TERRE — Training Engineers and Researchers to Rethink geotechnical Engineering for a low carbon future

Results in brief

Training Engineers and Researchers to Rethink geotechnical Engineering for a low carbon future

The construction sector is one of the main sectors responsible for carbon emissions and accounts for 10% of the carbon footprint globally. This sector will play an important role in the EU's long term objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050. Energy and environmental issues are therefore increasingly becoming key factors in market competition. As a result, technological innovation aimed at reducing carbon emissions can be viewed as a major strategy to boost competitiveness of the European construction industry, within and outside Europe. This is the rationale behind the project TERRE, which aims to train a new generation of engineers and scientists in carbon efficient design of civil infrastructure. TERRE targeted the geotechnical construction industry, a major component of the overall construction sector, which is strategically important in infrastructure development (transportation, flood and landslide protection, building foundations, waste disposal). This project explored novel design concepts for low-carbon geotechnical infrastructure through 15 PhD projects carried out by ESRs who were ‘trained through Research’ in low-carbon design. Design concepts included eco-reinforced geomaterials, binders ‘recycled’ from waste, ‘engineered’ vegetated and bare ground-atmosphere interfaces, shallow geothermal energy, and shallow soil carbon sequestration. Many PhD research projects were oriented towards a potential technological application in their later stage by involving industrial full and associated partners. This synergy between industry and academia ensured that the research remained problem-driven and that the fundamental research had a tangible social, environmental, and economic impact. TERRE recognised that fundamental concepts concerning greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration and, more generally, sustainable development are often not addressed in higher education in civil engineering. TERRE addressed this knowledge gap by organizing annual Schools to help rethink civil engineering design. These were mainly designed for early-stage researchers but were of equal benefit to established researchers and practitioners in the civil engineering field.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

TERRE aims to develop novel geo-technologies to address the competitiveness challenge of the European construction industry in a low carbon agenda. It will be delivered through an inter-sectoral and intra-European coordinated PhD programme focused on carbon-efficient design of geotechnical infrastructure. Industry and Research in the construction sector have been investing significantly in recent years to produce innovative low-carbon technologies. However, little innovation has been created in the geo-infrastructure industry, which is lagging behind other construction industry sectors. TERRE aims to close this gap through a network-wide training programme carried out by a close collaboration of eleven Universities and Research Centres and three SMEs. It is structured to provide a balanced combination of fundamental and applied research and will eventually develop operational tools such as software for low-carbon geotechnical design and a Decision Support System for infrastructure project appraisal. The research fellows will be involved in inter-sectoral and intra-European projects via enrolment in 8 ‘Joint-Awards’ and 7 ‘Industrial’ PhDs. The research fellows will be trained in low-carbon design by developing novel design concepts including eco-reinforced geomaterials, ‘engineered’ vegetation, engineered soil-atmosphere interfaces, biofilms, shallow geothermal energy and soil carbon sequestration. Distinctive features of TERRE are the supervision by an inter-sectoral team and the orientation of the research towards technological applications. Training at the Network level includes the development of entrepreneurial skills via a special programme on ‘Pathways to Research Enterprise’ to support the research fellows in establishing and leading spin-out companies after the end of the project.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE · GlasgowCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
AMRA-Analysis and monitoring of env · NaplesItaly
Acceptables Avenirs · Ramonville-Saint-AgneFrance
CENTRE DE COOPERATION INTERNATIONALE EN RECHERCHE AGRONOMIQUE POUR LEDEVELOPPEMENT - C.I.R.A.D. EPIC · ParisFrance
CENTRE INTERNACIONAL DE METODES NUMERICS EN ENGINYERIA · BarcelonaSpain
Donaldson Associates Ltd · UttoxeterUnited Kingdom
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · LausanneSwitzerland
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT · ParisFrance
KEMPFERT GEOTECHNIK GMBH · HAMBURGGermany
Koninklijke Houthandel G. Wijma & Zo · KAMPENNetherlands
LIMITSTATE LIMITED · SheffieldUnited Kingdom
NOBATEK · AngletFrance
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · DelftNetherlands
TECHNITAL SPA · MILANOItaly
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD · SHEFFIELDUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CASSINO E DEL LAZIO MERIDIONALE · CassinoItaly
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II · NapoliItaly
UNIVERSITE DE PAU ET DES PAYS DE L'ADOUR · PauFrance
UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM · DURHAMUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW · GlasgowUnited Kingdom
University of Aberdeen · AberdeenUnited Kingdom

TERRE · Training Engineers and Researchers to Rethink geotechnical Engineering for a low carbon future

Results in brief

Training Engineers and Researchers to Rethink geotechnical Engineering for a low carbon future

Project objective

Participants

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