Extension abstract deadline SaltMech X: Friday 27 August

Dear colleagues,

We have decided to extend the abstract submission deadline for the 10th Conference on the Mechanical Behavior of Salt (SaltMech X) to Friday the 27th of August. Abstracts can be submitted here: https://www.saltmech.com/abstract-submission-smx/.

Check the SaltMech X website http://www.saltmech.com/ for more information on future important dates and procedures, the venue, accommodation and travel.

We hope you will consider attending and contributing to SaltMech X, here in the Netherlands!

Kind regards,

The Local Organising Committee of SaltMech X

Dr. Suzanne Hangx, Dr. André Niemeijer, Dr. Matteo Gazzani, Prof. Chris Spiers, Prof. Hans de Bresser and Prof. Martyn Drury

Mediterranean Phd School on the theme “European Green Deal”

In the week from 11 to 16 October 2021, the second edition of the Mediterranean Phd School, organized by the Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II, will be held. This year, the event will focus on the theme “EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CIVIL, ARCHITECTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING”; it will be held online and will be completely free.

As regards engineering geology and geotechnical engineering, lectures will be given by proff. Paolo Fabbri (Padua University), Antonio Gens (UPC Barcelona) and Lyesse Laloui (EPFL Lausanne). Works will end with a round table coordinated by prof. Gianpiero Russo (University of Naples Federico II).

Phd students, in addition to attending lessons, will participate in application activities and may request to present scientific contributions related to the theme of the School. Prizes for the best presentations are planned.

More information is available on this flyer.

The Phd students interested in the event are already invited to register, using the following link:

Mediterranean PhD School – DICEA – Dipartimento di Eccellenza (unina.it)

Furthermore, in the “Documents” section, you can download: the program of the lessons in excel format (Timetable) and the application form (Application form).

Webinar on “Microstructural changes underlying the compression behaviour of clays of different sensitivity”

Dear Colleagues,

On Thursday 22 July 2021, at 15:30 CET, Dr. Simona Guglielmi, Post-doctoral researcher at University of Naples “Federico II”, will be delivering the following webinar:
“Microstructural changes underlying the compression behaviour of clays of different sensitivity”

The webinar is organised by the Geotechnical Research Group of DICATECh, Politecnico di Bari, Italy, and will be held on Microsoft Teams. No registration is required, participants can join the event by clicking on the following link:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NzQyZjBiNGEtMDczNS00ZjFhLWE3MzgtMTRlM2ZmZDFiOWYx%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%225b406aab-a1f1-4f13-a7aa-dd573da3d332%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22666815db-736a-4f9c-9ba1-db1bb4921368%22%7d

Please see the attached file for further details.

CALL for Powders & Grains 2025

To all PG2021 participants, subscribers to the AEMMG-Mail-List, AEMMG members, and friends, everyone if the field of Powders & Grains.

The scientific committee AEMMG of the Powders and Grains conference series asks for proposals, who would be willing to organize the next Powders&Grains in 4 years, in 2025. (No special format required, just make sure you address and commit yourself to the points below – which should be possible within 2-3 pages).

You can send your proposal by e-mail to: s.luding@utwente.nl

Deadline for proposals is July 30th 2021, and the decision should be announced on August 06th 2021, during the closing ceremony of PG2021.

Continue reading

ALERT Poster Session 2021

The ALERT Poster session will be held during the ALERT Workshop from September 27 to September 29, 2021 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).

The deadline for the submission of the abstract is the September 10, 2021.

Registration for the ALERT Workshop & School 2021 is open!

Dear ALERT community,

I am pleased to inform you that the registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and School 2021 is now open! The preliminary program of the School is available here, and the one of the Workshop should soon be posted online.

As sanitary conditions are improving, it was decided to propose you two alternatives for your registration to the workshop and doctoral school: either you can come and participate in Aussois, or you can attend those remotely. Don’t worry, your choice can always be modified later on, as the sanitary conditions may change. As a reminder, the restrictions for entering France will depend on your country of departure and your vaccination status (more information 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. If you are an ALERT members, the corresponding representative of your ALERT institution will receive the registration data too.

Click here to register for the ALERT Workshop and School 2021.

The deadline for the registration is the September 17th! 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.

Looking forward to (safely) meeting you in Aussois!

Presentations of the ALERT Doctoral School 2021

ALERT Doctoral School 2021
30th September to 2nd October 2021, Aussois, France (or online)

Constitutive Modelling in Geomaterials
Coordination: prof. Claudio Tamagnini [CT] and prof. David Mašín [DM]
Lecturers: prof. Ivo Herle [IH], prof. Cristina Jommi [CJ] and prof. Claudio di Prisco [CDP]

Foreword

Irrespectively of fast development of approaches for the analysis and design in geomechanics based on the methods for discontinuum (such as discrete element method), analysis of continua based on mesh or fast developing particle-based meshless methods still represents major means of numerical analysis in geomechanics. At the very core of such an analysis is a constitutive model: mathematical relationship converting the peculiar behaviour of particulate material, governed by the interactions between individual particles, into the behaviour of continua. As such, a properly selected and calibrated constitutive model has a critical effect on the outcomes of geotechnical simulations.

This school aims to introduce the students into the broad field of constitutive modelling of particulate materials with special emphasis on the behaviour of soils: after the introduction consisting of summary of basic features of soil behaviour, they will be introduced into fundamentals of constitutive modelling, followed by more detailed description of various modelling approaches – from the basic elastic and elasto-plastic models to more advanced frameworks of hardening plasticity, bounding surface plasticity, generalised plasticity and hypoplasticity. The second day will be focused on various specific more-advanced topics, such as simulation of small strain stiffness and cyclic loading, modelling of unsaturated soils, meta-stable structure, breakage, thermal effects, chemical effects and time and rate dependence, including formulation of finite-deformation plasticity and macroelement modelling. The last day is devoted to steps needed for adoption of models in numerical analysis tools, namely to their implementation in finite element codes. Finally, in practical hands-on sessions, students will train calibration using real experimental data themselves, using both manual and automatic freely-available calibration tools.

Day 1

  • Basic features of soil behaviour and soil testing [CJ]
  • Fundamentals of constitutive modelling for soils [IH]
  • The theory of plasticity in constitutive modelling of rate-independent soils [CT]
  • Hypoplasticity and other incrementally non-linear modelling approaches [DM]

Day 2

  • Modelling non-linearity, small-strain stiffness and cyclic loading [DM]
  • General overview on modelling the coupled behaviour of unsaturated soils [SJ]
  • Meta-stable structure, breakage and thermal effects [DM]
  • Time and rate dependence [CDP]
  • Finite deformation plasticity [CT]

Day 3

  • Numerical implementation of constitutive models [CT]
  • Macroelement modelling [CDP, Luca Flessati]

Webinar “A multiscale approach for the characterization of bio-chemo-mechanical processes in contaminated marine sediments”

A webinar on “A multiscale approach for the characterization of bio-chemo-mechanical processes in contaminated marine sediments” will be held online the 9th of July 2021 from 15:30 to 16:30.

The webinar is organised by the Geotechnical Research Group of DICATECh, Politecnico di Bari, Italy, and will be held on Microsoft Teams. No registration is required, participants can join the event by clicking on the following link: Teams link.

Please see this file for further details.

14th Euroconference on Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics – Last call for abstract

Dear ALERT Geomaterials community,

I hope you are all keeping well!

This is a wee reminder that the abstract submission for the 14th Euroconference on Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics has been extended to the 4th of July 2021.

To submit your abstract, please follow the instructions:

https://www.euroconference2021.org/Submit

Moreover, the registration has now opened and you can register until the 20th of August 2021. You can find more info on our website:  https://www.euroconference2021.org/.

We are looking forward to meeting you virtually on the 30th of August!

Best wishes,

Elma (on behalf of the organising committee).

Workshop and Doctoral School announcement

Dear ALERT community,

As sanitary conditions are improving, certainly thanks to the vaccination, we are confident that it will be possible to meet again in September 2021 in Aussois.

However, it cannot be ruled out that travel restrictions will still be in place at that time, particularly from outside the EU. The conditions for entering France will depend on your country of departure and your vaccination status (https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/coronavirus-advice-for-foreign-nationals-in-france/#sommaire_1 ).

Therefore, for the first time in the history of ALERT, the decision was taken to organize the workshop and the doctoral school in hybrid mode in 2021. It means it will be possible to attend these events while being present in Aussois or remotely. This way, we hope to meet the expectations of both those eager to meet and those unwilling to travel.

In the coming weeks, you will be able to register and choosing one of these two options (which can be modified if necessary).

Keep staying safe, long life to ALERT-Geomaterials!