Micro-Geomechanics Across Multiple Strain Scales - An International Workshop

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The field of geotechnical engineering, as it is practiced worldwide today, is dominated by continuum based soil mechanics theories, design procedures and analyses. Recent advances in experimental and numerical techniques have provided exciting opportunities for a micro-geomechanics approach to complement and perhaps replace in some cases, the more traditional continuum approach underpinning the practice of geotechnical engineering. It has become evident through the various micro-geomechanics studies undertaken over the past two decades that there are clear instances in which the insight gained through either experimental or numerical micro-geomechanics studies can lead to better understanding of material behavior and ultimately the ability to design and analyze even more complex systems involving particulate materials. This workshop on "Micro-Geomechanics Across Multiple Strain Scales" will be held in Cambridge, England in December 2004. The purpose of the workshop is to provide an opportunity for individuals from academia, government and industry to exchange information and identify a strategy for future research and understanding in this important field. The estimated attendance for the proposed workshop is 50 persons representing a wide range of technical backgrounds and career stages from around the world. The academic participants will be selected to include a combination of senior, intermediate and junior level faculty. This is considered to provide an optimal group of attendees from the perspective of developing a long-term research vision for the field. Additional participants will be selected from those responding to an open solicitation to attend the event. The process to identify these additional invitees will seek to yield a diverse group of workshop participants. Preference will be given to individuals who are from under-represented groups including women faculty, early career academicians, and advanced graduate students. In selecting these additional individuals, effort will also be made to broaden the number of institutions with delegates at the workshop and to ensure that a broad range of technical expertise and interests are represented. It is anticipated that 30 US participants will receive support to attend the workshop. The two and a half day workshop agenda will include: short invited presentations by workshop attendees; moderated discussion sessions with pre-identified discussion leaders; open group discussion sessions and summary presentations by discussion leaders. The final workshop session will focus on identifying future research directions. A workshop web-site will be extensively used in preparing for the workshop as well as in disseminating the findings of the event to a broader community. A post-workshop volume will be prepared to document the subject matter of the meeting. A report paper to be prepared by the workshop co-chairs that will describe recommendations for future research will be included in the post-workshop volume. Intellectual Merit: The proposed content of the workshop includes the state of the art in a broad range of areas of fundamental research: digital imaging, particulate mechanics, computational modeling and material response simulation. Developments and understanding from these diverse fundamental areas will be presented as a basis for evaluating their relevance and importance to applied research in geomaterial science and engineering. In addition to facilitating a sharing of current knowledge and developments, it is anticipated that the workshop can lead to a consensus research agenda and serve as a catalyst for future collaborative research efforts. Broader Impacts: The workshop topic creates the opportunity for experts with diverse backgrounds to meet and discuss an area that resides at the interface of a number of traditional fields: geotechnical engineering, materials science, geological sciences, mechanical engineering, mathematics, computer science, medical physics and imaging. By serving as the initial catalyst for these interactions, the workshop is expected to have a longer term impact across many fields. While soil is arguably the most pervasive particulate material in the world, the techniques and methods that are used to study soils and will be discussed at the workshop are equally relevant to the study of other particulate and aggregated materials including concrete, ceramics, metal alloys and biomaterials. Further, the emphasis on investigating the behavior at multiple scales and understanding the relationships between observed behaviors at different scales is readily extendable to both larger and smaller scales and thus directly relevant to many other current research areas. Aside from the specific research motivated issues to be discussed, it is hoped that the proposed workshop can also serve to stimulate new approaches in soil mechanics education. The current teaching of soil mechanics is still dominated by continuum-based approaches that have evolved over the past 70 years with the development of the field. It is hoped that the proposed workshop can lead to some curricular innovation that will inject new relevance into the field of geotechnical engineering. Many of the current continuum based approaches have become heavily dominated by empiricism and this limits the degree to which the knowledge and understanding has relevance to other fields. By revisiting many of these accepted concepts and developing frameworks where particulate based approaches can replace some of the continuum based approaches, it is likely that geotechnical engineering understanding can find new relevance in many fields including nanotechnologies, sensors, and visualization..