Department of Engineering, Durham University

About the Project

Start date and duration: 1st January, 2022 for 3.5 years

Durham University is seeking applications from suitably qualified individuals interested in pursuing a PhD programme of study who can demonstrate evidence of academic excellence at undergraduate and/or Masters level, as well as evidence of sufficient research skills to undertake the project.

The research involves the experimental and constitutive study of the hydro-mechanical behaviour (HM) of compacted soils when subjected to the environmental actions of wetting and drying as a consequence of their exposure to the environment.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech is seeking to fill a tenure-track position in Geotechnical Engineering. The position is open at the Assistant Professor level. We have a very dynamic geotechnical program that has enjoyed continuous strong support from the Department and College, and we are excited about this opportunity to add a new member to our program.  

The position announcement can be seen on this pdf file. Additional information can be found at : https://cee.vt.edu/content/cee_vt_edu/en/Apply.html

Note that the review for this position will start on November 15, 2021.  Any questions can be directed to Prof. Adrian Rodriguez-Marek (adrianrm@vt.edu).

Project Title

THCM characterisation of engineered bentonite barriers in the very near field behaviour in deep geological repositories of high-level radioactive waste

Project description

The retention properties, the low permeability and the swelling capacity of compacted bentonites have led to an interest in their use in various fields of technology. This is particularly true in the design of deep geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel and other high-level nuclear waste. The objective of the project is to develop a coupled THCM formulation, with non-simplistic geochemistry and consideration of thermal effects at high temperatures that includes the thermodynamics of bentonite hydration. The mathematical formulation will be implemented in a numerical tool to simulate the behaviour of bentonite barriers at repository scale. This will be especially useful for the study of the repository in the short term, when, in unsaturated conditions, temperatures in the engineering barriers are expected to be the highest. As a result, the characterisation of critical phenomena for the safety of the repository (maximum temperatures, corrosion, dissolution) will be improved, highlighting the scope and limitations of the formulations used to date.

As a starting point, a base model in Comsol Multiphysics integrating coupled THM and THC developments will be used.

Conditions

A 4 year FPI grant by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation is available to support the candidate. The collaboration will start as soon as the administrative procedure is solved, expected to be in the first quarter of 2022. The terms and conditions for submitting applications can be found at :
Subprograma Estatal de Formación | Programa Estatal para Desarrollar, Atraer y Retener Talento | Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023 | Convocatorias – Agencia Estatal de Investigación (es) (aei.gob.es)

More information on this website.

The deadline is 11 November 2021. The project code is PID2020-118291RB-I00.

The University of Nantes (GeM Laboratory), France, is looking for a highly motivated student to work on the topic of “Permeability evolution of granular soils in an internal erosion context“. The funding to pursue this work in the form of a PhD thesis has already been secured thanks to an ANR project.

More information on this pdf file.

Energy geostructures are geotechnical structures also used to exchange heat with the ground for heating and cooling of adjacent buildings, using a heat pump. The first application was that of energy piles, nowadays largely used in several countries. More recently, the technology has also been developed for infrastructures like metro stations and tunnels, underground parking and cut-and-cover tunnel, slabs. The significant advancements in the research on this topic are such that we are now ready for testing and implementation in our cities.

This project is a unique opportunity to monitor and investigate the behaviour of a real scale energy infrastructure. The work is based on the existing case study of a metro station, already constructed and fully equipped with ground heat exchangers in the diaphragm walls and slabs.

In the framework of this project, the structures, the air and the surrounding soil of the studied metro station will be instrumented with sensors and monitored during operational in real environmental conditions.

The role of the post-doc will be to develop a coupled thermo-hydraulic model of the metro station accounting for the real complex hydrogeological context, predict the response of the station in terms of heat exchange potential and temperature field under different scenarios, analyse the monitoring data and compare with the numerical results. The most affecting parameters will be also identified. Possibly, the behaviour of the geostructures from the geotechnical and mechanical point of view will also be investigated.

We are looking for a candidate with a good knowledge on soil and concrete thermal behaviour, hydrogeology, thermo-hydraulic couplings in porous media, numerical modelling with FEM, soil mechanics, thermo-mechanical couplings. Experience with the software COMSOL Multi-physics will be positively evaluated.

More information in this pdf file.

If you are interested, please send us an e-mail with your CV at the following address: alice.di-donna@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr

Project description

This project goal is to develop and test a realistic modelling platform to represent the dynamic interaction during installation of monopiles in soils. Coupled hydro-mechanical behaviour will be considered for the soil, allowing for drained, undrained or partly drained installation. Representation of the monopile will aim to reproduce the dynamic driving signals recorded at installation. Being able to correctly reproduce installation will open new fundamental perspectives into monopile design for both lateral and axial loading. Model development will be based on the Geotechnical Particle Finite Element method (GPFEM) that has proven its ability to tackle quasi-static and dynamic coupled problems involving large deformations.

Conditions

A 4 year FPI grant by the Spanish Ministry of Science is available to support the candidate. The expected starting date is around June 2022, by which time the candidate should have a MSc degree on Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering or a related field. Interested candidates should send a CV to Prof. Marcos Arroyo (marcos.arroyo@upc.edu) or Mr Jon Rodríguez at fellowships@cimne.upc.edu before the 5^th of November 2021.

More information on this flyer. The application process can be found here as well as the necessary word file.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech is seeking to fill a tenure-track position in Geotechnical Engineering. The position is open at the Assistant Professor level. We have a very dynamic geotechnical program that has enjoyed continuous strong support from the Department and College, and we are excited about this opportunity to add a new member to our program.  

The successful candidate will have a Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering or a closely aligned field, should demonstrate a strong commitment to scholarly work, sponsored research, mentoring students, undergraduate instruction, and specialized graduate education. The successful candidate will have a research focus on geological engineering or a closely related discipline, with a potential focus on application to rapidly emerging areas such as intelligent infrastructure, remote sensing, and/or analysis of large data sets for geotechnical engineering applications, among others. The capacity to obtain registration as a Professional Engineer (PE) is desirable, but not required.

The position announcement can be seen in this flyer. Additional information can be found at

https://careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us/job/517849/tenuretrack-faculty-positiongeotechnical-engineering

Note that the review for this position will start on November 15, 2021. Please forward this announcement to your Ph.D. students and other qualified candidates.  Any questions can be directed to Prof. Adrian Rodriguez-Marek (adrianrm@vt.edu).

The Department of Earth Sciences “A. Desio” of the University of Milan announces the availability of six industry co-funded PhD studentships on ‘Green’ research topics. All research projects are to be developed in collaboration with a company, where the prospective student will have to spend a period of 6 to 12 months.

The following two projects are of particular geomechanical interest: “Soil improvement treatments by resin injection” (contact: tiziana.apuani@unimi.it) and “Experimental and numerical analysis of the thermal and thermo-mechanical behaviour of thermo-active sheet pile walls” (contact: francesco.cecinato@unimi.it).

More details on the projects and instructions for applicants can be found on the attached flyer.

We are opening a PhD position in Geomechanics and Seismology at Université de Lorraine, GeoRessources laboratory, France.

The main objective of the phD project is to explore the relation between earthquake magnitude, fault properties and the capacity of a fracture rock mass to accumulate elastic strain during the seismic cycle. THe PhD candidate will work on both numerical and physical modeling.

We are looking forward to receiving applications from highly-motivated candidates with a Master’s degree in strucutral geology, geo-mechanics, civil engineering (or equivalent fields). The position is funded for 3 years. Applications should consist of a CV, a resume and 1 or 2 recommandation letters

The full PhD proposal can be found here : http://georessources.univ-lorraine.fr/sites/georessources.univ-lorraine.fr/files/users/documents/2021phd_offer_france_gunzburger_conin.pdf

Interested candidates can write to: marianne.conin@univ-lorraine.fr

The call expires on November 2^nd.