Multi-physics couplings

When dealing with natural soils or more generally with geomaterials, many physical processes must be considered. The term multiphysical coupling is used to mean that a wide range of phenomena are taken into account (in isolation or in complex interaction) in a model. The multiphysical coupling theme in the Geomechanics team deals with a variety of couplings in soils and rocks that have as a common point the consideration of the presence of fluid(s). Some of the issues addressed are fundamental (i.e., very upstream), while others are close to the application. They are:

• hydro-mechanical couplings in deformable or damaging materials,

• thermo-hydro-mechanical couplings and the mechanics of unsaturated soils (fine or coarse).

Scientific issues include:

• the proposal of original models, especially adapted to complex multiphase environments (geomaterials);

• microscopic characterization through experiments and tomographic imaging to contribute to analytical or numerical modeling at the small scale.