Invitation
On behalf of the Romanian Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (SRGF), the Organizing and Scientific Committees of the 17th Danube – European Conference on Geotechnical Engineering (17DECGE), we are inviting you to attend 17DECGE to be held in Bucharest, Romania, between 7th and 9th of June 2023.
In 2018, at the 16th DECGE in Skopje, the Romanian Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (SRGF) has been chosen by the representatives of the Danube Societies of ISSMGE as organiser and host of the 17th edition of the Danube – European Conference on Geotechnical Engineering, scheduled for 2022.
Romania has expressed its interest in organizing this conference also in 2014 at the Council Meeting of the Danube Societies of ISSMGE at the 15th DECGE in Vienna. Previously, Romania had organized the 10th edition in 1995 in Mamaia.
Following the pandemic, as many conferences have been postponed, it has been decided together with the Vice-president for Europe, prof. Mario Manassero, to also delay the 17DECGE for June 2023.
The 17th edition of DECGE will be held in Bucharest, 7 – 9 of June 2023, at Ramada Parc hotel, under the auspices of the Romanian Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (SRGF) and the main technical universities involved in this field in Romania.
The theme of the Conference is: European Geotechnical Engineering – Unity and diversity meaning to get together the Danube – European countries, each one with its specificity and finding the way for having unified practices within the European context.
The general objectives of 17DECGE are to disseminate the knowledge and the national practices toward all stakeholders in the field, to approach both research and practical topics, but also trans-disciplinary ones and to ensure a forum of discussion for all.
17DECGE proposes interesting and diverse topics under the general theme of the conference, plenary and discussion sessions, as well as a technical exhibition.
17DECGE will be joined with the 2nd National Symposium on Environmental Geotechnics, now with international attendance, to emphasize the importance of this topic at present. The 1st edition was held in Bucharest in June 2018, benefitting of the presence of the then vice-president for Europe of ISSMGE, Prof. Mario Manassero, who delivered the R.K. Rowe lecture.
We look forward to welcoming you in Bucharest in June 2023.
Prof. Loretta Batali
Chair of 17DECGE Conference
President SRGF
TOPICS
I. Geotechnical investigation and ground modelling
I.1. Site investigation
I.2. Laboratory testing
I.3. Experimental and numerical modelling
I.4. Geotechnical parameters
II. Geotechnical design
II.1. Eurocodes
II.2. Geotechnical structures
II.3. Ground improvement
II.4. Ground reinforcement / geosynthetics
II.5. Infrastructure works
II.6. Rehabilitation of geotechnical structures
III. Geo-hazards
III.1. Landslides
III.2. Seismic geotechnical engineering and soil dynamics
III.3. Risk management
IV. Environmental geotechnics, hydrogeology and energy
IV.1. Environmental geotechnics
IV.2. Hydrogeology
IV.3. Energy geotechnics
V. Information technology in Geotechnical Engineering
V.1. Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Geotechnical Engineering
V.2. Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in Geotechnical Engineering
V.3. New geotechnical instrumentation, sensors and sensing technologies
V.4. Big data and databases in geotechnical engineering
V.5. Imaging technologies in geotechnical engineering
Comittees
Conference chair – Prof. Loretta Batali – President SRGF, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Honorary Conference chair – Prof. em. Sanda Manea – Honorary President SRGF, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
International advisory board
Dr. Marc Ballouz – ISSMGE President
Prof. Lyesse Laloui – ISSMGE Vice-President Europe
Prof. Mario Manassero – immediate past Vice-President ISSMGE Europe
Prof. Helmut Schweiger – University of Technology, Graz
Prof. Dietmar Adam – TU Wien
Prof. Milorad Jovanovski – Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje, chairman of 16DECGE
Prof. Andrea Dominijanni – Politecnico Torino, chairman TC 215 ISSMGE
Scientific committee
Scientific committee chair – Prof. Irina Lungu – Vice-President SRGF, Technical University “Gheorghe
Asachi” Iaşi
Scientific committee vice-chair – Assoc. prof. Nicoleta Ilieş – Vice-President SRGF, Technical
University of Cluj-Napoca
International members: in progress
Prof. Mirjana Vukicevic – University of Belgrade, Serbia
Prof. Katarzyna Zabielska-Adamska – Bialystok University of Technology, Poland
Prof. Sonia Zlatovici – Zagreb Polytechnic, Croatia
Prof. Roman Marte – Graz University of Technology, Austria
Assoc. Prof. Andrei Totsev – University of Architecture, Civil engineering and Geodesy, Bulgaria
Assist. Prof. Erion Bukaci – Universiteti Politeknik i Tiranës, Albania
Assist. Prof. Jovan Papic – Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje, North Macedonia
Assoc. Prof. Edina KOCH – Széchenyi István University, Győr, Hungary
Prof. Ivo Herle – Technical University Dresden, Germany
Prof. Özer Çinicioğlu Boğaziçi University, Turkey
Prof. Mato Uljarević, University of Banja-Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
National members:
Prof. Horatiu Popa – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Prof. Nicolae Boţu – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Prof. em. Augustin Popa – Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Prof. Marin Marin – Politehnica University Timişoara
Prof. em. dhc. Anghel Stanciu – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Prof. em. Vasile Muşat – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Prof. Vasile Grecu – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Assoc. prof. Ernest Olinic – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Assoc. prof. Cristian Arion – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Assoc. prof. Vasile Fărcaș – Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Assoc. prof. Ancuţa Rotaru – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Assoc. prof. Ana Nicuţă – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Assoc. prof. Dorel Platică – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Lecturer Bogdan Teodoru – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Lecturer Mircea Aniculăesi – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Lecturer Oana Elena Colţ – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Lecturer Iulia Prodan – Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Lecturer Olimpiu Mureşan – Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Dr. Mircea Galer – Geostruct Expert Bucharest
Eng. Dragoş Marcu – Popp & Assoc. Inginerie Geotehnică Bucharest
Organising committee
Organising committee chair – Eng. Alexandra Ene – Secretary SRGF, Popp& Assoc. Inginerie
Geotehnică Bucharest
Organising committee vice-chair – Prof. Adrian Ciutina – Vice-President SRGF – Politehnica University
Timişoara
Organising committee vice-chair – Eng. Lóránd Sata – Vice-President SRGF, SBR – Soletanche Bachy
Fundaţii Romania, Bucharest
Members:
Assoc. prof. Andrei Olteanu – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Lecturer Stefan Ardelean – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Lecturer Ioan Boţi – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Lecturer Monica Mirea – Politehnica University Timişoara
Lecturer Alexandra Ciopec – Politehnica University Timişoara
Lecturer Oana Colţ – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Lecturer Florin Bejan – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Lecturer Dana Madalina Pohrib – Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iaşi
Dr. George Tsitsas – GT Ground Engineering & Construction Services Bucharest
Dr. Dan Carastoian – Proexrom Iaşi
Dr. Dumitrica Stefanache – Progeocon Iaşi
Eng. Traian Ghibuş – Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Eng. Dan Iancu – DI&A Design Consulting, Bucharest
Eng. Florin Damian – Geofor Tehnic Iaşi
Eng. Ionela Ionescu – Popp & Assoc. Inginerie Geotehnică Bucharest
Eng. Denisa Pașca – Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Eng. Alexandru Măgureanu – SBR – Soletanche Bachy Fundaţii Romania, Bucharest
Eng. Adrian Centea – Cenconstruct Timişoara
Keynote Speakers
Meet the Speakers

Dr. Marc Ballouz
President ISSMGE
Dr Marc Ballouz obtained his Civil Engineering degree in 1987 at the American University of Beirut and his Marster of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at Texas A&M University in 1991 and 1994, respectively.
He is currently the President of ISSMGE and has been a board member of ISSMGE previously (2013-2017) and has chaired and vice-chairedboard level committees of ISSMGE and is also currently a board member governor Geo-Institute of ASCE.
He is a senior lecturer at Texas State University and has been an associate professor at LAU & NDU & LU (1996-2006) and invited lecturer at UT, TAMU and UMich in USA.
He has been keynote lecturer at several major conferences worldwide and has received PRC Award of ISSMGE (2013), medals (two) from Sheriff & Fire Department of Harris County (2017) and trophy for achievement from Lebanese Forces Engineers (2018).
He took part in more than 100 professional design reports and forensic remediation reports and has written several research papers.

Prof. Lyesse Laloui
Vice-president Europe ISSMGE, EPFL Switzerland
Prof. Lyesse Laloui is a full professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL. He is a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and serves as the European Vice President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). In 2022, Lyesse Laloui appeared in the Ranking of Top 1000 Scientists in the field of Engineering and Technology released by Research.com.
His research and exploration of the mechanics of geomaterials and other geology has made significant contributions to our understanding of the physical mechanisms of these materials. From this, he has developed innovative and sustainable technologies for today and the generations to come. His efforts in areas such as sustainability, climate change, renewable energy and the optimisation of natural resources have been recognized and awarded by the European Research Council with an Advanced ERC Grant for his project BIOGEOS (BIO-mediated GEO-material Strengthening), followed by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant (PoC) in 2020.

Prof. Mario Manassero
Past Vice-president Europe ISSMGE, Politecnico Torino, Italy
Prof. Mario Manassero obtained his Civil Engineering degree in 1980 and his Ph.D. in 1987, both at Politecnico di Torino. Since 1998, he has been Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino and has been awarded Philosophy Doctor “Honoris Causa” by the Technical University of Civil Engineering, Bucharest Romania in 2021.
Winner of the R.M. Quigley Award, for the best paper “On the intrinsic, state, and fabric parameters of active clays for contaminant control”, published on the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 2019.
He has been Vice-President for Europe of ISSMGE (2017-2022), Chairman of TC215 “Environmental Geotechnics” of ISSMGE (2001-2014) and a member of the expert consulting board of the Italian Ministry of the Environment for the Environmental Impact Assessment of major national projects (2008-2012).
He was involved in many landmark engineering projects and has also been geotechnical consultant of the Victoria State Environmental Protection Agency (Australia), contributing to the environmental planning for landfill locations as well as to the landfill design guidelines.

Prof. Ivan Vanicek
Past Vice-president Europe ISSMGE, Czech Technical University in Prague
Professor Dr. Ivan Vaníček is a Professor in Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
He is also Chairman of the Czech Geotechnical Society (CICE) and has previously been Vice-President of the ISSMGE for Europe – 2009 – 2013.
Organizer of the 13th EC ISSMGE in Prague 2003, active in European Research Projects (ESF), in FP 7 as advisor, in ELGIP, CEN 250 – EN 1997 – Geotechnical design, with results presented in 40 countries of all continents.
From his main publications, it is worth mentioning “Earth Structures in Transport, Hydro and Environmental Engineering” – Springer 2008 and “Modern Earth Structures for transport engineering. Engineering and sustainability aspects” – Taylor and Francis 2020.
Active participant at most of the Danube Conferences ISSMGE since 1971.

Prof. Abdelmalek Bouazza
3rd R.K. Rowe lecture, Monash Univ., Australia
Prof. Abdelmalek (Malek) Bouazza is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
He obtained his Bachelor’s degree at the Ecole Polytechnique of Algiers, Algeria and his PhD at the University of Glasgow, U.K.
Prof. Bouazza has an international reputation for research in Geosynthetics and Environmental Geotechnics. His research has been recognised by several awards, including the International Geosynthetics Society Award (twice) for outstanding contribution to advances in the scientific and engineering developments of geosynthetics, the Telford Premium Prize (twice) from the Institution of Civil Engineers, U.K., the R.M. Quigley Award (twice) from the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the E.H. Davis Memorial Lecture Award from the Australian Geomechanics Society, and the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) Plaque for significant contributions to the International Geosynthetics Society and outstanding technical contributions to the geosynthetics discipline.

Prof. Dietmar Adam
TU Vienna, Austria
Prof. Dietmar Adam is the Head of the Institute of Geotechnics at the TU Wien, Head of the Research Unit of Ground Engineering, Soil and Rock Mechanics, and Head of the Soil Mechanics Laboratory (first chair Professor Karl von Terzaghi). He obtained his PhD from TU Wien in 1996 and completed his habilitation (post-doc studies) in 2002.
His main research activities cover theoretical and experimental soil dynamics, compaction and compaction control, ground improvement, deep vibro compaction, innovative geo-materials, railway tamping and dynamic track stabilization, ground freezing, and thermo-active geo-structures. He initiated numerous national and international research projects with pioneering findings. He is mentioned as inventor in numerous patent specifications.
His research is reflected in 350+ publications in International Journals and Conference Proceedings and more than 250 invitations to presentations, keynote and special lectures at International Conferences in the field of Geotechnical Engineering in about 80 countries.

Eng. Adriaan van Seters
Chairman CEN TC 250/SC7, Fugro, The Netherlands
Eng. Adriaan van Seters graduated at Delft University (NL) in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering.
He works as a principal consultant for Fugro – worldwide geotechnical consultancy – in The Netherlands and abroad. He has gained wide research and professional experience in geotechnical consultancy, with a great focus on risk and reliability-based approaches for deep excavations and other geotechnical works.
Adriaan van Seters joined CEN/TC250/Subcommittee 7 “Geotechnical Design” in 2005 as Dutch representative and is Chair of SC7 since 2019.
He held several papers and presentations related to use of Eurcoode 7. Among them, it is worth mentioning “Optimisation of Geotechnical Design by Eurocode 7”, “Eurocode 7 – Today and Tomorrow. Ground structures – Slope and Retaining wall design in the Netherlands”, “Reliability of Ultimate Limit State Design in Finite Elements and Compliance with Eurocode 7” and “Second Generation of Eurocode 7 – Improvements and Challenges”.
Program
Download full program1
Day 1, Wednesday, 7.06.2023
17:00 – 19:00 Registration & Meeting representatives of Danube European societies
20:00 – 22:00 Welcome Reception@ Ramada La Parc Restaurant
2
Day 2, Thursday, 8.06.2023
8:00 – 9:00 Registration and welcome coffee
9:00 – 10:00 Opening Terra Grand Ballroom
10:00 – 12:30 Plenary session 1 Terra Grand Ballroom
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch@Ramada Parc
14:00 – 16:00 Plenary session 2 Terra Grand Ballroom
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 18:30 Plenary session 3 Terra Grand Ballroom
20:00 – 23:00 Gala dinner@ Ramada La Parc & Jasmine restaurants
3
Day 3, Friday, 9.06.2023
8:00 – 9:00 Registration
9:00 – 12:30 Plenary session 4 Terra Grand Ballroom
10:45 – 11:00 coffee break
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch@ Ramada Parc
14:00 – 16:00 Parallel sessions 1,2 and 3 in Terra 1, Terra 2 and Terra 3 rooms
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 18:30 Parallel sessions 4, 5 and 6 in Terra 1, Terra 2 and Terra 3 rooms
18:00 – 18:30 Closing
4
Day 4, Saturday, 10.06.2023
08:00 – 16:00 Technical visit
Organizers


Romanian Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering and International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
with support of:




Technical visits
Technical visits will be organized on Saturday, 10.06.2023. Details will be provided soon.