Areas of Concentration

Airport Infrastructure

Interdisciplinary research is developed in this area. The objectives are the search for more rational methods for the planning, design, construction, evaluation and maintenance of infrastructure components, maximization of its service life and administrative costs minimization. This area is composed by the following research lines:

Pavement Engineering

Methods for the design, evaluation, diagnosis and maintenance of pavements. Paving materials. Improvement of the technological base of pavements management systems.

Structures

Structural behaviour simulation by numerical methods. Structural optimization.

Computational Geomechanics

Numerical methods for stability analysis, stresses and strains in geotechnical problems related with soil-structure interaction. Rheological models and retroanalysis of field and laboratory instrumentation measurements.

Geosynthetics

Characteristic and functional properties of geosynthetics. Specification. Behaviour analysis and design methods in geotechnical and environmental applications.

Environmental Hydrogeotechnics

Transport of pollutants analysis. Groundwater study. Protection systems modernization and simulation on environmental impact. Radars and satellites application.

Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation

Infrastructure and environment: Environmental technology, economic-ecological analysis, spatial dynamics modelling. Water resources: groundwater: modelling, exploration and treatment, sediment transport, computational hydrological modelling, hydrometeorology, water resource management. Sanitation infrastructure: urban drainage, water and effluent treatment, reuse, treatment and final destination of waste.

Tropical Soil Technology

Improvement and use of modern analysis tools (remote sensing, MCT-M methodology, resilience, dynamic penetration and suction) applied to the location and selection of deposits, in design and evaluation, in technological control, in the laying of pavements with low traffic volume and in the credibility forecast of soil in road works.

Air Transport and Airports

This area is composed by the following research lines:

Airports

Airport Planning and Design. Airport Facilities Capacity Assessment and Design. Operational Analysis of Airport Terminals. Airport Site Selection. Use and Occupation of Soils around Airports. Quality and Service Level Assessment. Airport Operational Security. Related topics.

Air Transport

Air Transport Planning and Management. Air Transport Economics. Demand and Cost Analysis. Airline Regulation and Competition. Air transport externalities and environmental issues. Operational research applied to transportation problems. Related topics.

Air Traffic Engineering

Operational analysis of controlled areas. Airspace capacity assessment around airports. Analysis, design and evaluation of operations sequencing in terminal control areas (TCAs). Air Traffic Flow Management. Related topics.

Transportation Systems

Transport Logistics. Air cargo and air transport logistics. Urban transportation, rail and road. Urban planning and circulation and transport systems. Air transport interfaces with other transport modes, multimodality, intermodality. Related topics.