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Over the last decades, numerical methods have gained increasing importance in practical geotechnical engineering and numerical methods have become a standard tool in geotechnical design, widely accepted by the geotechnical profession. The advantages of numerical analyses for solving practical problems have been recognised, and developments in software and hardware allow their application in practice with reasonable effort. However, there is still a gap between practice and research and, often unnecessary, simplifications are made in practice and therefore the full power of numerical analyses is not always utilised. One reason for this discrepancy is a lack of transfer of knowledge from research into practice but also a lack of theoretical background of numerical methods, constitutive modelling and modern soil mechanics in practice. In this paper, the application of advanced numerical models for solving practical geotechnical problems is shown, whereas the examples have been chosen in such a way that different aspects are highlighted in each case. Results from fibre-optic measurements for a pull-out test of a ground anchor in soft soil could be reproduced by employing advanced constitutive models, in particular for the grout, in the bonded length of the anchor. For this test, a class-A prediction has been made and numerical results have then been compared with in situ measurements. The back-analysis of a slow-moving landslide is presented next, where the rate of deformation is influenced by water level changes in a reservoir for a pumping power plant, creep of lacustrine sediments and environmental effects such as rainfall infiltration. Finally, some results of modelling cone penetration testing in silts are presented highlighting the effects of anisotropic permeability.

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In the last decades there has been a massive migration from laboratory testing to in situ testing, to the point that, today, in situ testing is often the major part of a geotechnical investigation. In particular direct‐push in situ tests, such as Cone Penetration Test (CPT) and the Flat Dilatometer Test (DMT), are fast and convenient in situ tests for routine site investigation. The scope of this paper is to describe the DMT and its recent updates, in particular the Seismic Dilatometer Test (SDMT) for measuring shear and compression wave velocities and the automated dilatometer probe (Medusa DMT). An Example of SDMT test results and its application to derive soil stiffness parameters are shown, as well as the result of a class‐A prediction of an anchor pull‐out test, which was calibrated with the SDMT profile.

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