolini

University of Campania (Italy),
Chair of ISSMGE TC212.

Deep foundations

Pile Foundations: 80 Years Of Research And Practice (1943-2023)

Biography

Present Academic Position

Full professor of “Foundation Engineering” at Department of Engineering – Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”
Head of the Department of Engineering – Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”

Education

1989: Graduated in Civil Engineering (5 years) – Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Italy
1993: Ph.D in Geotechnical Engineering – Università di Roma “La Sapienza” and Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Italy

Honors

Awards and Recognitions

1995: Italian Geotechnical Association (AGI) Award for the PhD thesis
1998: Gold Research (Bishop) Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineering of London (UK)
2008: IACMAG Excellent Paper Junior Award
2015: Elected Chairman of the ISSMGE TC212 “Deep Foundations”

Main Distinctions related to Recognition of Scientific Work

Referee for several International Journals, Reviewer for several National and International Conferences, Foreign Examiner for Doctoral Dissertations
Invited Lecturer at over 30 national and international Conferences
Panellist at over 10 national and international Conferences
State-of-the-Art Reporter at XVI ICMSGE in Osaka (Japan), 2005
Member of UNI/CIS/SC7 for the “Eurocode 7”
‘Harry Poulos’ Honour Lecturer at GeoMEast 2018
‘Bengt Fellenius’ Honour Lecture at 4th CFPB 2019

Publications

Author and/or co-Author of more than 150 papers for scientific journals, national and international Conferences
Co-Author of a book titled “Piles and Pile Foundations” edited by CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract

Pile Foundations: 80 Years Of Research And Practice (1943-2023)

In 1943 Karl Terzaghi published his famous book “Theoretical Soil Mechanics”, with only 7 pages dedicated to piles. Today, 80 years later, thousands of research papers and textbooks are proof of significant advances made in this field (new pile types, experimental full-scale observations, different method of analysis and design in a wide variety of soil conditions as encountered in practice, taking proper account for general loading conditions, etc.). In the keynote paper, a tentative is made to “distill” this broad literature, trying to pull out some fundamental aspects aimed to establish that undeniable expertise for any professional involved in piling problems.