Project description DEENESFRITPL Understanding natural clay behaviour for landslide mitigation Natural or quick clays are natural soils that can change from solid to liquid due to small perturbations in their environment, and they are responsible for quick clay landslides. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CLAYLAB project will explore the complex behaviour of natural sensitive clays to develop innovative ground improvement ideas for landslide prevention. The project will create a virtual geomechanics laboratory; the idea is to probe clay behaviour starting at the materials science scale by incorporating clay-specific physics in discrete element modelling based on experimental image and force data that spans nm – m. CLAYLAB will allow us, for the first time, to understand phenomena such as quick clay landslides and find solutions to mitigate them. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Natural clays are fascinating materials, especially so-called quick clays, a major geohazard, which are natural soils that can have a sudden irreversible phase change from solid to liquid due to small perturbations in environmental conditions. The aim of the project is to gain understanding of the complex behaviour of natural sensitive clays, including quick clays, by creating a virtual CLAYLAB. CLAYLAB is a virtual geomechanics laboratory for probing the behavior of clays starting at the materials science scale by incorporating clay specific physics in Discrete Element Modelling (DEM), based on experimental image and force data that spans nm - m. The novel multi-scale experimental data available at the host institution is combined with micro-mechanical computational and theoretical methods such as adding Level Sets for shape to DEM with the expertise of the ER. By taking advantage of cutting-edge imaging techniques, such as X-ray Computed Tomography, where computer-based mathematical schemes such as level sets are applied to generate a unique “digital twin” for each particle. Furthermore, complementary data is gathered on the physico-chemical processes using a combination of X-ray scattering and Atomic Force Microscopy. Ultimately, a virtual CLAYLAB will be created, so that the digital samples match the physical behavior of their real counterparts at the engineering scale. CLAYLAB will enable us, for a first time, to understand the phenomena such as quick clay landslides, and enable us to probe into the materials response beyond what is possible when using laboratory techniques on their own. This understanding ultimately offers a platform to develop novel ground improvement ideas for landslide mitigation. Finally, CLAYLAB will help to ameliorate time consuming as well as expensive real laboratory testing procedures for probing soil response for engineering applications. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencessoil sciencesedaphology Keywords virtual laboratory natural clay LSDEM nano-scale characterisation Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA AB Net EU contribution € 203 852,16 Address - 412 96 Goteborg Sweden See on map Region Södra Sverige Västsverige Västra Götalands län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
