Geomechanics and Engineering Geology
The Geomechanics research team aims to better understand the behaviour of geomaterials (soils, natural and artificial rocks) and geotechnical structures under complex loading. The numerical tools developed within the team and the experimental equipment available enable the study of couplings between physical phenomena within geomaterials, as well as their interactions with structures subjected to environmental and anthropic actions.
Field of expertise
The field of research of the Geomechanics team is the study of geomaterials, starting from its identification and mechanical characterization in the laboratory, and going up to its complex numerical modeling, taking into account the different scales of its structure.
We develop the Lagamine finite element calculation code, to describe in detail the different transport phenomena (of fluids, heat or chemical compounds), the complex mechanical behaviour of these porous media, as well as the couplings between them. These developments lead us to experimentally study and numerically model these geomaterials at different scales, relevant to the study of the different processes under study.
Research topics
The team's activities are oriented towards the following themes:
- Deep geological nuclear waste disposals;
- Shrinkage and swelling in argellaceous materials;
- The thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of clay materials;
- Multiphase flows in low-permeability environments ;
- The behaviour of wind turbine foundations and large structures ;
- Exploitation of oil reservoirs ;
- Geothermal energy.
Research Team
Academic staff
Prof. Bertrand François
Prof. Frédéric Collin
Laboratory of Geotechnology
Pierre Illing (manager)
Mathilde Piette (technician)
Researchers
Gilles Corman (doctoral researcher)
Sophie De Kock (doctoral researcher)
Hesam Ebrahimisadr (doctoral researcher)
Arthur Fanara (doctoral researcher)
Yannick Kiyukeno Kitwanyoka (doctoral researcher)
Abhishek Rawat (post-doctoral researcher)
Hangbiao Song (doctoral researcher)
Aoxi Zhang (post-doctoral researcher)