News & EventsDepartment Events
Events
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Nov13
EVENT DETAILS
lessAbstract: Soil mechanics is a well-established discipline that has always put considerable emphasis on the physical characteristics of the studied materials, whose peculiarity lies in their granular and multi-phase nature. The substantial role played by individual grains and, when present, by their aggregates on the behaviour of the overall soil skeleton is nowadays well-recognised, at least qualitatively, highlighting the intricacy of the multi-physical interactions occurring at the micro-scale. These interactions increase as the grain size decreases, reaching maximum complexity in clayey soils. In standard practice most of the above microstructural features are often only barely considered when quantitatively describing the mechanics of clays at the continuum level, erroneously implying that the micro and macro scales are broadly independent. This is obviously not the case, as demonstrated by the vast amount of research aimed at linking microscopic characteristics to macroscopic patterns of behaviour that has characterised the entire history of soil mechanics, proposing qualitative or, more recently, quantitative means of bridging the gap between scales. Along these lines, the talk aims at providing an overview of some recent advances in micro-inspired constitutive modelling of clays. It first illustrates a review of multi-scale experimental evidence and its possible interpretation and generalisation in terms of internal variables, i.e. state variables that condense microscopic mean characteristics and make them suitable to be incorporated into a macroscopic constitutive modelling framework. In light of the above, the specific modelling approach based on Thermodynamics with Internal Variables is then outlined and specialised to the case of clays, illustrating some recently formulated constitutive models. The proposed theoretical framework proves to effectively allow the development of constitutive models that not only respect the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, but also directly benefit from our understanding of the complex microstructural features of clayey soils.
Biography: Angelo Amorosi is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), where he graduated in Civil Engineering in 1992 and then obtained his PhD from the Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering. During his career, Prof. Amorosi spent several periods of study and research abroad, working at City University of London (UK), Technical University of Athens (Greece) and Oxford University (UK). In 1999, he became Lecturer and then Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the Technical University of Bari (Italy), where he worked until 2015. His research interests include experimental observations and mathematical modelling of the mechanical behaviour of clayey soils, the development of numerical integration schemes for plasticity-based constitutive laws, and the numerical simulation of various boundary value problems under both static and dynamic conditions, with a focus on natural and artificial slopes, earth dams, tunnels and masonry structures. Professor Amorosi has been invited to deliver numerous general and keynote lectures at internationally recognised congresses and symposia, as well as several seminars at prestigious academic institutions. He has been member of the editorial panel of Géotechnique and is currently member of the editorial boards of Acta Geotechnica and of the Italian Geotechnical Journal, also serving as reviewer for several international journals in geotechnics and mechanics.
TIME Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Nov14
EVENT DETAILS
lessAbstract: Materials simulations are ubiquitous across many scientific domains from solid mechanics to biology. Traditional materials simulations based on direct numerical solvers (DNS), such as phase-field or crystal plasticity for instance, offer accurate predictions but are generally computationally expensive. In this talk, I will discuss how we can rethink and accelerate such materials simulations by blending and complementing classical solvers with various machine-learning strategies. These strategies encompass the integration of DNS with history-dependent machine-learned solvers such as recurrent neural networks or neural operators to enable accurate extrapolation and efficient time-to-solution predictions of the predicted dynamics, or the use of physical governing equations directly as the building blocks for constructing specialized neural networks. I will discuss some of the trade-offs one need to pay attention to with such strategies, the type of speed one can gain from such strategies, and how we can harness these emerging techniques for materials design and process optimization. Examples illustrating these points include phase-field modeling, crystal plasticity, and homogenization of heterogeneous materials. SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2024-14529A simulations
Bio: Dr. Rémi Dingreville is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and Staff Scientist at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT). He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta GA. With expertise at the intersection of computational materials and data sciences, his work focuses on bridging the gap between atomic and mesoscale models to understand and characterize process-structure-properties for materials reliability. Dr. Dingreville 's research has wide-ranging applications, from understanding the mechanical properties of nanostructured alloyed materials to designing materials for energy storage and conversion. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles on these topics. Dr. Dingreville is the recent recipient of the J. Keith Brimacombe Medal (2025), the Sandia’s Employee Recognition Award (2024), and Sandia’s Postdoc Association Distinguished Mentorship Award (2023).
TIME Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM
LOCATION B211, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Nov15
EVENT DETAILS
lessTBA
TIME Friday, November 15, 2024 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Dec4
EVENT DETAILS
lessTBA
TIME Wednesday, December 4, 2024 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
LOCATION 230, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Dec7
EVENT DETAILS
lessFall classes end
TIME Saturday, December 7, 2024
CONTACT Office of the Registrar nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR University Academic Calendar
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Dec14
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 14 in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive.
*No tickets required
TIME Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
LOCATION Pick-Staiger Concert Hall map it
CONTACT Andi Joppie andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science