Registration for the ALERT Workshop and School 2023 is OPEN!

Dear ALERT community,

I am pleased to inform you that the registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and School 2023 is now open! The preliminary programs of the Doctoral School is available here, the programme of the Workshop should be posted soon.

In the continuity of last year edition, a remote access to the doctoral school is proposed at the same price as the on-site option. However, this remote option only gives access to the passive attending of the presentations, and no questions could be asked.

This year, the ALERT Bureau has decided to offer one day of accomodation to:

  • all PhD students attending the doctoral school and belonging to an ALERT member institution (in a double room only);
  • all retired researchers attending the workshop.

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 2023.

The deadline for the registration is the September 08th! 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 meeting you in Aussois!

ALERT Workshop 2023 – EXTENDED Call for abstracts

The Call for Abstract for the ALERT Workshop 2023 (33rd Edition) is extended until the 19th of June. 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.

Here is a reminder of the workshop sessions for which the call for abstract is open, as well as a short description of each of them:

  • Session 1: “Energy geomechanics
    Organizers: Jean-Michel PereiraCarlos Santamarina and Diego Manzanal.

    The use of the geological subsurface is gaining interest in various energy-related applications, covering energy recovery and storage. In these applications, the physical phenomena at play in the encountered porous materials include -often in a coupled manner- heat and mass transfers, multiphase flow, reactive transport of fluids, mechanics, etc.
  • Session 3: “Anisotropy in geomaterials: theory, experiments and modelling”
    Organizers: Eleni GerolymatouCino Viggiani, and Angelo Amorosi.

    Anisotropy, i.e. the variation of any given property of the material with direction, can have a significant effect on the material response to loading. It is present in most types of geomaterials, ranging from granular soils to hard rocks.
    Due to the significant effort required to determine in the laboratory the internal variables of the material and the additional difficulties linked to its constitutive description, it is in most applications ignored as a matter of fact. However, in the last years significant efforts have been made in both directions.
    With the present topic suggestion the organizers would like to invite contributions from researchers working on anisotropy in geomaterials in the fields of constitutive law development, experimental testing and numerical simulation. The aim is to increase awareness of the significance of anisotropy, to stimulate scientific exchange and to provide a first exposure to its intricacies for younger researchers.

ALERT Workshop 2023 – Call for abstracts

The ALERT Workshop 2023 (33rd Edition) should be held in Aussois from 25th to 27th September, 2023. 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 19, 2023. 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 as well as a short description of each of them. The call for abstract is open for the Session 1 and Session 3 only:

  • Session 1: “Energy geomechanics
    Organizers: Jean-Michel Pereira, Carlos Santamarina and Diego Manzanal.

    The use of the geological subsurface is gaining interest in various energy-related applications, covering energy recovery and storage. In these applications, the physical phenomena at play in the encountered porous materials include -often in a coupled manner- heat and mass transfers, multiphase flow, reactive transport of fluids, mechanics, etc.

  • Session 2: “Extraterrestrial geomechanics
    Organizers: P. Delage and F. Prada

    The InSight mission, which landed on Mars in 2018, is a geophysical mission with a seismometer (SEIS) supplied by France and a penetrometer (HP3) supplied by Germany as its main instruments for measuring the thermal gradient on the surface.
    Thanks to the detection of Martian earthquakes (Marsquakes), the mission was able to improve the determination of the planet’s structure (radius of the core, mantle and crust), as intended. The seismometer also detected large meteorite impacts. The Near Surface Working Group is also interested in the geological and mechanical properties of the surface. They have studied the interaction between a Martian regolith analogue and the seismometer, and estimated in advance the elastic properties, with values close to those measured on site.
    The proposed session would be based on the participation of European scientists involved in the mission.

  • Session 3: “Anisotropy in geomaterials: theory, experiments and modelling”
    Organizers: Eleni Gerolymatou, Cino Viggiani, and Angelo Amorosi.

    Anisotropy, i.e. the variation of any given property of the material with direction, can have a significant effect on the material response to loading. It is present in most types of geomaterials, ranging from granular soils to hard rocks.
    Due to the significant effort required to determine in the laboratory the internal variables of the material and the additional difficulties linked to its constitutive description, it is in most applications ignored as a matter of fact. However, in the last years significant efforts have been made in both directions.
    With the present topic suggestion the organizers would like to invite contributions from researchers working on anisotropy in geomaterials in the fields of constitutive law development, experimental testing and numerical simulation. The aim is to increase awareness of the significance of anisotropy, to stimulate scientific exchange and to provide a first exposure to its intricacies for younger researchers.

ALERT Doctoral School 2023

The ALERT Doctoral School 2023 will take place from the 28th September to 30th September 2023.

The theme is “Machine Learning (ML) in Geomechanics”, and the school is coordinated by Ioannis Stefanou and Félix Darve.

The objective of this doctoral school is to explain what Machine Learning is, what its main methods are and how can it be used for solving real-case problems in geomechanics, in particular, and in solid mechanics, in general. Lectures and hands-on exercises using regression and classification ML methods, supervised and unsupervised ML techniques, Artificial Neural Networks, deep learning and model reduction techniques will be taught.

The students will:

  1. Gain an understanding of what ML is;
  2. Study the most important ML methods for regression, classification and model order reduction;
  3. Follow the basic mathematical and geometric notions behind ML methods;
  4. Use ML in simple examples, get aware of pitfalls and understand the need for physics- & geomechanics-based ML methods.

Requirements for the students:

  1. Python programming language (for those who are unfamiliar with Python we suggest the book “Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming” by Eric Matthes, but many excellent tutorials can be found on the internet as well).
  2. Basic concepts in mathematics (algebra, analysis, elements of differential calculus and numerical analysis).
  3. Have some problems in mind in relation with their research and geomechanics that they believe that ML could help.

For those interested in participating in the doctoral school, a short poll is available in order to get some information about your expectations from this school and ML: see the poll here.

The online registration for the ALERT School will open in July and will be announced on the website.

ALERT Workshop & School 2023

Dear ALERT members,
Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to announce to you the themes and dates of the ALERT Workshop and School 2023.

ALERT WORKSHOP 2023
Dates of the ALERT Workshop 2023: 25th September to 27th September 2023

  • Session 1: “Energy geomechanics
    Organizers: Jean-Michel Pereira, Carlos Santamarina and Diego Manzanal.
  • Session 2 (half-day): “Extraterrestrial geomechanics
    Organizers: Pierre Delage and Felipe Prada.
  • Session 3: “Anisotropy in geomaterials: theory, experiments and modelling”
    Organizers: Eleni Gerolymatou, Cino Viggiani, and Angelo Amorosi.

ALERT SCHOOL 2023
Dates of the ALERT School 2023: 28th September to 30th September 2023

  • Machine learning in geomechanics
    Organizers: Ioannis Stefanou and Félix Darve.

Hoping to see you in Aussois !

Registration for the ALERT Workshop and School 2022 is OPEN!

Dear ALERT community,

I am pleased to inform you that the registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and School 2022 is now open! The preliminary programs of the School and the Workshop are available here.

In the continuity of last year edition, 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 passively attend those remotely (no questions can be asked). Furthermore, all presenters must attend on-site.

This year, the ALERT Bureau has decided to offer one day of accomodation to:

  • all PhD students attending the doctoral school and coming from an ALERT member institution;
  • all retired researchers attending the workshop.

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 2022.

The deadline for the registration is the September 16th! 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 meeting you in Aussois!