Promotion lecture – Jelke Dijkstra

Welcome to Jelke Dijkstra's promotion lecture as Full Professor at the division of Geology and Geotechnics, Research Area Geotechnics.

The lecture is open to all staff and as well asexternal guests. After mingle in pentry 387 after the lecture.

Abstract

Geomaterials are the unsung heroes of Civil Engineering. Loose geomaterials such as fine- and coarse-grained soils often form an integral part of the structure and its foundation. Cemented materials (man-made such as concrete or natural rocks) are also geomaterials that are ubiquitous, each with its own challenges. These geomaterials are often (partially) saturated and not working on their own, leading to complex engineering challenges related soil-structure interaction. The response of geomaterials at the engineering scale (metres) emerges from the particulate nature at the materials science scale (nano- and micrometre), yet until very recently it was impossible to experimentally resolve this length-scale non-invasively.

At the other end of the spectrum, the engineering scale, uncertainties arising from the geological and anthropogenic loading history need to be dealt with. These include phenomena such as degradation and creep. This promotion lecture will delve into some of the exciting opportunities offered by merging fundamental knowledge and techniques on experimental geomechanics with numerical methods to underpin the geomechanics of tomorrow in a changing environment.