Lorentz Center workshop on Clay Micromechanics
From 24th to 27th January 2022, Vanessa Magnanimo (UT/CME), in collaboration with Alessandro Tarantino and Arianna Pagano from University of Strathclyde (UK) hosted a (virtual) workshop Clay Micromechanics funded by the Lorentz Center: https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/clay-micromechanics-2022.html
The purpose of the workshop was to gather a selected group of researchers working on various aspects of clay micromechanics, and researchers from other fields whose skills and know-how could contribute significantly to clay micromechanics research. The workshop tackled the problem from different standpoints (theoretical, experimental, and numerical) while travelling across scales (nano, micro, meso to macro). Aim was to create new insight into unresolved issues, which will in turn enable the development of the field. Despite 100 years of research, we are still largely ignoring underlying mechanisms at the particle scale that control macro-mechanical behaviour of clays.
The workshop, that included keynotes presentations, pitch talks and ample space for open discussion, was very successful, with the audience fully engaged and very participative. A two-days follow-up workshop, will be held in person at the Lorentz Center in April 2022, with the goal to process the information collected and compose collaborative position paper(s) collecting the state of the art on clay micromechanics.
