Author Archives: Arthur Fanara

1 Postdoc and 1 research student vacancies in Civil / Geotechnical / Digital / Tunnelling Engineering at UCC & CERN

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More information on this pdf file.

Postdoc in data-driven deep learning

the Postdoc will work at UCC in her/his first year and then work at CERN in the second & third years.

The candidate should have a PhD degree in Civil / Geotechnical / Geological / Energy Engineering. Some experience in structural health monitoring and machine learning for civil / geotechnical / geological engineering would be an advantage.

https://my.corehr.com/pls/uccrecruit/erq_search_package.search_form?p_company=5023&p_internal_external=E#

Reference number: 076951                            Closing Date: 10th May 2024

A research student in novel monitoring and AI for large-scale geo-infrastructure

In this project, a research master will focus on data acquisition, data transformation, and feature extraction. The one-year research master (may be extended to a PhD position) will be based at UCC.

Candidate Experience: The postgraduate student candidate should have a minimum 2.1 in an honours Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, or an equivalent standard from an overseas university. All applicants whose first language are not English must meet UCC English language entry requirement (e.g., IELTS or TOEFL).

Application: Please e-mail a CV (max. 2 pages) and a cover letter outlining your experience and motivation to Dr. Zili Li (zili.li@ucc.ie) as soon as possible.  Closing Date: 15th May 2024

Doctoral Position – Creeping Snow modelling – IGE+3SR

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A  doctoral position is available at IGE for developing a 3D coupled model of creeping snow on slopes. This position is part of a project which final goal is to improve the design of snow avalanches protective structures (snow racks).

This position is proposed by IGE-INRAE and 3SR, both located in Grenoble. It will be supervised by T. Faug, B. Chareyre and S. Lambert.

The attached document gives further details on the context and aims of this position, together with the required qualifications for applying.

PhD position in Geotechnical Engineering/Structural Dynamics at Lund University

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Lund University welcomes applicants for a PhD position at the division of Geotechnical Engineering (LTH). The position concerns research in dynamics and wave propagation, applied to installation of steel sheet piles in the ground. The research work includes development of numerical methods and models for analysis of vibrations and dynamic response with particular interest in stop criteria for cases when blocks are encountered during installation. Experimental investigations will be performed for model verification purposes.

Applications should be submitted by the 3rd of May 2024.

More information available at https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:703701/

Summer School ‘Numerical Modelling in Geotechnical Engineering’ at University of Innsbruck!

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Date: 22.07.2024 – 26.07.2024
Location: Universität Innsbruck, Austria (in-person only)

After two very enriching and fun events in 2018 and 2020, we are looking forward to the pleasant discussions and exchanges this summer. We will also offer a side program to spend time with you beyond the numerics. Places are limited, so please register soon, if you are interested!

https://www.uibk.ac.at/en/weiterbildung/health-stem/numerische-modellierung

Gertraud Medicus, Franz Tschuchnigg and Barbara Schneider-Muntau!

ALERT Workshop 2024 – Call for abstracts

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The ALERT Workshop 2024 should be held in Aussois from 30th September to 2nd October, 2024. Abstracts can now be submitted for the sessions. Please submit your abstracts by email directly to the coordinators using the Workshop abstract form (doc). If you wish to publish your presentation after the Workshop on the ALERT website, do not forget to agree by ticking the corresponding box in the abstract form.

Since time for the presentations is limited, only a part of the submitted abstracts can be chosen for the oral presentations. Therefore, we invite you to submit your abstract as soon as possible. The presentation can also be submitted as a poster. The abstracts of the posters will be published in a separate booklet (ISSN registered).

The deadline for the abstract submission is May 24, 2024. For any communication about your participation to the workshops, please contact the coordinators of the workshop sessions directly.

Here is a reminder of the workshop sessions that are opened to abstract, as well as a short description of each of them:

  • Session 1: “Emerging properties in geomaterials across the scales”
    Organizers: Antoine Wautier, Farhang Radjai and Francesco Froiio.

    Geomaterials exhibit a wide range of complex behaviors that are of crucial interest for engineering scale applications or for mitigating natural risk hazards. Such behaviors are often accounted for through continuum mechanics concepts such as constitutive behavior, yield surfaces, hardening law, permeability, shear or compaction bands… Given the complexity of the macroscopic behavior of geomaterials, a current strategy is to use a multi-scale approach either in the lab or in the virtual lab (with DEM, molecular dynamics, X-ray tomography, SEM…), to identify sub-components with simpler behavior. However, in the change of scale, some properties are lost and some emerge.
    In the upscaling, we face the issue of emerging properties fundamentally different from those at lower scales. For instance, sand is usually modeled as non-deformable solids interacting through elastofrictionnal contact laws, but the internal friction angle (macroscale) does not corresponds to the contact friction (micro scale) but incorporate geometrical properties of the microstructure.
    On the contrary, the huge number of degrees of freedom that exist at the microscale is compressed into a much more limited number of macroscopic degrees of freedom. For instance, the displacements and the rotations of thousands of sand grains reduce to the strain tensor (and possibly its derivatives for enriched continuum mechanics) at the representative elementary volume scale. For the stress, the well-known Love-Weber formula, compress contact based information into a second order tensor.
    Working on the mico to macro link is probably the key for a wise use of phenomenological constitutive models (e.g. physics based justification of the parameters) and for an efficient use of multiscale strategies (e.g. FEMxDEM methods save probably too much microscale information).
    In addition, fundamental knowledge on the micro/macro link may prove crucial to anticipate future use of geomaterials subjected to unprecedented loading conditions. Among other conditions, we can think of temperature rises, thawing permafrost, chemical creation or dissolution of bonds, diffusion of pollution, cyclic loadings, recycling materials, varying degrees of saturation…


  • Session 2 (half-day): “Geomechanics at the submicron-scale”
    Organizers: Katerina Ioannidou and Gilles Pijaudier-Cabot.

    Geomaterials usually exhibit complex mechanical behavior across several length and time scales. The submicron scale is relevant for understanding the microstructure and mechanical response of various geomaterials such as rocks, soils, sediments etc. Such materials are usually porous or granular and have been formed under different environmental conditions. At the submicron scale, nanoscale effects become significant. This includes phenomena such as surface roughness, intermolecular forces, pore structure, and distribution of defects which can influence the mechanical behavior of geomaterials. Moreover, processes such as fluid flow through nanopores, adsorption and desorption of fluids on mineral surfaces, and chemical reactions at mineral-fluid interfaces are important for the formation and aging of the microstructure of geological materials.
    This session aims to elucidate processes at the submicron scale either with numerical or experimental techniques that are important for geomechanics. 
    We invite contributions related to, but not limited to, the following topics:
    – Multiscale modeling and simulations of geomechanical processes
    – Fluid-solid interactions and nanopore-scale transport phenomena
    – Nanoindentation and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies of geological materials
    – Microstructure characterization and imaging techniques at submicron scales
    – Fracture mechanics and crack propagation in geomaterials
    – Applications of submicron scale geomechanics in petroleum engineering, geotechnical engineering, environmental science, and materials science
    – Experimental techniques and instrumentation for studying geomechanics at small length scales
    – Advances in nanotechnology for geomechanical applications 



  • Session 3: “Continuum-based particle methods”
    Organizers: Claudio Tamagnini, Lorenzo Sanavia, Matteo Ciantia and Antonia Larese.

    Until relatively recently, most of the mathematical formulations proposed for modeling multiphysics geomechanical problems relied on the assumption of linearized kinematics, i.e., the deformation of the soil mass is sufficiently small such that the current and the reference configurations of the soil body are virtually indistinguishable. However, geometric non-linearity may play an important role in some practical applications. A number of important failure and flow problems are indeed characterized by significant changes in the soil mass geometry and very high deformation levels. A non-exhaustive list of practical applications which require both mechanical and geometrical non-linear characterization of soil behavior include: the evaluation of pile bearing capacity of offshore platforms; the modeling of subsidence phenomena associated to hydrocarbon extraction and sinkhole formation; the study of the effects of pile driving; the interpretation of cone penetration tests under undrained or partially drained conditions; the modeling of slow slope deformations in presence of significant modifications of the slope geometry. The workshop intends to bring together researchers working in these fields to provide an overview of a number of relatively recent numerical methods (for example: MPM, PFEM, Peridynamics, SPH) capable of dealing with extreme deformations as well as non-linear material behavior of the soil mass, still remaining within the realm of continuum mechanics of porous granular materials.

PhD studentship @UNIMIB on the mechanics of large creeping rockslides

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The mechanics of large creeping rockslides: experimental and numerical modeling of hydro-mechanical interactions in basal shear zones

Large rockslides evolve by progressive rock failure and strain localization in basal shear zones, with a time-dependent macroscale behavior (“creep”) anticipating catastrophic collapse. Nonetheless, existing forecasting and Early Warning approaches are often based on empirical descriptions of observed creep styles not accounting for the microscale physical processes governing the transition to collapse. In particular, hydro-mechanical interactions in basal shear zones and their sensitivity to hydrological forcing, especially in climate change scenarios, remain elusive.

This PhD project will explore the effects of mineralogy and evolving texture on the magnitude, timing, and velocity dependence of rockslide shear zone response to stress and pore pressure perturbations. To this end, innovative laboratory creep experiments on natural shear zone materials will be combined with state-of-art constitutive and numerical techniques (e.g. PFEM, MPM), able to model large deformation and strain localization, and compared to field and remotely sensed in situ monitoring data.

We seek a candidate with an engineering/structural geological or geotechnical background, motivated to work in a multi- disciplinary team with strong geological, geotechnical, and computational expertise, to improve our understanding of large landslide behavior in a risk reduction perspective. The research will be carried out in collaboration with Sapienza University of Rome (Rock Mechanics and Earthquake Physics Lab) and the Universidad de Los Andes (Chile), where the PhD student will spend a research period.

Supervisors:  Prof. Federico Agliardi (federico.agliardi@unimib.it) & Prof. Matteo Ciantia (matteo.ciantia@unimib.it)

call for application link

Open PhD project in ISTerre Université Grenoble Alpes

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The project focuses on the process of maturation of active faults in the upper crust by chemical alteration of their fault walls, and on the feedback between alteration and tectonic activity. This topic is at the center of the AlterAction ANR project (https://anr-alteraction.osug.fr) gathering 20 scientists from four institutions funded for 42 months (2024 2027).

More information on this pdf file.

Postdoc position at DMEX Centre for X-ray Imaging, Pau, France

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At the DMEX center for X-ray Imaging in Pau, France, we apply X-ray imaging to study a plethora of things, employing advanced X-ray tomography methods, including spectral tomography. We are currently seeking a motivated postdoc to use this technique in order to develop a methodology for estimating the amount of natural hydrogen present in the North American intracratonic zone, in collaboration with IFPEN.

You can download the job offer here: English or French.
Interviews will take place until a suitable candidate is found.   

PhD position at the University of Edinburgh

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Applications are welcome for a fully funded PhD position on the response of backfill soil – seawall interaction subjected to sea level rise.

This is an exciting PhD position within the framework of the Project “PIONEER: An adaptation approach for resilient coastal infrastructure against sea level rise”, a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and Virginia Tech, funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

For further information on the eligibility criteria and application process, please follow the link below:

https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/research/phd/impact-sea-level-rise-backfill-soil-%E2%80%93-seawall-interaction

The position is available for Home/EU and International students.

Application deadline is May 15th!

Further enquiries on the vacancy can be directed to Dr Melis Sutman (melis.sutman@ed.ac.uk)

PhD Full Scholarship Application at the University of Liverpool

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Scholarship Coverage: The scholarship includes full tuition (available for both local and international students) and an annual living stipend of £19,237 (tax free), for a funding period of 4 years.

Research Topic: Optimising Trenching Techniques for Subsea Cable Installation

Main Research Focus: The research will focus on optimising trenching techniques for the installation of subsea cables, utilising the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) within the existing research group.

Industrial Collaboration: UK Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) Ltd

Suitable Fields: This scholarship is suitable for graduate students with backgrounds in mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geological engineering, mechanical engineering, or related fields with experience in computer simulation.

Application Deadline: May 20, 2024 (British time)

Application Link: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/studentships/optimising-trenching-techniques-for-subsea-cable-installation/

Additional Information: This scholarship is part of the UKRI EPSRC CDT – Net Zero Maritime Energy Solutions (N0MES). The centre has 33 partners in the maritime energy sector, and N0MES doctoral researchers will conduct interdisciplinary research related to maritime energy.

Collaborating Supervisor: Dr. Xue Zhang (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/engineering/staff/xue-zhang/) Contact Email: xue.zhang2@liverpool.ac.uk