Micromechanics of cracking of clay subjected to air drying and/or gas breakthrough

This 3-year PhD at the University of Strathclyde will focus on investigating the mechanisms at the micro/particle scale underpinning the process of crack formation in clay associated with air drying and/or exposure of the clay interface to gas at high pressure.

The research will mainly be experimentally-based and the PhD candidate will make use of state of the art technologies for the investigation of the clay microstructure including X-Ray Computed Tomography, Environmental Scanning Microscopy, and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry.

Despite 100 years of research on the macro-mechanical behaviour of clay, we are still largely ignoring underlying mechanisms at the particle scale. Clay micromechanics involves the understanding of the configuration of elements (particles) and the forces controlling the kinematics of such elements. Clay micromechanics (including the evolution of particle configuration in clays when subjected to mechanical loading) has rarely been investigated explicitly and is a young and rapidly growing discipline in the field of soil mechanics.

Besides joining a vibrant geotechnical community at Strathclyde, the candidate will join the International Research Centre For Clay Micromechanics (https://www.irccm.net ) which will provide the opportunity for international collaborations and to spend a period abroad in one of the partner universities (i.e. Chalmers University of Technology - Sweden, University of Twente - The Netherlands, Université Grenoble Alpes – France, University of Brasilia – Brazil, Politecnico di Bari – Italy, Technical University of Denmark – Denmark)

Industrial contacts will be mainly focused, but not only, towards the Carbon Storage and Sequestration sector.