TOPIC: This project will exploit state-of-the-art experimental techniques to examine the evolution of water-repellent soil hydro-mechanical behaviour on the microstructural and macrostructural scale. It is well understood that microscopic interactions between water menisci and soil particles govern the macroscopic mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils. However, how water repellency affects those interactions is largely unknown. Successfully accounting for the effect of repellency on soil hydro-mechanical behaviour could yield significant benefits to geotechnical design.

UNI: University of Edinburgh – supervised by Dr C. Beckett (in collaboration with Heriot-Watt university among others)

FUNDING: EU-UK students will receive a monthly stipend

WHEN: We are happy to start asap.

For more information contact Zeynep Karatza: zkaratza@ed.ac.uk