Geotechnical Engineering involves the application of soil and rock mechanics as well as engineering geology to solve engineering problems such as design of foundations, slopes, excavations, dams, tunnels and other Civil, Mining and Environmental engineering projects relating to the mechanical response of the ground, and the water within it. Research work being undertaken in the GeoEngineering Centre includes studies on geosynthetics, long term performance of landfill liners, shallow and deep foundations, tunnels and deep excavations, pipes, culverts and other buried infrastructure as well as Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering.
Specialized testing facilities include a CFI funded Large Scale Buried Infrastructure Laboratory at Queen's, a Geosynthetic Liner Longevity Simulator laboratory, a large scale landslide flume, and a prototype scale reinforced wall test facility and shake table located at RMC.
The GeoEngineering Centre links seventeen Geotechnical researchers in Civil Engineering, Mining Engineering, Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering at Queen's with Civil Engineering at RMC.