On Multiphysical Couplings in Energy Geotechnics: Relevance and Applications

Energy Geotechnics includes several applications related to the recovery and storage of energy from and into the ground, energy transportation, and the management of waste and carbon dioxide generated from energy use. These applications often involve the need to consider the behaviour of the involved geomaterials under complex - and often extreme – conditions, involving a series of coupled mechanical, hydraulic, chemical and thermal phenomena. The paper reports selected examples with the aim to present the variety of applications that Energy Geotechnics may cover, and to show some advances on the development of experimental, numerical and constitutive modelling tools for analysing the complex series of couplings involved in those applications.