UC.PT

Address:

Departamento de Engenharia Civil - FCTUC

Rua Luís Reis Santos - Pólo II da Universidade

3030 - 788 Coimbra

Phone: 239 797 224 (422 224)

E-mail: amgpedro@dec.uc.pt

Main Research Topics

- Predicted behaviour and numerical modelling of underground structures and deep excavations;

- Fitness of soil constitutive models based on laboratory tests using optimization tools;

- Geomechanical characterisation of rock masses;

- Numerical modelling of variability in soils and rocks;

- Stabilisation with binders and bio-stabilisation of soils;

- Design of offshore foundations;

Biographic Note

After finishing high school from Avelar Brotero school in 1998, António Pedro undertook the Civil Engineering course (MEng - 5-year degree) in University of Coimbra (DEC-UC) where he graduated in the field of Geotechnics in 2003 with 16 (out of 20). After, António Pedro remained at University of Coimbra for his Master’s degree in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering which was concluded in 2007 with the presentation of the thesis “Mato Forte tunnel – backanalysis of its behaviour”. In 2009 he started his PhD at the Geotechnical section of Imperial College of London in 2009, which he concluded in 2013 with the thesis “Geotechnical investigation of Ivens shaft in Lisbon”. 

Since 2002 António Pedro has been linked to the Geotechnical section of the University of Coimbra. First, as a monitor, involved into consultancy activities and in laboratory activities for the undergrads. In 2004 he became part of the staff of the Department of Civil Engineering (DEC) of the University of Coimbra. Initially as Junior Teaching Assistant, then as Assistant Lecturer and as Assistant Professor after returning from London in 2013.

As a lecturer at DEC-UC he lectured several subjects in the Integrated Master’s in Civil Engineering (MIEC) and Environmental Engineering (MIEA), namely: Programming and Computer Science, Soil Mechanics I, Soil Mechanics II, Foundations, Rock Mechanics and Earth Retaining Structures, and also in the MSc course of Rehabilitation of Buildings and Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Besides teaching António Pedro participated in several academic juris and was, and still is, supervisor of several Master’s thesis in the Geotechnics and Rehabilitation field.

António Pedro has participated as researcher in several research programs, with the most notorious being the PISA2 project in 2017, where he collaborated as Research Assistant at Imperial College London. This project had the objective of developing and extending to other geotechnical scenarios new methodologies for the design of monopiles foundations of offshore windfarms. He also participated in the MIT-Portugal program, where he worked on risk analysis associated to the construction of high speed train lines and on the characterization of sands submitted to dynamic loads. His research work has been diversified although mainly focused on the predicted behaviour and numerical modelling of underground structures and deep excavations in soils and rock massifs. More recently his research work also includes the development of optimization tools in order to calibrate advanced soil constitutive models, the numerical modelling of soil variability, the stabilisation of soils with binders and with bacteria (bio-stabilisation) and the optimisation of the design of offshore foundations.

António Pedro has published as author and co-author more than 40 technical refereed papers, that were published and presented in several journals and international and national conferences. He also contributed to the development of several geotechnical educational software. He also integrates the reviewer panel of reference journals such as Geotéchnique, Geotechnique Letters and Geotechnical Testing Journal among others. Currently, Antonio Pedro is the Portuguese representative of the TC103 – Numerical Methods and TC209 – Offshore of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

António Pedro has advised several geotechnical companies in different and important projects, such as the rehabilitation of the Rossio tunnel in Lisbon and of the Tornada tunnel in Caldas-da-Rainha; the design of the Mato Forte tunnel in Lisbon, of the Socorridos pumping station in Madeira, of the Beaulieu metro station in Argel, Algeria, of the Zaouit Ait Mellal tunnel in Morocco, of the Las Palmas tunnel in Spain, of the Ivens shaft in Lisbon among others projects. Besides this reference projects he elaborated various technical reports related with the safety and stability of underground and retaining structures, including the surge chamber of the hydroelectric power plant of Venda Nova III.

From 2013 to 2015 António Pedro was nominated Vice-Director of the Department of Civil Engineering responsible for the divisions of Human Resources and Installations. He was also named coordinator for the celebrations of the 40 years of the graduation of the first Civil Engineers by University of Coimbra and was the main responsible for the execution of the photographic exposition “40 Anos, 40 Momentos”, which portraits in posters the historical evolution of DEC since its creation in 1972. More recently, from 2019 onwards, António Pedro was nominated Deputy Diretor of the Science Museum of UC responsible for the museum installations, which include the maintenance and rehabilitation of several UNESCO World Heritage buildings.

Publications

Thesis

Pedro, A. M. G. (2007) Mato Forte Tunnel – Back Analysis of Its Behaviour. MSc Thesis. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal. (in Portuguese).

Pedro, A. M. G. (2013) Geotechnical Investigation of Ivens Shaft in Lisbon. PhD Thesis. Imperial College London, London, UK.

Principal papers in international journals

Oliveira, P. J. V., Correia, A. A. S., Teles, J. M. N. P. C. & Pedro, A. M. G. (2017) Effect of cyclic loading on the behaviour of a chemically stabilised soft soil reinforced with steel fibres. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 92 pp. 122-125.

Pedro, A. M. G., Zdravković, L., Potts, D. & Almeida e Sousa, J. (2017) Derivation of model parameters for numerical analysis of the Ivens shaft excavation. Engineering Geology, 217 pp. 49-60.

Correia, A. A. S., Venda Oliveira, P. J., Teles, J. M. N. P. C. & Pedro, A. M. G. (2017) “Strength of a Stabilised Soil Reinforced with Steel Fibres”. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering, 170 (4), 312-321.

Carmona, J. P. S. F., Venda Oliveira, P. J., Lemos, L. J. L. & Pedro, A. M. G. (2018) Improvement of a sandy soil by enzymatic calcium carbonate precipitation. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering, 171 (1), pp. 3-15.

Pedro, A. M. G., Zdravković, L., Potts, D. & Almeida e Sousa, J. (2018) Geotechnical characterization of the Miocene formations at the location of Ivens shaft, Lisbon. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 51 (1), pp. 96-107.

Pedro, A. M. G., Zdravković, L., Potts, D. & Almeida e Sousa, J. (2018) Geotechnical characterization of the Miocene formations at the location of Ivens shaft, Lisbon. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 51 (1), pp. 96-107. 

Burd, H. J., Taborda, D. M. G., Zdravković, L., Abadie, C. N., Byrne, B. W., Houlsby, G. T., Gavin, K. G., Igoe, D. J. P., Jardine, R. J., Martin, C. M., McAdam, R. A., Pedro, A. M. G. & Potts, D. M. (2019) PISA design model for monopiles for offshore wind turbines: application to a marine sand. Géotechnique, 0 (0), pp. 1-19. 

Pedro, A., Zdravković, L., Potts, D. & Almeida e Sousa, J. (2019) Numerical modelling of the Ivens shaft construction in Lisbon, Portugal. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering, 172 (3), pp. 263-282.