Going to Aussois by train: Update

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Dear colleagues,

For those of you coming by train to Aussois this year, we have booked a transportation by bus between the Chambéry station and the Centre Paul-Langevin. Here are the final information:

  • Sunday 24/09 at 18:30, a bus will leave the station. There is space for 100 people so don’t worry, you’ll get on the bus!
  • Wednesday 27/09 at 18:45, a bus will arrive at the station. It should therefore leave the Centre Paul-Langevin at around 16:45. Of course, the bus will come back to the Centre with the people coming for the doctoral school.
  • Saturday 30/09 at 15:00, a bus will arrive at the station. It should therefore leave the Centre Paul-Langevin at around 13:00.

We hope this solution suits everyone, see you in Aussois!

Going to Aussois following the landslide

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Dear ALERT members,

Many of ALERT Workshop and School participants already contacted us about the difficulty to get a train connection to Aussois. Some of you received a message related to the cancelling of their train ticket.

The reason of these canceled trains is the rock slope instability that occured in the Maurienne Valley on Sunday 27th August (see a French article here). As a researcher in geomechanics, this instability problem is really interesting.

However, its consequence is the following: the train connections, the highway and the regional roads are currently closed due to this instability.

We may hope that the highways will be open very soon but it will not be the case for the train lines. That means that the travel by car to Aussois at the end of September should be possible.

The Bureau is in contact with the Center Paul Langevin to try to find a solution to the problem.

For the people coming from France to Aussois (by train), we propose you to take a train to Chambéry and we will organise a bus between Chambéry station and Aussois the Sunday 24th at 6:30 pm.

We will organise also a bus connection between Chambéry station and Aussois the Wednesday 27th at 6:45 pm. The same organisation will be foreseen at the end of the workshop (Wednesday 27th at 6:45pm at the station) and school (Saturday 30th at 3pm at the station) .

We will send directly a message to the participant that declared to come by train to Aussois.

We will do our best to organize the transfer.

For the people coming from Italy to Aussois, the situation is a bit more complex and we would suggest to organize your travel to Aussois by car.

We will of course keep you informed in case of any changes.

Thank you again for your support and hoping to see you in Aussois!

Best regards,
Frédéric COLLIN.

Postdoctoral position open at Centrale Nantes in experimental and numerical characterization of shear cracks along rough interfaces

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A postdoctoral position is open at Centrale Nantes, within the Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical Engineering (GeM) https://gem.ec-nantes.fr. The position comes in the context of the NExT project: ”Understanding failure of frictional interfaces”. Understanding the behavior of dynamic shear cracks and friction evolution is relevant for a wide range of problems in different fields, such as fiber pull-out in the failure of composite materials, bimaterial structures and adhesive joints produced using advanced manufacturing techniques for automotive, electronics and biology applications. Shear ruptures are also relevant to the study of earthquakes occurring as ruptures along faults in the Earth’s crust. Interface roughness controls rupture behavior along interfaces, and it influences a broad class of rupture mechanics issues including dynamic propagation, which results in catastrophic failure.

The postdoctoral position focuses on investigating the role of roughness on shear crack propagation and friction evolution using a combined experimental and numerical approach. This project will enhance our understanding of fundamental physical processes governing failure of materials and interfaces. It will also entail the advancement of experimental and computational mechanics techniques.

The postdoctoral scholar will be supervised in conjunction by Vito Rubino https://www.ec-nantes.fr/m-vito-rubino and Ioannis Stefanou http://coquake.eu/index.php/group. The position is fully funded for 12 months (and can be extended up to 18 months) under the NExT Junior Talent program. Highly‐motivated candidates with the required skills should submit an application (including a CV, cover letter describing interests and qualifications related to the project, and contact details of two references) to Dr. Vito Rubino at vito.rubino@ec-nantes.fr.

More information on this pdf file or on this website.

Information about ALERT Doctoral School 2023

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Dear participants,

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the 2023 ALERT Doctoral School on “Machine Learning in Geomechanics”.

Don’t forget to bring your laptop and refresh your knowledge in Python.

Please also fill out the following survey, which will be very helpful for the teachers:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdR7_LVY4s0fNfl6d-Imuw6PLBYfuUV5uah4AqWAU3dsahFog/viewform

Best regards, Felix Darve and Ioannis Stefanou

Postdoctoral position at KULeuven on offshore wind turbines foundations

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In the framework of the research project “Soil ageing around offshore wind turbine foundations – from operational response to decommissioning” (SAGE-SAND), we are looking for a motivated and computational mechanics-oriented postdoctoral researcher with an interest in advanced numerical modeling to realistically predict pile drivability and extractability.

This postdoctoral position is part of the research project “Soil ageing around offshore wind turbine foundations – from operational response to decommissioning” (SAGE-SAND) that is co-supervised by different academic partners (KULeuven, UCLouvain, ULiège). The project focuses on foundations for Offshore Wind Turbines (OWT), which are characterized by large installation costs and environmental impact.  In order to improve both of these aspects, the project investigates the evolution during multiple years of soils’ mechanical properties, i.e. soil ageing, and the alternative use of vibratory driving for installation and decommissioning of offshore (mono)piles. Unique full-scale tests with extensive monitoring, advanced laboratory tests, and numerical modeling at multiple spatial scales will provide guidelines for future design. The project has a duration of 3 years and includes large scale in-situ pile tests and monitoring, advanced micromechanical characterization and testing (SEM, X-ray microtomography,…), micromechanical modelling (discrete element method, phase field modelling,…), and nonlinear dynamic modelling of the pile-soil system at the macroscale.

The postdoctoral position focuses on advanced numerical modeling of pile installation and extraction at the macro-scale, accounting for the liquefaction behavior of the soil to realistically predict pile drivability and extractability. The soil-pile system is modeled by means of the Material Point Method (MPM), accounting for dynamic soil-structure interaction and the presence of pore water.

For more information please contact Stijn François (stijn.francois@kuleuven.be) or Hadrien Rattez (UCLouvain, hadrien.rattez@uclouvain.be).

You can apply for this job online no later than October 18, 2023

More information on the application procedure is available on this website: https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/60258491

Invitation to the Pan IIT Lecture series on Geotechnical Engineering: AGERP 2023

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Thank you for your support to the AGERP lecture series from the past three years. At AGERP’20 AGERP’21, and AGERP’22, we have had 38 lectures and 1 panel discussion that brought together more than 40 renowned geoengineering experts and a huge audience from 126 countries through a free to access knowledge sharing platform. Apart from the generous support from the experts that appeared in the past three editions of, it is your participation and appreciation that largely contributed to the success of AGERP.

In the first three editions of the AGERP lecture series, we covered quite a breadth of topics related to geotechnical engineering. In the fourth edition, we are looking forward to offering the global audience a glimpse of the cutting-edge research conducted in the field of geotechnical engineering by the top engineering institutions in India – the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). To that end,  we are pleased to invite you to the PAN IIT Lecture series on Geotechnical Engineering, scheduled to be held on 19th to 20th September 2023 (India | Australia). You may register for the workshop at www.age-rp.com. Program for the workshop is summarised in the Flyer (In IST and AEST).

Géotechnique 75th Anniversary

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The journal Géotechnique is hosting an event on the 27th October 2023 at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London to celebrate its 75th anniversary (https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/page/ice-news/geot75). We wish to gather the geotechnical community to cherish Géotechnique’s past research and look forward, to future fundamental and applied research.

The day is organised around three main themes:

  • Theme 1 – Soil micromechanics: from surface physics and chemistry to macro engineering applications
  • Theme 2 – Bio-assisted geotechnics: effective strategy in a Net Zero Carbon World?
  • Theme 3 – Artificial Intelligence in geotechnics: virtual dream or practical reality?


Each theme session will include:

  • Introductory Lecture offering a multidisciplinary perspective of the research theme (Lecturers are Prof Carlos Santamarina, Prof Glyn Bengough, and Prof Darren Wilkinson)
  • Géotechnique Research Lecture to cherish the past and look forward to the future (Lecturers are Prof Catherine O’Sullivan, Prof Jason DeJong and Prof Antonio Correia)
  • Discussion
  • Poster session (10 posters per theme)

The event programme is available here.
Tickets are available here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/geotechnique-75th-anniversary-2368059

Research engineer Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) processes in geomaterials

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To test the safety and feasibility of geological disposal of radioactive waste in deep clay layers under real conditions, SCK CEN started in 1980 with the construction of a laboratory at 225 meters below ground level (HADES). Here, engineers test the safety and feasibility for building and operation of the waste repository: How can we build tunnels and side tunnels? Scientists perform research into the thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical characteristics of clay and the interaction between the radioactive waste and the surrounding engineered barriers and host clay. How will the clay behave after excavation of the tunnels and the disposal of the waste? What is the impact of the heat-emitting waste on the clay formation? How can we study the stability of the galleries? Apply now for this job offer, and help us answering these questions.. 

More information on that website. Deadline : 17/09/2023

Postdoc opening in the field of geomechanics

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A postdoc position is now open in geomechanics at Department of Geotechnical Engineering of Tongji University, China (ranked 1st for civil engineering by U.S. News and ARWU). The project is on the characterization of the inelastic processes of geomaterials under multi-physics processes (i.e., Thermal-Hydro-Chemo-Mechanical coupling in carbon dioxide sequestration and energy storage systems).

The postdoc will perform independent research under the supervision of Dr. Xianda Shen. This is a two-year fixed term contract with possible extensions if needed and can be started immediately. Annual salary is around EUR 40,000 with extra bonus based on performance and contributions to the department.

Interested applicants can forward a single PDF consisting of a 1-page cover letter, a full CV, and contact details of two references to Dr. Xianda Shen (xshen@tongji.edu.cn). The review of candidates will begin on October 1st, 2023, and applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For any additional information, see the attached pdf, visit the lab website (https://xiandashen.github.io./), or please write a message to xshen@tongji.edu.cn.