ENAC Seminar Series by Dr. Alessandro F. Rotta Loria
Event details
| Date | 15.05.2023 |
| Hour | 16:00 › 17:00 |
| Speaker | Dr. Alessandro F. Rotta Loria |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
16:00-17:00 - Dr. Alessandro F. Rotta Loria
Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
The Geomechanics of Underground Climate Change
The ground beneath urban areas across the world is warming up due to anthropogenic activity, leading to subsurface urban heat islands: an underground climate change responsible for major environmental, public health, and transportation infrastructure issues. Based on the rationale that geomaterials such as soils, rocks, and concrete deform under the influence of temperature variations and excessive deformations can affect civil infrastructure, this study presents an unprecedented investigation of the impacts of temperature variations associated with subsurface heat islands on the mechanics of geomaterials, geostructures, and geosystems. By harnessing experimental laboratory studies, computational simulations, and the Chicago Loop district as a living laboratory, this study explores such problem across multiple scales: from the spatial scale of soil particles to cities and from the temporal scale of seconds to centuries. The results of this research unveil that temperature variations linked to the emerging underground climate change in urban areas represent a silent hazard for civil infrastructures. This problem arises due to irreversible thermally induced deformations of soils, incompatible thermo-mechanical effects for the performance of geotechnical structures, and continuous changes in the thermo-hydro-mechanical equilibrium of underground systems. The findings of this work enhance our capabilities to understand, simulate, and predict the influence of temperature variations on the mechanics of complex geological systems for various purposes in science, technology, and engineering. This fundamental scientific work specifically opens a new research field at the intersection of Geomechanics, Energy, and Urban Science. Furthermore, this work expands the current knowledge boundaries in Granular Physics, Earth Science, and Engineering by creating theoretical and experimental competence on the mechanics of granular materials and structures.
Short bio:
Dr. Alessandro F. Rotta Loria is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, where he directs a research laboratory focusing on the subsurface within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Architectural Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, and his Ph.D. degree in Mechanics from EPFL. His research lies at the intersection of Geomechanics, Energy, and Electrochemistry. His work has culminated in the publication of the book “Analysis and Design of Energy Geostructures,” more than 35 peer-reviewed journal papers, 40 conference papers and abstracts, and 1 patent for his invention of the world-first geothermal panel enerdrape. Dr. Rotta Loria is an Editorial Associate of the journal Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, the Task Force Leader of the ISSMGE Academia-Industry Partnership for Innovation on Energy Geotechnics, and the creator of the Northwestern Sustainability Lecture Series. His work has been recognized with the Curriculum Innovation Award for excellence in teaching from The Alumnae of Northwestern (2022), the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2021), the MIT World Innovator Award Under 35 (Top 100 Global List) (2021), the IACMAG Promising Investigator Award (2021), the ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture (2020), and Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation Award (2019).
Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
The Geomechanics of Underground Climate Change
The ground beneath urban areas across the world is warming up due to anthropogenic activity, leading to subsurface urban heat islands: an underground climate change responsible for major environmental, public health, and transportation infrastructure issues. Based on the rationale that geomaterials such as soils, rocks, and concrete deform under the influence of temperature variations and excessive deformations can affect civil infrastructure, this study presents an unprecedented investigation of the impacts of temperature variations associated with subsurface heat islands on the mechanics of geomaterials, geostructures, and geosystems. By harnessing experimental laboratory studies, computational simulations, and the Chicago Loop district as a living laboratory, this study explores such problem across multiple scales: from the spatial scale of soil particles to cities and from the temporal scale of seconds to centuries. The results of this research unveil that temperature variations linked to the emerging underground climate change in urban areas represent a silent hazard for civil infrastructures. This problem arises due to irreversible thermally induced deformations of soils, incompatible thermo-mechanical effects for the performance of geotechnical structures, and continuous changes in the thermo-hydro-mechanical equilibrium of underground systems. The findings of this work enhance our capabilities to understand, simulate, and predict the influence of temperature variations on the mechanics of complex geological systems for various purposes in science, technology, and engineering. This fundamental scientific work specifically opens a new research field at the intersection of Geomechanics, Energy, and Urban Science. Furthermore, this work expands the current knowledge boundaries in Granular Physics, Earth Science, and Engineering by creating theoretical and experimental competence on the mechanics of granular materials and structures.
Short bio:
Dr. Alessandro F. Rotta Loria is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, where he directs a research laboratory focusing on the subsurface within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Architectural Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, and his Ph.D. degree in Mechanics from EPFL. His research lies at the intersection of Geomechanics, Energy, and Electrochemistry. His work has culminated in the publication of the book “Analysis and Design of Energy Geostructures,” more than 35 peer-reviewed journal papers, 40 conference papers and abstracts, and 1 patent for his invention of the world-first geothermal panel enerdrape. Dr. Rotta Loria is an Editorial Associate of the journal Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, the Task Force Leader of the ISSMGE Academia-Industry Partnership for Innovation on Energy Geotechnics, and the creator of the Northwestern Sustainability Lecture Series. His work has been recognized with the Curriculum Innovation Award for excellence in teaching from The Alumnae of Northwestern (2022), the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2021), the MIT World Innovator Award Under 35 (Top 100 Global List) (2021), the IACMAG Promising Investigator Award (2021), the ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture (2020), and Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation Award (2019).
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Clivia Waldvogel & Sarah Feller