ALERT Geomaterials Workshop 2020

Session 1 “Forecasting landslide displacements”  – 28th September 2020

Coordinators: Sabatino Cuomo (UniSa), Jean Vaunat (CIMNE), Núria M. Pinyol (UPC)

Dear Colleagues,

the Workshop is organized in the framework of the agreement between ALERT Geomaterials and the international LARAM School (LAndslide Risk Assessment and Mitigation, University of Salerno).

Geomechanics-driven models will be presented, including issues like incrementally non-linear behaviour of soil, hydro-mechanical coupling, weathering process, rate- and thermal effects. These models are widely applied for slope analysis at local scale, especially for back-analysis of failures, individuation of the key factors for failure, investigation of triggering mechanisms, modelling of post-failure and tempo-spatial evolution of slopes. Contributions about small-strain approaches for cohesive soils, large-displacements approaches for slope failures evolving into flows, or landslide propagation analysis are welcome.

Engineering-oriented procedures will also presented in the context of landslide risk theory to provide relevant information for early-warning systems, urban planning maps, countermeasures against landslide movement and land control tools operational, both at slope scale and over wide areas.

The two classes of tools are really complementary and they should be ideally integrated to effectively tackle the forecasting of landslide displacements. And, in fact the Workshop aims at reinforcing the links between the scholars coming from ALERT and LARAM communities.

DEADLINE: 30th April 2020 to send title and abstract of presentations (only abstract respecting the format suggested by ALERT, can be accepted).

SUBMISSION: please send your abstract to: scuomo@unisa.it

Best regards, see you in Aussois

Sabatino, Jean and Nuria


Session 2 “ Machine Learning and Geomechanics ”  – 29th September 2020

Coordinators: Ioannis Stefanou (EC-Nantes) and Felix Darve (3SR)

Machine Learning (ML) is a promising ensemble of mathematical tools and methods that have already lead to astonishing results in science and technology.

The objective of this session is to demonstrate that machine learning can be used to bypass some of the current limitations of several experimental and numerical methods in the field of geomaterials, geomechanics and more generally in solid mechanics.

There is hope that this new approach may lead to more realistic, physics-based models with several applications in geo-energy resources (e.g. geothermal energy, oil and gaz extraction, …), in nuclear waste disposal, in CO2 sequestration, and in the prediction and prevention of natural risks (e.g. earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, rockfalls, snow avalanches, debris flows, …).

The session will consist of invited talks only. Renowned invited speakers will share their experience on ML showing the large perspectives of the method in solid mechanics and geomechanics.


Session 3 “Bridging the gap between experiments and modelling: from laboratory testing to material models prediction”  – 30th September

Coordinators: Béatrice Baudet (b.baudet@ucl.ac.uk) (University College London, U.K.), Federica Cotecchia (federica.cotecchia@poliba.it) (Politecnico di Bari, Italy), Cristina Jommi (cristina.jommi@polimi.it) (Politecnico di Milano, Italy) and (C.Jommi@tudelft.nl) (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)

At this point in time, when soil laboratory testing has advanced to the extent that we can determine the contact behaviour between two grains, while soils can be modelled at the microscale with realistic particle properties, it may be a good time to pause and ask: are we really aware of what aspects of the soil internal processes we are modelling? This day session attempts to address this. The morning is organized around sessions on laboratory testing providing evidence of a behavioural framework consolidated, natural and compacted soils, and assess how the different processes determine aspects of the behaviour. In the afternoon, examples of how some of that evidence is integrated in modelling are given. The morning and afternoon sessions will close with a 40-minute discussion.  

The sessions will be divided into: 1. Experimental evidence of physical processes in soils and their experimental characterisation, 2. Modelling micromechanical properties and processes with discrete mechanics, and 3. Continuum modelling of micromechanical processes with macromechanics. The modelling sessions should focus on models that actively account for experimental observations.

DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION: Abstracts are invited to be submitted to the organisers by 30th April 2020 (respecting the format suggested by ALERT). Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to give a presentation within the appropriate mini-session.    

Site Administrator Succession

Dear ALERT community,

After two years, 250 posts and a quarter million notification emails sent, the time has come. It is not without regret that I leave the website administrator role and other direction duties; being in the core of the ALERT Bureau alongside with Frédéric Collin has been a thrilling adventure for me. I had the honour to be the successor of Max Wiebicke, he did such a remarkable task that we still praise his legacy nowadays. François Bertrand is next to take the relay; I am convinced of his capacity to do the job in the most efficient manner.

Thanks to everyone and goodbye,

Albert Argilaga Claramunt

Registration for the ALERT Workshop & School 2019 (last day reminder)

The registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and School 2019 is open now! Find the preliminary program of the Workshop and school here. Please read the hints in the registration form! After filling the form and pressing the button “Register”, a window will open with your invoice. Please print the window with the invoice for your records! You will also get an email with the registration data afterwards. In case of the registration of the ALERT members, the corresponding representative of the ALERT institution will receive the registration data too.

Link to the registration form (inscriptions closed)

The deadline for the registration is the September 18th! The accommodation in Aussois will be processed in the order of the registrations (see the hints in the registration form). Please note that the number of rooms in the CNRS “Centre Paul Langevin“ is limited.
See also hints on how to get to Aussois!

ALERT Poster session 2019 (Deadline extension)

The ALERT Poster session will be held during the ALERT Workshop in September 30 – October 2, 2019 in Aussois. Those who are interested are asked to submit their abstracts (both word/openoffice and pdf files are required) by email to the coordinators Nadia Benahmed (nadia.benahmed@irstea.fr) and Antoine Wautier (antoine.wautier@irstea.fr) using the attached abstract form (Template). Deadline: September 13th

Registration for the ALERT Workshop & School 2019 (Reminder)

The registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and School 2019 is open now! Find the preliminary program of the Workshop and school here. Please read the hints in the registration form! After filling the form and pressing the button “Register”, a window will open with your invoice. Please print the window with the invoice for your records! You will also get an email with the registration data afterwards. In case of the registration of the ALERT members, the corresponding representative of the ALERT institution will receive the registration data too.

(inscriptions closed)

The deadline for the registration is the September 18th! The accommodation in Aussois will be processed in the order of the registrations (see the hints in the registration form). Please note that the number of rooms in the CNRS “Centre Paul Langevin“ is limited.
See also hints on how to get to Aussois!

ALERT Poster session 2019 (Reminder)

The ALERT Poster session will be held during the ALERT Workshop in September 30 – October 2, 2019 in Aussois. Those who are interested are asked to submit their abstracts (both word/openoffice and pdf files are required) by email to the coordinators Nadia Benahmed (nadia.benahmed@irstea.fr) and Antoine Wautier (antoine.wautier@irstea.fr) using the attached abstract form (Template).

11th ALERT Olek Zienkiewicz course. 28-31 October 2019, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, France

The 11th ALERT Olek Zienkiewicz course 2019: Petroleum Geomecganics will be held from the 28th to the 31st of October 2019 in Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, France

The course is organised by the Alliance of Laboratories in Europe for Education, Research and Technology (ALERT), the 
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.

More information and contact in the website

Registration for the ALERT Workshop & School 2019 is open!

The registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and School 2019 is open now! Find the preliminary program of the Workshop and school here. Please read the hints in the registration form! After filling the form and pressing the button “Register”, a window will open with your invoice. Please print the window with the invoice for your records! You will also get an email with the registration data afterwards. In case of the registration of the ALERT members, the corresponding representative of the ALERT institution will receive the registration data too.

(inscriptions closed)

The deadline for the registration is the September 18th! The accommodation in Aussois will be processed in the order of the registrations (see the hints in the registration form). Please note that the number of rooms in the CNRS “Centre Paul Langevin“ is limited.
See also hints on how to get to Aussois!

Presentations of the ALERT Doctoral School 2019

ALERT Doctoral School 2019
3rd-4th October 2019, Aussois, France

The legacy of Ioannis Vardoulakis to Geomechanics
Coordination: Jean Sulem and Cino Viggiani

Day 1

  • Mechanics of granular materials: I. Experimental approach. Edward Andò (Université Grenoble Alples)
  • Landslide mechanics and growth of slip surfaces. Sasha Puzrin (ETH Zurich)
  • Modelling of strain localization in geomaterials – Higher order continuum theories and regularization techniques. Ioannis Stefanou (Ecole des Ponts ParisTech)

Day 2

  • Petroleum Geomechanics. Euripides Papamichos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) & Panos Papanastasiou (University of Cyprus)
  • Mechanics of granular materials: II. Modelling. Itai Einav (University of Sudney)
  • Hydro-mechanics of porous and granular material – Poroelasticity and beyond. Holger Steeb (Universität Stuttgart)