The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering seeks to recruit a talented researcher to a 24-month Research Associate position. The new Associate is required to demonstrate research experience in either Soil Mechanics, Soil Science or Plant Science. Within this project the Research Associate will work on a bioinspired system that uses emerging materials and concepts in geotechnical engineering to mimic the wicking mechanisms that plants use for transpiration. This position is funded by the EPSRC New Investigator Awards project: An ‘energy free’ pump: nanoporous gels to passively lift subsurface water” led by Dr Matteo Pedrotti.

The aim of the project is to develop a bioinspired pump capable of passively lifting subsurface water, from depths of tens-to hundreds of meters, using only energy that is provided naturally by the atmosphere. Through the design of a colloidal silica-based hydrogel that can be injected into soils and rocks, a soil-hydrogel network will be created that has an increased soil hydraulic conductivity and water retention capacity during periods of high negative soil water pressure, thus enabling the passive lifting of water from the deep groundwater table to near-surface soils during periods of drought. Providing a zero-energy engineering solution at the nexus between water, energy and food.

The project will tackle three specific challenges: to manipulate the hydrogel properties so that a sufficient water flux is provided over a desired range of negative pore water pressure values, whilst still maintaining injectability (a low initial viscosity and controllable gel time); to create a continuous, durable network of nanopores within the grouted soil that is resistant to repeated cycles of wetting and drying, i.e. the system must not irreversibly cavitate (form cracks or bubbles) at high negative water pressure, or the long-term hydraulic continuity will be lost; to demonstrate that plants can thrive when connected to an “Energyfree water pump”.

More information on this pdf file.

We are opening a PhD position in geology and geomechanics at Université Clermont Auvergne, Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, France.The main objective of the PhD project is to model the fracturing processes occurring in volcanique edifices, by a numerical model using Discrete Element Method.We are looking forward to receiving applications from highly-motivated candidates with a Master’s degree in geology, geomechanics, civil engineering, mechanics or physics with a specific motivation for volcanology, modeling, programming. The position is funded for 3 years starting on Sept 2022. The call expires on the 30th of April 2022.

The full PhD proposal is on this pdf file (FRENCH) and on this pdf file (ENGLISH).

Interested candidates can write to: karim.kelfoun@uca.fr https://lmv.uca.fr/kelfoun-karim/

A 12 months Post-Doc position is currently available for working on DEM modelling with realistic shape descriptors in the RECOVER unit (INRAE, Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France) with Dr Jérôme Duriez.

Please see https://nextcloud.inrae.fr/s/xS47gAqobaX8yqL for more details and application procedure.

The LEMTA’s soil mechanics research team seeks a PhD on the following subject: “Applications of Artificial Intelligence for deciphering strength development of binder-soil mixtures in the context of soil stabilization”

The research team developed over the past two decades a thorough knowledge concerning the stabilized soils’ behavior with outstanding laboratory equipment (https://lemta.univ-lorraine.fr/mecanique-des-sols-2/) [7-11]. A considerable database has been constructed including experimental data from different geotechnical tests (UCS, triaxial and shear box, oedometer, permeability…). An extensive testing program is currently running to investigate the impact of multiple wetting-drying cycles on the mechanical performance to explore the treatment durability issue.

The PhD objectives can be summarized by: (i) optimizing the database structure to make it appropriate for generating the training, testing and validation datasets for AI/ML models; (ii) perform statistical data analysis to give insight of the correlations and tendencies for selecting the best candidate predictors from the datasets; (iii) using AI techniques (including ANN and Deep Learning) to develop predictive models for post-curing properties including long-term behavior and (iv) develop and validate data-driven design tools for engineering practice.

Contact information:
Supervisor: Prof. Olivier CUISINIER, olivier.cuisinier@univ-lorraine.fr
Co-supervisor: Dr. Adel ABDALLAH, adel.abdallah@univ-lorraine.fr

More information on this pdf file.

The GEM institute, Nantes University (France), is looking for a candidate for a PhD thesis as part of the ANR (French National Research Agency) project PERSÉE (Permeability evolution of granular soils in an internal erosion context). The aim of this PhD thesis is to develop a model to predict the evolution of the permeability of granular soils during the suffusion process. Such a model needs to take into account the evolution of the granular micro-structure (pore size and constriction size distributions). The PhD thesis is described in the attached pdf file.

The interested candidate can apply by filling the questionnaire on the link below: https://questionnaires.univ-nantes.fr/index.php/983331?lang=en

The deadline for the application is April 20^th 2022.

We are looking forward to receiving your applications.

We are opening a tenure track position (6 years) in the field of Geomechanics for energy at École des Ponts ParisTech, Navier laboratory, France. The application from young researchers is particularly encouraged.

Deadline for application: 16 May 2022.

More information on the project and the application process here:
https://www.ecoledesponts.fr/en/navier-cpj

You will join our collaborative team to develop safety envelopes for partially saturated granular materials under cyclic loading using a hydro-mechanical geotechnical model.

You will focus primarily on numerically modelling of partially saturated cyclic granular response as a function of geotechnical inputs (e.g. particle size distribution, moisture content, density, saturation ratio) and input energy. The role will involve interpreting the results from the numerical model to develop a generalised model or safety envelope to enable prediction of liquefaction of a range of partially saturated granular materials under a range of cyclic loading. The role may also involve some adaptation and extension of the finite element code.

It is essential you have a  PhD or equivalent professional qualifications and experience in computational modelling of partially saturated soil mechanics and cyclic loading as relevant to the project eg. civil engineering, geotechnical engineering a long with a background in partially saturated and cyclic geotechnical numerical modelling. In addition, you will have constitutive modelling and programming skills. Experience using Abaqus FEA and GiD post processor software and programming in Fortran and Python is preferable.

This research project is inter-disciplinary, and you will work with team members who have expertise in geomaterials, ship science and GIS data integration. The project forms part of an international, cross-sector, multi-disciplinary project funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation ‘Solid Bulk Cargo Liquefaction: Strategies for Effective Controls.’

You will be based at the new National Infrastructure Laboratory on the University’s Boldrewood Innovation Campus, and you will be embedded within professional networks addressing the challenges of onshore and offshore infrastructure and decarbonisation as part of the Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute (SMMI) and the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC).

We can offer an attractive research environment on our new Boldrewood campus, the latest facilities and access to a variety of staff development opportunities.

Please go to https://jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=1762822EF for more information and to apply for the this position.

Job description

Within the Computing Centre for Geotechnical Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering of Zhejiang University (QS Ranking 2022: 45^th) located at Hangzhou, China, we are looking for 5 highly motivated and enthusiastic Postdoctoral Research Fellows.

• Position 1: Piled foundations and applications in offshore engineering. The fellow will work on numerical simulations of close-ended and open-ended pile installations, improving the current design methods for determining the loading capacity of piles used in offshore geotechnical engineering. The position offers a great opportunity to collaborate with internationally recognized experts on piled foundations.
  Collaborator: Prof. Zhongxuan YANG

• Position 2: Multiscale and multiphysics modelling of granular materials using hybrid methods and/or machine learning approaches. The fellow will work on FEM/DEM, SPH/DEM or LBM/DEM coupling approaches, develop deep learning approaches that can be applied to constitutive modelling of soils and geotechnical boundary value problems.
  Collaborator: Dr Ning GUO

• Position 3: Computational geomechanics, simulation of earthquake processes, fossil energy extraction and carbon dioxide storage. The fellow will develop computational models and conduct numerical research in subsurface geomechanics for carbon geological storage. Particular emphasis will be put on characterizing and predicting the performance of caprocks subjected to Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical loadings.
  Collaborator: Dr Fushen LIU

• Position 4: Innovative and advanced laboratory testing and characterizing mechanical properties of geomaterials. The fellow will conduct laboratory investigations to characterize the mechanical properties of geomaterials, and innovative experiments to reveal the mechanism from either micro- or macro-perspectives. Possible topics include but are not limited to soil liquefaction, soil dynamics, ground improvement, et al.
  Collaborator: Dr Xiao WEI

• Position 5: Micromechanics of granular materials, constitutive modelling of soils, strain localisation of granular soils, numerical modelling of large-deformation geotechnical problems. The fellow will work on quantifying fabric evolution of granular materials under complex loadings using numerical simulation methods, construct micromechanics-informed constitutive relations and analyse large-deformation geotechnical problems involving strain localization.
  Collaborator: Dr Chaofa ZHAO

Application

For your application, you are welcome to choose one or more positions. Please send your application to Dr Chaofa ZHAO, chaofa.zhao@zju.edu.cn. The application deadline is May 31, 2022.

For any questions, please feel free to contact Dr Chaofa ZHAO, chaofa.zhao@zju.edu.cn.

More information on this pdf file.