Lecture

Computational Geomechanics: Meshing, Groundwater Flow, and Constitutive Behavior

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In course

CIVIL-423: Computational geomechanics

The goal of this course is to introduce the student to modern numerical methods for the solution of coupled & non-linear problems arising in geo-mechanics / geotechnical engineering. ...

Description

This lecture introduces the fundamentals of computational geomechanics, focusing on mesh generation, groundwater flow analysis, and constitutive behavior modeling. Topics include finite element methods, steady-state and transient groundwater flow, poroelasticity, and rigid plasticity. The course covers assumptions, numerical methods, and practical applications in geotechnical engineering.

Instructor

Brice Tanguy Alphonse Lecampion

I am currently an assistant Professor and the head of the Geo-Energy Lab - Gaznat Chair on GeoEnergy at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Prior to joining EPFL, I have worked for Schlumberger in research and development from 2006 until May 2015 - serving in a variety of roles ranging from project manager to principal scientist in both Europe and the United States. I received my PhD in mechanics from Ecole Polytechnique, France in 2002 and worked as a research scientist in the hydraulic fracturing research group of CSIRO division of Petroleum resources (Melbourne, Australia) from 2003 to 2006. During my time in Schlumberger R&D, I have worked on problems related to the integrity of deep wells, large scale monitoring of reservoir deformation and more specifically on the stimulation of oil and gas wells by hydraulic fracturing. My current research interests cover hydraulic fracture mechanics, mechanics of porous media and dense suspensions flow.

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Groundwater flow equation

Used in hydrogeology, the groundwater flow equation is the mathematical relationship which is used to describe the flow of groundwater through an aquifer. The transient flow of groundwater is described by a form of the diffusion equation, similar to that used in heat transfer to describe the flow of heat in a solid (heat conduction). The steady-state flow of groundwater is described by a form of the Laplace equation, which is a form of potential flow and has analogs in numerous fields.

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Numerical methods for partial differential equations is the branch of numerical analysis that studies the numerical solution of partial differential equations (PDEs). In principle, specialized methods for hyperbolic, parabolic or elliptic partial differential equations exist. Finite difference method In this method, functions are represented by their values at certain grid points and derivatives are approximated through differences in these values.

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