Federica Sandrone

EPFL ENAC IIC LEMR
GC D1 401 (Bâtiment GC)
Station 18
CH-1015 Lausanne

from 2008: Engineer at SBB-Infrastructure, responsible for Tunnels Management and Maintenance
from 2007: Assistant for the courses "Tunnel Engineering" and "Underground Construction Technology"
2004-2008: PhD Student (Structure Doctoral Program) at LMR-EPFL
PhD degree: February 2008 at EPFL with a thesis entitled "Analysis of pathologies and long term behaviour of the Swiss National Road tunnels"
2003: Assistant at the Georesources and Landscape Department of Politecnico di Torino (TUSC). Main research domains: in situ surveys, monitoring measurements analysis and numerical modelling on tunnels with ageing problems and/or collapses, settling and subsiding in chalk pit, instability of slope dumps, interaction between cutting-tools of a TBM and the rock-mass
2003: Graduate at the Politecnico di Torino in Geotechnical Engineering with a Master Thesis about «Stability controls and refurbishment operations on a damaged railway tunnel»

Selected publications

Interpretation und Extrapolation der gemessenen Konvergenzen in der Karbonzone des L�tschberg-Basistunnel

F.Descoeudres, J-P.Dudt, F.Sandrone, V.Labiouse
Published in AlpTransit-Tagung 2005 Swiss Tunnel Congress 22.Juni 2005 Dokumentation D 0215 SIA in

Analysis of delayed convergences in a carbon zone of the L�tschberg Tunnel

F.Sandrone, J-P.Dudt, V.Labiouse & F.Descoeudres
Published in Eurock06 - European Regional ISRM Symposium - Multiphysics coupling and long term behaviour in rock mechanics - May 9-12, 2006 - Li�ge, Belgium in

Numerical modelling of laboratory tests for TBM cutter indentation process analysis

N.Innaurato, C.Oggeri, PP.Oreste, R.Vinai, F.Sandrone
Published in Proc. MPES 2006, Mining Planning and equipment selection, Turin, pp. 1339-1344, ISBN 88 901342 4 0 in

Data collection for Swiss road tunnels maintenance

Sandrone F., Labiouse V., Mathier J.-F.
Published in Journal Felsbau , no 1 (2007), pp. 8-14 in

Preliminary identification of Swiss road tunnels pathologies based on geotechnical G.I.S. data.

F. Sandrone, V. Labiouse, J.F. Mathier
Published in Proc. 11th ISRM, 9-13 July 2007 Lisbon, vol.2, pp. 999-1002, 2007 in

Journal Articles

2017

A GIS based approach for analysing geological and operation conditions influence on road tunnels degradation

F. SandroneV. Labiouse

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology. 2017. DOI : 10.1016/j.tust.2017.04.012.

2016

Probabilistic simulations of TBM Tunnelling in highly fractured and faulted rocks

E. PaltrinieriF. SandroneJ.-P. DudtJ. Zhao

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology. 2016. DOI : 10.1016/j.tust.2016.02.002.

Analysis and estimation of gripper TBM performances in highly fractured and faulted rocks

E. PaltrinieriF. SandroneJ. Zhao

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology. 2016. DOI : 10.1016/j.tust.2015.11.017.

2011

Identification and analysis of Swiss National Road tunnels pathologies

F. SandroneV. Labiouse

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology incorporating Trenchless. 2011. DOI : 10.1016/j.tust.2010.11.008.

2010

Analysis of the evolution of road tunnels equilibrium conditions with a convergence–confinement approach

F. SandroneV. Labiouse

Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. 2010. DOI : 10.1007/s00603-009-0056-y.

Conference Papers

2020

A new data set of granitic rock strength values from Yosemite Valley, California: applications to rock fall assessment

B. CollinsF. SandroneL. GastaldoG. M. StockM. Jaboyedoff

2020. 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Golden, Colorado, USA, 28 June-1 July 2020.

2014

The analysis of tunnel excavation in difficult ground conditions with the Decision Aids for Tunnelling (DAT).

E. PaltrinieriJ.-P. DudtF. SandroneJ. Zhao

2014. 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference, Sydney, Australia, September 17-19, 2014.

A study of the TBM performance in fault zones and highly fractured rocks

E. PaltrinieriF. Sandrone

2014. World Tunnel Congress 2014, Iguassu Falls, Brazil.

2013

The importance of drainage system in railway tunnels and possibilities to reduce the LCC

J.-D. S. ChabotF. SandroneT. Gamisch

2013. World Tunnel Congress, WTC 2013, Geneva, Switzerland, May 31st - June 7th, 2013.

Tunnel conditions assessment based on image analysis: a new inspection procedure for railway tunnels

F. Sandrone

2013. World Tunnel Congress, WTC2013, Geneva, Switzerland, May 31st - June 7th, 2013.

2011

Laser scanning images analysis for tunnel inspection

F. SandroneR. Wissler

2011. 12th International Congress on Rock Mechanics, Bejing, China, October 18-21, 2011.

2010

Investigation and analysis procedures for tunnel refurbishment

F. SandroneC. OggeriO. Del Greco

2010. Eurock 2010, Lausanne, Switzerland, June 15-18, 2010. p. 521 - 524.

Theses

2015

Analysis of TBM tunnelling performance in faulted and highly fractured rocks

E. Paltrinieri / J. ZhaoF. Sandrone (Dir.)

Lausanne, EPFL, 2015. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-6724.

2008

Analysis of pathologies and long term behaviour of the Swiss national road tunnels

F. Sandrone / V. Labiouse (Dir.)

Lausanne, EPFL, 2008. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-4019.

Reports

2020

Rock strength properties of granitic rocks in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California

B. CollinsF. SandroneL. GalstaldoG. M. StockM. Jaboyedoff

2020

2012

Long Term Behaviour of the Swiss National Road Tunnels

F. SandroneV. Labiouse

2012

Posters

2020

From elastic to anelastic properties of rocks: Role of strain amplitudes

L. X. PimientaB. QuintalF. SandroneL. GastaldoM. Violay

Swiss Geoscience Meeting 2020, Zurich, Switzerland, November 6-7, 2020.

Talks

2020

Influence of the initial damage on fracture toughness and subcritical crack growth in a granite rock

S. D'UrsoL. X. PimientaF. PasselègueF. SandroneS. Vinciguerra  et al.

EGU 2020 General Assembly, EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online (#shareEGU20), May, 4-8 2020.

Thermal influences on macroscale rock damage

B. CollinsG. M. StockM. C. EppesA. GuerinM. Jaboyedoff  et al.

EGU 2020 General Assembly, EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online (#shareEGU20), May, 4-8 2020.

Student Projects

2024

Vérifications et Impacts d'un microtunnelier. Etude de cas dans le contexte de l'excavation d'un système de récupération des eaux d'un tunnel ferroviaire

N. E. Dufour

2024

Teaching & PhD

Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector

Erika Paltrinieri

Courses

Rock mechanics

CIVIL-308

The students understand the mechanical behaviour of rock materials, joints and rock masses, and are able to determine the factors conditioning civil engineering applications. They are able to use appropriate methods for carrying out analysis and design of tunnel excavation and support.

Underground construction

CIVIL-404

This course is addressed to students who want to deepen their knowledge of underground space and works, including planning, design and management, construction techniques and methods, risk assessment and environmental considerations.