Draft:Guillermo A. Narsilio

• Comment: I've no idea why the citations are wrapped inside nowiki's; could you remove them, please, so the cites render correctly. DoubleGrazing (talk) 09:50, 11 July 2026 (UTC)

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Guillermo Narsilio

Guillermo A. Narsilio is an Argentinian-Australian Civil Engineer and at The University of Melbourne, Australia; specialising in Geotechnical Engineering. He currently serves as Head of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering. and Chair of the ISSMGE Technical Committee 308 on Energy Geotechnics. Prof. Narsilio works on geothermal energy systems and sustainable infrastructure, with particular focus on energy geostructures.

Early life and education

From humble beginnings at the public primary school Ruben Dario, Narsilio then completed his Bachelor in Social Sciences and Humanities at the Colegio Nacional de Monserrat (1995), and his undergraduate studies at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering (2001). He achieved summa cum laude honours. After a year of industry experience, he moved to the USA to pursue his PhD in early 2002.

At the Georgia Institute of Technology, Prof Narsilio earned both a Master of Science in Geotechnical Engineering (2003) and a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics (2006). He completed his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the same institution in 2006. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Spatial variability and terminal density: Implication in soil behavior" under the supervision of J. Carlos Santamarina, a prominent researcher in his field worldwide.

Following his PhD, Narsilio moved to Australia as a Research Fellow (a postdoctoral appointment) at The University of Melbourne, working under the guidance of David Smith.

Academic career

Following his postdoctoral appointment in 2006, Narsilio permanently joined The University of Melbourne as a Lecturer in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering as it was called then, in 2009. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2012, then to Associate Professor in 2018, a few years after his appointment as Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, and eventually to full Professor in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering in 2022. He served as Deputy Head (Research) of the department taking responsibility for the research portfolio. Since 2025, he has served as Head of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering.

From approximately 2014-2019, Narsilio held an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship focused on geothermal energy research with space heating and cooling applications. The ARC also appointed him to serve on the College of Experts from 2018 to 2021, where he participated in peer review processes for national research funding.

Research

Narsilio's research centres on several interconnected areas within geotechnical engineering. His primary focus is geothermal energy systems, including both shallow and deep applications. He studies energy geostructures such as energy piles, energy-retaining walls, and geothermal pavements that serve dual structural and thermal energy-harvesting purposes.

His work uniquely incorporates full scale and laboratory experimentation with computational methods and numerical modelling to understand soil and rock behaviour, with emphasis in heat transfer and fluid flow in porous media. Narsilio is also known for his work on multi-scale characterisation of porous materials using techniques like X-ray computed tomography combined with complex network theory analysis. Some work on near-surface geophysics, primarily in the field, has been led by him as well.

Notable projects

Narsilio led the geothermal design and pilot construction of the Melbourne Metro’s energy retaining wall at State Library Station in Melbourne working with construction company John Holland and the State Government of Victoria. He also led the the energy geostructures design for the Melbourne Connect building, an innovation hub at The University of Melbourne, working with construction company Lendlease. The project integrated traditional borehole geothermal systems and energy foundations where building piles also function as heat exchangers.

He provided consulting services for Rail Projects Victoria on geothermal structures at State Library Station in Melbourne. Through his company Fourth Element Energy, Narsilio and team also designed geothermal systems for an extension of Puerto Vallarta International Airport in Mexico, collaborating with the National Autonomous University of Mexico¹⁰.

Publications

According to his Google Scholar profile, Narsilio has an h-index of 42 and an i10-index of 118. His ResearchGate profile lists 198 publications as of late 2025. Some of his most cited works include

• Johnston, I.W., Narsilio, G.A., & Colls, S. (2011). "Emerging geothermal energy technologies." KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 15(4), 643-653.
• Narsilio, G.A., Buzzi, O., Fityus, S., Yun, T.S., & Smith, D.W. (2009). "Upscaling of Navier--Stokes equations in porous media: Theoretical, numerical and experimental approach." Computers and Geotechnics, 36(7), 1200-1206.
• van der Linden, J.H., Narsilio, G.A., & Tordesillas, A. (2016). "Machine learning framework for analysis of transport through complex networks in porous, granular media: A focus on permeability." Physical Review E, 94(2), 022904.
• Lu, Q., Narsilio, G.A., Aditya, G.R., & Johnston, I.W. (2017). "Economic analysis of vertical ground source heat pump systems in Melbourne." Energy, 125, 107-117.
• Gu X., Makasis N., Motamedi Y., Narsilio G.A., Arulrajah A., Horpibulsuk S. (2022), "Geothermal pavements: field observations, numerical modelling and long-term performance". Geotechnique, 72 (9), 832–846

He co-authored a chapter titled "Shallow Geothermal Energy: An Emerging Technology" in the book Low Carbon Energy Supply published by Springer Singapore in 2018.

Professional service

Narsilio chairs the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) Technical Committee 308 on Energy Geotechnics. This committee promotes research and develops guidelines for geotechnical applications in energy production and storage.

He served as Chair of the Victoria Chapter of the Australian Geomechanics Society from 2019 to 2020. Narsilio is also an editorial board member for the journal Environmental Geotechnics (formerly), the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, and the Journal of Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, representing Australia.

Awards and recognition

• Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (approximately 2014-2019)
• Australian Research Council College of Experts member (2018-2021)
• Australian Academy of Science workshop funding in 2015 (with Antoinette Tordesillas) for an Elizabeth and Frederick White Research Conference on "Mining Data for Detection and Prediction of Failure in Geomaterials"

Entrepreneurship and industry engagement

Narsilio founded Fourth Element Energy Pty Ltd (4EE), an engineering design company specializing in geothermal projects that emerged from The University of Melbourne's TRaM accelerator program.

He co-founded AquaTerra, an agricultural technology startup with Amir Orangi, and others. The company develops soil sensing hardware, IoT platforms, and analytics to provide farmers with real-time soil data for improved productivity and resource conservation.

Narsilio is a founding director of the Australasian Renewable Earth Energy Association (AREEA), a charity promoting renewable earth energy