People

Home > People > Riccardo Scarfone

Dr Riccardo Scarfone

Riccardo Scarfone

Dr Riccardo Scarfone is a geotechnical engineer with 11 years of experience in research and industry, with particular emphasis on slope stability, unsaturated soils, seismic soil-structure interaction, piling, mining waste embankments, and numerical modelling. He has a special interest in modelling advanced multi-phase and multi-physics phenomena involved in soil-atmosphere interaction, with particular application to Capillary Barrier Systems employed for slope stability purposes.

View CV [PDF]

View publications

  1. Scarfone, R., & Wheeler, S. J. (2026). Multilayered capillary barrier systems: analytical, numerical, and experimental study. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 152(1): 04025172. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-13912.
  2. Badakhshan, E., Vaunat, J., & Scarfone, R. (2025). A hysteretic water retention model incorporating the soil deformability and its application to rainfall-induced landslides. Computers and Geotechnics, 178, 106912.
  3. Wheeler, S. J., Mudcharoen, P., & Scarfone, R. (2025). Final steady state of sloping capillary barriers under constant intensity rain: development and numerical validation of a simplified method of analysis. Acta Geotechnica, 20(1), 1-21.
  4. Scarfone, R., Schroeder, F. C., Silvano R., Jardine R. J., & Cathie D. (2023). Divergence between CPT based method predictions for the axial capacities of large offshore piles driven in sand. In 9th International SUT OSIG Conference “Innovative Geotechnologies for Energy Transition”, London, United Kingdom, 12-14 September 2023.
  5. Scarfone, R., & Wheeler, S. J. (2023). Capillary Barrier Systems for prevention of rainfall-induced slope instability. In Proceedings of the BGA Georesilience 2023 Conference, Cardiff, United Kingdom, 28th – 29th March 2023.
  6. Scarfone, R., Wheeler, S. J., & Smith, C. C. (2022). Capillary barrier systems for prevention of rainfall-induced slope instability. Ground Engineering, March 2022.
  7. Scarfone, R., Wheeler, S. J., & Smith, C. C. (2022). Numerical modelling of the application of capillary barrier systems for prevention of rainfall-induced slope instability. Acta Geotechnica, 1-24.
  8. Scarfone, R., & Wheeler, S. J. (2022). Analytical and numerical modelling of air trapping during wetting of unsaturated soils. Acta Geotechnica, 1-15.
  9. Sepe, C., Calcaterra, D., Cecconi, M., Di Martire, D., Pappalardo, L., Scarfone, R., … & Russo, G. (2021). Capillary Barriers during Rainfall Events in Pyroclastic Deposits of the Vesuvian Area. Geosciences, 11(7), 274.
  10. Tarantino, A., El Mountassir, G., Wheeler, S., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C., …Scarfone, R., … (2020). TERRE project: interplay between unsaturated soil mechanics and low-carbon geotechnical engineering. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Lisbon, Portugal, 19-21 October 2020.
  11. Scarfone, R., Wheeler, S. J. & Lloret-Cabot, M. (2020). A hysteretic hydraulic constitutive model for unsaturated soils and application to capillary barrier systems. Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 100224.
  12. Scarfone, R. (2020). Modelling the hydraulic behaviour of unsaturated soils and application to the numerical and experimental study of capillary barrier systems. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Glasgow, U.K.
  13. Scarfone, R., Wheeler, S. J. & Lloret-Cabot, M. (2020). Conceptual hydraulic conductivity model for unsaturated soils at low degree of saturation and its application to the study of capillary barrier systems. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 146(10): 04020106. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29GT.1943-5606.0002357
  14. Scarfone, R., Wheeler, S. J. & Smith, C. C. (2020). Numerical study of the application of capillary barrier systems for prevention of rainfall-induced slope instabilities. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Lisbon, Portugal, 19-21 October 2020.
  15. Scarfone, R., Morigi, M. & Conti, R. (2020). Assessment of dynamic soil-structure interaction effects for tall buildings: A 3D numerical approach. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 128, 105864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2019.105864
  16. Scarfone, R., Wheeler, S. J. & Smith, C. C. (2019). Numerical study of the applicability of capillary barrier systems for prevention of rainfall-induced slope Instabilities. MUSLOC 2019, Barcelona, 19-20 September 2019.
  17. Scarfone, R., Lloret-Cabot M. & Wheeler, S. J. (2018). Numerical modelling of water breakthrough in coarse soils initially at very low degree of saturation. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Hong Kong, China, 3-5 August 2018.
  18. Scarfone, R., Lloret-Cabot M. & Wheeler, S. J. (2018). Suction-enhanced geotechnical design through Capillary Barrier Systems. In Proceedings of the 15th BGA Young Geotechnical Engineers’ Symposium, Guildford, UK, 2-3 July 2018.

Areas of expertise

  • Unsaturated soils
  • Numerical analyses
  • Slope stability
  • Foundations
  • Mining waste
  • Climate change resilience
Back to people