Dear all,

I hope you and your families are keeping well!

On behalf of the organisation committee of the 14^th Euroconference on Rock Mechanics and Rock Physics, I have the pleasure to let you know that the

14^th Euroconference on Rock Mechanics and Rock Physics will take place from the 30^th of August to the 3^rd of September 2021 in Glasgow (Scotland).

The themes of the conference are presented in the following video:

Please note that this is a very first announcement for you to save the days, please. Further information on the conference (including the organisation committee, the registration fee and abstract submission) will follow towards the end of the year in the conference website.

Until then, it would be great if you could participate in the survey below and provide your feedback, please.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0OOdlDoLOj61_LKojdFI-UUOojiv2jgwaS9xWp7mldUvchA/viewform?usp=sf_link

See you all in late summer 2021!

Best wishes,

Elma

The 4^th Granular Matter Series Webinar will take place next Tuesday, 24 November. The speaker is Ken Kamrin, the topic and abstract are: 

To the Continuum and Beyond!

The ability to predict granular flows efficiently has been a major challenge for years.  An accurate and robust continuum model would be ideal, as it could lead to fast simulation of industrial and geo-scale problems.  However, there are a number of granular flow behaviors that complicate the development of a continuum treatment including coupled history effects, nontrivial phase change, pressure-sensitive yielding, nonlocal effects, and shear banding phenomena.  Rather than attempt to combine all these effects together, this talk will begin by identifying a class of problems that tend to be well-predicted using a very simple continuum treatment.  These are problems based on intrusion, where the intrusive dynamics of solid objects (e.g. locomotion, impact) is the primary interest.  We then discuss two ways to extend this basic continuum framework with nonstandard “add-ons”, in order to handle various complications.  First, we will discuss the state of affairs in nonlocal modeling approaches, and focus on some new results pertinent to the physics of nonlocality.  Secondly, as an alternative to adding more complexity to the continuum model, we will discuss a hybridized DEM/continuum method that allows us to adaptively choose subdomains in a problem to be treated with continuum modeling vs discrete element modeling.  This allows us to keep a simple and fast-to-solve continuum model almost everywhere, while providing a more precise DEM treatment in zones that fall outside the scope of the continuum model. 

For more information, this is the landing page: https://www.springer.com/journal/10035/updates/18300828

And this is the link to the meeting room: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/565338397

Find below three articles that may be useful to those who are planning to organize a virtual conference:

• “How to organize an online conference”
• “Maximizing virtual meetings and conferences: a review of best practices” 
• “Online Meetings in Times of Global Crisis: Toward Sustainable Conferencing”

The organising committee of AGERP is pleased to invite you to the 10th installment of the Lecture series, which will be on ‘Improvement of Soft Soils with special reference to Transport Infrastructure‘. This is scheduled to be hosted on 13th November 2020 (AEST). Registration (free and mandatory) for this lecture closes at 00:00, 12th November 2020 (AEST). This Lecture will be delivered by Professor Buddhima Indraratna (University of Technology Sydney, Australia) and  Dr. AHM Kamruzzaman (Transport for NSW, Australia).
Further info. and registration (free but mandatory): https://www.age-rp.com/registration

For further information, please refer to the attached flyer.

Dr. Partha Mishra and Professor Sarat Das,Convenor, AGERP

Dear All,

I am glad to invite you to participate in the Special Session: Physical and Numerical Modelling of Landslide-Structure-Interaction (LSI) in ICONHIC 2021 (22 – 24 June 2021 in Athens https://iconhic.com/2021/) :

https://iconhic.com/2021/session/physical-and-numerical-modelling-of-landslide-structure-interaction-lsi/

Attached flyer.

Sabatino Cuomo
University of Salerno, Italy

The University of Milan oragnizes a free online international workshop entitled “Shallow geothermal energy: from the ground to buildings, from the field to modelling”, taking place from 30 November to 3 December 2020 and featuring a number of speakers from both the academia and the industry.

Please find attached the relevant flyer and program.

The organising committee of AGERP is pleased to invite you to the 9th installment of the Lecture series, which will be on ‘Energy Geotechnics’. This is scheduled on 30th October 2020 (AEST). Registration (free and mandatory) for this lecture closes at 00:00, 29th October 2020 (AEST). This Lecture will be delivered by Professor Marcelo Sanchez (Texas A&M University, USA) and Dr. Fleur Loveridge (University of Leeds, England).
Further info. and registration (free but mandatory): https://www.age-rp.com/registration

For further information, please refer to the attached flier.

Dr. Partha Mishra and Professor Sarat Das,Convenor, AGERP

Dear Colleagues,
on Wednesday 28 October 2020, at 15:30 CET, Dr. Adrian Mifsud, lecturer at the University of Malta, Msida, will be deliveringa webinar titled:

“The Middle Globigerina Limestone, Malta: A study into the geotechnical characteristics with reference to engineering situations.”

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_ODhiNjVmOTQtNTM1OC00YjE2LTkzZTYtMjU2MGVmYjQ5M2Qy%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%225b406aab-a1f1-4f13-a7aa-dd573da3d332%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%224ea622af-265c-46ca-b01b-93f1eefd7dcd%22%7d

Please see the attached file for further details.

Speakers: Prof Robert Mair, Dr Chris Haberfield, Idy Li, Theva Muttuvel and Philippe Vincent

The 21^st Australian Geomechanics Society, Sydney Chapter will be organised on Friday 13 Nov 2020 8:30 am – 5:00 pm (AEST), fully online.

The symposium will showcase state-of-the-art practices, new research findings and case histories that demonstrate geotechnical advances and challenges in urban development. The organising committee invites papers on geotechnical aspects of urban development, underground structures, restoration of geotechnical structures, innovative and cost-efficient solutions, groundwater modelling and application of smart technologies. The symposium presents an opportunity for professional engineers, researchers, specialist contractors, regulators, educators and students to meet and share their knowledge and experiences in geotechnical engineering.

We invite you all to check the Programme and register as webinar attendant at our website https://australiangeomechanics.org/meetings/geotechnical-advances-and-challenges-in-urban-development/.

The registration for non members is AU$30.

For further information please contact Ali Parsa: aparsa@jkgeotechnics.com.au

Dear Powders and Grains community!

Our next granular matter webinar will take place October 22, 15:00 CET

Glass half full: Embracing the unexpected in granular systems
Speaker: Prof. Christine Hrenya, University of Colorado at Boulder

Full Details: https://www.springer.com/journal/10035/updates/18300828