2012 and 2013 have been important years for the growth of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics - Chair «Gaz Naturel» Petrosvibri. The report highlights our activities in research, teaching and services during this period.

1. L A B O R AT O R Y O F S O I L M E C H A N I C S
C H A I R « G A Z N AT U R E L » P E T R O S V I B R I
B I - A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3
lms.epfl.ch
PROF. LYESSE LALOUI

2. 1
2012 and 2013 have been important years for the
growth of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics - Chair
«Gaz Naturel» Petrosvibri (LMS). This document
highlights our activities in research, teaching and
services during this period.
The LMS was established in 1935 and since then it
has been contributing to fundamental and applied
research activities, education, as well as consult-
ing for civil engineering construction works. Being
the director of the LMS since 2008, I have seen the
laboratory developing an internationally recog-
nized expertise and claiming an important key role
in the fields of nuclear waste storage, geothermal
resources and unconventional energy sources. In
2012 our activities were extended to the field of
geoengineering of CO2
storage in the context of
the Chair“Gaz Naturel”Petrosvibri.
The Chair «Gaz Naturel» Petrosvibri provides re-
sources to conduct top-notch research in the area
of CO2
sequestration. More precisely, our current
activities include the experimental investigation of
the behaviour of host and cap rock in contact with
CO2
in order to better understand different coupled
thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical mechanisms
developing there. Research is also focused on the
formulation of analytical and numerical models
for the prediction and the design of sequestration
sites.
The LMS is currently facing a growing number of
PhD students and post-docs. Our services have a
research component and they are essential to sup-
port very specific developments. As an example, an
important contract has been signed with Chevron
in 2013, a leading multinational corporation in the
oil and gas industry.
I warmly thank our partners for their support dur-
ing these years. Present report gives us the chance
to highlight our activities for the last two years. I
hope you will enjoy discovering it.
With my best regards,
Prof. Lyesse Laloui
Director of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics - Chair «Gaz Na-
turel» Petrosvibri
Preamble

3. 2
The Laboratory
Mission Statement
The Laboratory of Soil Mechanics (LMS) is a part of
the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental
Engineering (ENAC) at the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). Since its establish-
ment - as the successor of the Geotechnical Labora-
tory founded in 1935 - the LMS has been contribut-
ing to fundamental and applied research activities,
education, as well as consulting for civil engineer-
ing construction works.
The LMS focuses its activities in three major fields:
1. Education
Lectures given by our group at BSc and MSc levels
include Soil Mechanics, Groundwater Flows, Foun-
dations and Geotechnical Engineering, Safety and
Reliability Analysis, Construction and Environmen-
tal Geology, Geomechanics and others. Specific
courses concerning, among others, Mechanics of
Porous Media and Experimental Geomechanics are
also offered within the doctoral program in Me-
chanics.
2. Research & Development
Research activities within the LMS deal, on one
hand, with theoritical and applied aspects in ge-
omechanics and, on the other hand, with the de-
velopment of tools and computational methods for
the analysis and the design of geostructures and
the investigation of natural phenomena, aiming at
the practical application of the obtained results.
3. Consulting Services
Consulting services offered by the LMS deal with
the preparation and update of national and inter-
national standards and codes, laboratory and in-
situ geomechanical tests, monitoring of structures
and construction sites, numerical modelling and
expert evaluations.

4. 3
The Laboratory
LMS’Strenghts
Highly qualified staff of the Laboratory of Soil Me-
chanics utilizes an advanced testing equipment and
state-of-the-art numerical modelling tools to carry
out research in the following areas:
• Natural hazards and landslides
• Deep and shallow geothermal resources
• CO2
sequestration
• Nuclear waste storage
• Unconventional energy resources
The LMS contributes to and benefits from being
widely presented in national and international re-
search programs.
Recent books published by the LMS
Group
Lyesse Laloui and Alessio Ferrari, Multiphysical
Testing of Soils and Shales. Springer (2012)
ISBN 978-3-642-32492-5
Lyesse Laloui and Alice Di Donna, Energy geos-
tructures: innovation in ground engineering.
John Wiley & Sons, ISTE (2013) ISBN: 978-1-
84821-572-6

5. 4
The LMS Technology Under the Swiss
Tech Convention Center
The LMS conducts research on the environmental
methods of cooling and heating buildings through
energy geostructures. These structures absorb
and transport ground thermal energy to the buil-
dings through fluid pipes cast in the foundations.
This avoids the energy-intensive and CO2
-emitting
aspects of classical heating systems and air-condi-
tioning. The interest is particularly focused on heat-
exchanger piles. This research is supported by EOS
Holding, the EPFL and the Swiss Federal Office of
Energy.
The Energy Piles Experiment under the Swiss Tech
Convention Center (STCC) at the EPFL is a full-scale
experiment dedicated to the study of group effects
within a series of heat exchanger piles.The site is lo-
cated below the northern water retention tank de-
signed to collect rainfalls from the STCC roof. Four
piles among the twenty supporting the tank were
thermally activated and instrumented. The piles are
thermally loaded using the in-situ thermal response
testing devices developed by our team.
A service room of 3 by 4 m2
was intergrated into
the water retention tank, just above the heat
exchanger piles. All the sensors deployed, as
well as the absorber pipes, are gathered in the
service room. The four piles, with a diameter of
900 mm, were instrumented in order to observe
their behaviour under thermal and mechani-
cal loads. Strain gauges and optical fibres were
deployed along the piles, while a load cell was
placed at the base of each one. The thermoac-
tive part is located on the last 24 m of a pile,
with the rest being thermally insulated. This
procedure allows to get rid of the daily tem-
perature variations, which seep into the soil to
about 4 m under the surface, as well as the ther-
mal interactions with the water retention tank.
For more information on this project you can contact:
Thomas Mimouni, PhD candidate
thomas.mimouni@epfl.ch

6. 5
Instalation of the heat exchanger piles at the STCC.
Top view of the four piles. View of the piles, the hydraulic circuit
and diferrent soil layers.
the Swiss Tech Convention Center

7. 6
A View of the LMS Infrastructure
1. 2.
3. 4.
5. 6.
images 1, 2, 3 : view of our advanced THM triaxial apparatus; images 4, 5 : general views of the laboratory; image 6:
psychrometer and glass container (for suction control tests).

8. 7
The Laboratory of Soil Mechanics is involved in the investigation of the behaviour of shales under a variety
of coupled thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical conditions.
Shales are fine grained sedimentary geomaterials
usually characterized by having low porosity, do-
minant pore size in the range of nanometres and
matrix permeability as low as few nanodarcy. They
embody a number of properties, which make them
suitable for several engineering purposes such as
shale gas extraction and nuclear waste disposal.
The growing interest in developing such enginee-
ring applications has led to the need to characterize
the geomechanical behaviour of shales.
During the period 2012-2013, the LMS focused on
several aspects of the geomechanical behaviour of
shales.The investigation of the water retention pro-
perties of shales has been successfully addressed.
This refers to the understanding of the capabilities
of shales to retain water at different suction values .
The water retention behavior together with the de-
tection of the volume variation (swelling and shrin-
kage) of the material can provide significant infor-
mationforpracticalapplications,wherethematerial
is exposed to different values of relative humidity
during operational procedures like tunnel excava-
tion or drilling operations. The effects of a reduc-
tion of the earth pressure on the shales during the
construction of a nuclear waste repository, for ins-
tance, constitute a valuable mechanical issue. Fur-
thermore, stress variations can significantly affect
shale porosity and permeability. As a consequence,
the mechanical behaviour of shales at high confi-
ning stresses is a fundamental aspect that has to be
investigated. Advanced testing devices have been
developed at LMS to analyse the hydro-mechanical
behaviour of shales at high confining stresses and
in non-isothermal unsaturated conditions.
Another fundamental aspect is the chemical effects
on the mechanical behaviour of the material. Dif-
ferent fluid solutions are nowadays considered
during drilling and fracturing operation. The LMS is
currently investigating the influence of pore water
composition on the mechanical behaviour of the
material. The mentioned points altogether form
an advanced unitary framework for the analysis of
the thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical behaviour of
shales.
Research Topic
Geomechanics of Shales
Relevant Publications
FaveroV., Ferrari A. and Laloui L. Retention Properties and
Permeability of Shales. Géotechnique Symposium in Print
2013, London, UK, 2013.
FaveroV., Ferrari A. and Laloui L. An Insight into the Fluid
Retention Capabilities of Shales. InternationalWorkshop on
Geomechanics and Energy, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2013.

9. 8
Deep geological repositories are considered as the
most suitable solution for the disposal of radioactive
wastes. According to National Cooperative for dis-
posal of Nuclear Waste in Switzerland (NAGRA), the
volume of low and intermediate-level waste that are
predicted for a 50-year period can reach 93’000 m3
.
Among this volume, 60’000 m3
are coming from the
operation and dismantling of the five Swiss nuclear
power plants and 33’000 m3
from research, industry
and medicine.
Among several repository concepts, bentonites
are selected as the buffer component of the engi-
neered barrier systems to be emplaced between
the waste canisters and the host rock. The buffer
material involved in the confinement of radioactive
waste will be submitted to drastic thermal, hydrau-
lic and mechanical modifications. These modifica-
tions may significantly influence the behaviour of
the buffer material in both macroscopic and micros-
copic scales. Safety assessment of the entire repo-
sitory depends on the deep understanding of the
thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) evolutions of the
buffer material under such circumstances.
Following the requirements for characterization of
the bentonite material properties in engineered
barrier systems for disposal of radioactive wastes
in Switzerland, a research program was established
at the LMS. The use of comprehensive experimen-
tal techniques allowed the assessment of the ma-
terial behaviour under thermo-hydro-mechanical
processes. The observations on the behavioural
features of the material at macroscopic and micros-
copic scales provided a sound basis for the deve-
lopment of a water retention model to account for
the hydro-mechanical coupling and the micro-scale
transformations. Therefore, the research addresses
the issue from three main perspectives: the macros-
copic behaviour, microstructural evolution and the
constitutive modelling:
(i) Macroscopic behaviour: a systematic protocol
was carried out to evaluate the behavioural features
of the MX-80 granular bentonite under different
thermo-hydro-mechanical stress paths. The water
retention behaviour of the buffer material (an im-
portant element of the hydro-mechanical coupling)
was determined with a newly developed technique
called Micro-cell.
(ii) Microstructural evolution: in the light of the
microstructural investigation techniques and the
development of a new technique (Micro-cell), an
insight into the fabric evolution of the bentonite
material at different hydraulic states along the wa-
ter retention domain was achieved. This way, the
hydro-mechanical response of the material was lin-
ked to the evolution of the microstructure along the
water retention curves.
Research Topic
Nuclear Waste Storage

10. 9Numerical model simulating an Engineered Barrier System; potential host construction for nuclear waste.
(iii) Constitutive modeling: following the experi-
mental characterisation of the granular bentonite,
a conceptual water retention model accounting for
the change of the void ratio and the microstructu-
ral evolutions during the hydration of the bentonite
material was developed. The model is based on an
elasto-plastic approach that used a linear anisotro-
pic hardening rule. The model produces the water
retention curves for the entire hydraulic domain
under a given compaction state considering the
evolution of microstructural porosity within the
material.
Relevant Publications
Seiphori A. Thermo-hydro-mechanical Characterisa-
tion and Modelling of MX-Bentonite. PhD thesis, EPFL
2014, thesis directors Prof. Lyesse Laloui, Dr. Alessio
Ferrari
Seiphoori A., Ferrari A. and Laloui L. An advanced
calibration process for a thermo-hydro-mechanical
triaxial system. International Symposium on Defor-
mation Characteristics of Geomaterials, Séoul, South
Korea, August 31- Sept. 2, 2011
Dupray F., Li C. and Laloui L. THM coupling sensitivity
analysis in geological nuclear waste storage, in Engi-
neering Geology, vol. 163, p. 113-121, 2013.

11. 10
Relevant Publications
Mimouni T., Laloui L. “Towards a secure basis for the design
of geothermal piles”. Acta Geotechnica, Volume 9, Issue 3,
pp. 355-366, 2014.
Dupray F., L. Laloui, Kazangba A. «Numerical analysis of sea-
sonal heat storage in an energy pile foundation». Computers
and Geotechnics, Vol. 55, pp. 67-77, 2014.
Mimouni T., Lei L., L. Laloui «Estimating soil thermal diffu-
sivity with interference analyses». Acta Geotechnica, Doi
10.1007/s11440-014-0325-0, 2014.
Mimouni T., F. Dupray, L. Laloui“Estimating the geothermal
potential of heat exchanger anchors on a cut and cover
tunnel”Geothermics, N°51, pp. 380-387, 2014.
Dupray F., Chao L., L. Laloui «Heat-exchanger piles for the
de-icing of bridges». Acta Geotechnica, Volume 9, Issue 3,
pp. 413-423, 2014.
The research team of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics has developed and used advanced numerical mo-
dels that are able to reproduce the complex behaviour of energy geostructures.
Numerical models are powerful tools to investigate
the behaviour of energy geostructures. These engi-
neering systems have both the role of structural sta-
bility and energy supplier. In the case of pile foun-
dations, for instance, the loading coming from the
building is transmitted to the soil through them im-
posing a mechanical solicitation. At the same time,
the piles exchange heat with the ground based on
the principle of shallow geothermics and thus the
thermal aspects also play a fundamental role. Last
but not least, geostructures are, by definition, em-
bedded in the soil, which is a porous material that
can be fully or partially water-saturated.
The problem of analyzing the response of the
whole soil-geostructure system is complex and
involves three main aspects: mechanical, thermal
and hydraulic, which are also coupled. Therefore,
temperature variations could affect the mechanical
response or induce excess pore water pressures. To
address these issues, the coupled thermo-hydro-
mechanical numerical analysis is used.
The research group of the Laboratory of Soil Mecha-
nics is recognized at an international level for its
contribution to this field. Our studies have permit-
ted the analysis of the long-term effect of seasonal
temperature variations and extreme loading condi-
tions on energy geostructures. This work includes
not only the investigations on energy piles, but also
other energy geostructures, such as bored tunnels,
cut-and-cover tunnels and bridge foundations.
Research Topic
Geothermal Resources: Numerical Simulations

12. 11
The Laboratory of Soil Mechanics has developed a
system to issue early-warning alerts for landslides.
The early-warning system is a numerical prediction
tool for shallow landslide hazards. It simulates the
physical process in the soil during the landslide trig-
ging and can predict the moment and the location
of landsliding. The following input data is needed
for a simulation: the internal factors, i.e. the proper-
ties of soil that could be obtained through labora-
tory tests, and the external trigger, i.e. rainfall fore-
casting values. It is also possible to combine the tool
with field measurements. For instance, if the water
pressure is measured during a rainfall event in the
field, these measurements could be introduced into
the system and the result of the prediction should
be come more realistic.
Within the numerical tool, the material behaviour
is governed by an elasto-plastic constitutive mo-
del, which is able to simulate the infiltration of rain
into unsaturated soil and the hysteretic behavior
of water retention. Finite element method is used
to solve the coupled equations of soil mechanics
and hydraulics. It provides strain and pore pressure
maps about the soil domain, from which the posi-
tion of sliding surface as well as the sliding time can
be deduced.
The early-warning system has been validated by the
field experiment of landslide at Rüdlingen (Eiche-
berger et al. 2011) and is being so far applied on
the slope stability of the Irazu volcano in Costa Rica
(Eicheberger et al. 2012). In this case, the early war-
ning system provides threshold values for rainfall
events as well as for pore water pressure. This is also
an incredible tool that supports the decision-ma-
king process.
Concisely, the system is fully functional and emits
warnings as soon as the probability of slope unsta-
bility reaches the critical value.
Research Topic
Landslide Analysis
Article on the early-warning system for
landslide predictions:
«Predicting the unpredictable»
Flash newspaper, May 2013
Relevant Publications
Eichenberger J. , Ferrari A. and Laloui L. Early warning thresholds
for partially saturated slopes in volcanic ashes, in Computers and
Geotechnics, p. 79-89, 2013.
Eichenberger L. and Laloui L. (Dir.). Geomechanical modelling
of rainfall-induced landslides in partially saturated slopes.Thèse
EPFL, n° 5580
Eichenberger J., Nuth M. and Laloui L. Modeling the Onset of
Shallow Landslides in Partially Saturated Slopes Subjected to Rain
Infiltration. Geo-Frontiers 2011 Conference, ASCE, Dallas,Texas,
USA, March 13-16, 2011.

13. 12

14. 13
The Laboratory
Team picture
The LMS staff has grown over the last years:
2013
2009
2008
2012
2011
2010
23
2
1
20
24
2
6
29
Staff
2013
2009
2008
2012
2011
2010
8
7
6
6 10
10
PhDs
Candidates

15. 14
A tool to assess surface uplift during CO2 injection
A new pre-design tool has been developed at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics to support industries and
other stakeholders in their projects.
CO2
saturation, displacement and temperature profile within a pressu-
rized aquifer simulated by finite element simulator.
Research Topic
Geologic CO2
Sequestration
A multicomponent hydromechanical coupled mo-
del has been implemented into a Finite Element
code with the emphasis on the deformable porous
media with the two-phase flow: supercritical CO2
and water. Numerical simulations show that injec-
tion induced overpressure is the main trigger of
geomechanical instabilities such as caprock defor-
mation and surface uplift. Nonetheless, such de-
tailed studies require a lot of preparation and cal-
culation time
In order to facilitate the realization of these studies,
the LMS has developed a tool that aims at helping
project designers and reservoir engineers to have
a first estimation of overpressure magnitude, CO2
propagation velocity, sealing caprock deformation
and surface uplift during the injection of CO2
. Provi-
ded information can be obtained in a really fast and
robust way before establishing any detailed models.
The tool is based on a semi-analytical approach
that examines the interaction between a primary
caprock and adjacent regions with elastic material
properties, which is induced by the pressurization
within the injection zone. It also incorporates a mo-
ving front of two immiscible fluids: water and super-
critical CO2. Transient effects in fluid pressures and
real fluid properties are also taken into account,
which can better determine spatial distribution
and temporal evolution of the overpressure within
the aquifer. The minimum number of parameters
is required as inputs of the pre-design tool and the
calculation is ultrafast compared to other numerical
simulations.

16. 15
Experimental activities
The objective of the LMS laboratory research rela-
ted to safe geologic carbon dioxide sequestration
is characterization of thermo-hydro-mechanical
behaviour of possible host and cap rocks in contact
with water, brine, supercritical and liquid CO2
.
Change in parameters governing the poromecha-
nical response of sandstones and limestones is
caused by the chemical effect of carbon dioxide
on the rock matrix and is measured in triaxial and
oedometric compression tests. Additionally, X-
ray Computed Tomography, Scanning Electron
Microscopy, and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry
techniques allow for studying the micro-structural
transformations of the host rocks.
Safety of the sealing of possible host reservoirs is
assessed by the investigation of mechanical and
retention properties of cap rock material. Experi-
ments with shales are focused on measurements
of CO2
permeability, breakthrough pressure and
retention behaviour. X-ray CT scans of a limestone specimen after par-
tial dissolution of calcite matrix (obtained @ UNIL)

17. 16
Research
Ph.D. Theses
Ph.D. works concluded in 2012 and 2013:
• Suzanne Fauriel (2012) « Multiphysical model-
ling of soils with a focus on microbially induced
calcite precipitation ». Nominated for the EPFL
award of best Ph.D. thesis in 2012.
• John Eichenberger (2013) « Geomechanical mo-
delling of rainfall-induced landslides in partially
saturated slopes ».
Ph.D. candidates are coming to the EPFL from all over the world to carry on their studies. Here are the Ph.D.
theses that are currently ongoing at the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics:
• Thermo-mechanical aspects of energy piles:
Alice Di Donna, thesis director: Prof. Lyesse Laloui
• Thermo-hydro-mechanical characterization and
modelling of MX-80 granular bentonite: Ali Sei-
phoori, thesis directors: Prof. Lyesse Laloui, Dr.
Alessio Ferrari
• Gas flow propagation and related chemo-hydro-
mechanical response of sand bentonite mixture:
Donatella Manca, thesis director: Prof. Lyesse
Laloui
• Energy pile foundations: group effect and long
term behaviour: Thomas Mimouni, thesis direc-
tor: Prof. Lyesse Laloui
• Thermo-hydro-mechanical characterization of
shales: Valentina Favero, thesis directors: Prof.
Lyesse Laloui, Dr. Alessio Ferrari
• Multiphase thermo-hydromechanical processes
induced by CO2
injection into deep saline aqui-
fers: Chao Li, thesis director: Prof. Lyesse Laloui
• Hydro-mechanical damage model for aniso-
tropic shales (Opalinus Clay): constitutive and
numerical modelling: Francesco Parisio, thesis
director: Prof. Lyesse Laloui
• Geomechanical constitutive model for bio-im-
proved soils: Dimitrios Terzis, thesis director:
Prof. Lyesse Laloui
• Gas testing in shales: Alberto Minardi, thesis di-
rectors: Prof. Lyesse Laloui, Dr. Alessio Ferrari
• Behaviour of geomaterials in contact with CO2
in the framework of carbon sequestration: Timur
Oscar Gökok, thesis director: Prof. Lyesse Laloui

18. 17
lms in the
Media
Our fields of expertise are of great professional and inter-
national interest and our growing activities are covered in
the media. The chart depicts the increasing presence of LMS
through articles and interviews in newspapers and radio
broadcasts since 2011.
From top left and clockwise:
>Article in the Swiss newspaper «24heures»
>Article about Shale Gas published in Efficience21
>Prof. Laloui has been interviewed by Babylone and Nancy Ypsilantis (RTS)
>The LMS technology in the Swiss Tech CC in newspaper «24heures»
>Interview of Prof. Laloui in the Swiss Engineering Magazine.

19. 18
1. Laloui L.“Bio- and chemo-mechanical processes in geo-
technical engineering”. Géotechnique, pp. 189-190, 2013.
2. Ferrari A. and Laloui L.“Advances in the Testing of the
Hydro-mechanical Behaviour of Shales”. Multiphysical
Testing of Soils and Shales, 2013 Springer.
3. Mimouni T. and Laloui L.“Towards a secure basis for
the design of geothermal piles”. Acta Geotechnica, doi:
10.1007/s11440-013-0245-4, 2013.
4. Eichenberger J., Ferrari A. and Laloui L.“Early warning
thresholds for partially saturated slopes in volcanic
ashes”. Computers and Geotechnics, pp. 79-89, 2013.
5. Witteveen P., Ferrari A. and Laloui L. «An experimental
and constitutive investigation on the chemo-mechanical
behaviour of a clay». Géotechnique, 63, No. 3, 244–255,
2013.
6. Fauriel S. and Laloui L. «A bio-chemo-hydro-mechanical
model for microbially induced calcite precipitation in
soils». Computers & Geotechnics, 46, 104–120, 2012.
LMS Publications and International Events
During 2012 and 2013, 39 peer reviewed articles and conference papers were published by the LMS
group. Here are some key publications among them:
2. “Geotechnical Analysis of Energy Geo-Structures”. Euro-
pean Geothermal Congress 2013, Pisa (Italy), June 2013
- Prof Lyesse Laloui.
3. “Coupled analytical and numerical solutions of CO2
injection induced surface uplift and caprock deflection”.
3rd Sino-German Conference on Underground storage
of CO2 and Energy, Goslar (Germany), May 2013 - Prof
Lyesse Laloui.
4. “Advances in the analysis of thermo-active foundations
and underground structures”. International Workshop on
Thermo-active Geotechnical Systems for Near-Surface
Geothermal Energy, Lausanne (Switzerland), March 2013
- Prof Lyesse Laloui.
5. “An experimental and constitutive investigation on the
chemo-mechanical behaviour of a clay”, Géotechnique
SIP 2013, 3 June 2013 at the Institution of Civil Engineers
(ICE) in London. - Dr. Alessio Ferrari.
Keynote Lectures
Main Keynote Lectures delivered by LMS people:
1. “Hydro-mechanically Coupled Processes in Rainfall-in-
duced Landslide Modelling”. XVI French-Polish Collo-
quium of Soil and Rock Mechanics, Montpellier (France),
July 2013 - Prof Lyesse Laloui.
Citations:
Since 2009 LMS publications have been cited 1253 times
(source: Scopus as of June 2014)
The above chart presents the citations per year.
6. “Hydrogeological hazard and risk modeling techniques»
session of the VIII National Conference «GIT-Geology and
Information Technology», Chiavenna (So), 17 - 19 August
2013. - Dr. Alessio Ferrari.

20. 19
International conferences and workshops are of a great interest for the
Laboratory of Soil Mechanics as they provide a platform to share information and know-how.
Discover the four main events that we organized.
Thermoactive Geotechnical Systems (2013) - photo
The Laboratory of Soil Mechanics organized an international workshop dedicated to Thermoactive Geotechnical
Systems for Near-Surface Geothermal Energy at Lausanne-EPFL on 25-27 March 2013. The scientific organisation
has been shared withVirginiaTech, University of Cambridge and University of Colorado - Boulder.The workshop has
been funded by the US NSF.
EAGE International Workshop on Geomechanics and Energy - The Ground as Energy Source and Storage (2013)
The most recent contributions of geomechanics to various fields of energy were discussed during this workshop
held at the EPFL on 26-29 November 2013. The areas of interest were related to geomechanical application in the
subsurface extraction of energy and the storage of various waste as well as CO2. A short course was delivered prior
to the start of the workshop by Prof. Lyesse Laloui and Dr. Alessio Ferrari on the rheological behaviour of soils, shales
and rocks under a variety of saturation conditions and temperatures.
Workshop on Advances in Multiphysical Testing of Soils and Shales (2012)
The ISSMGE TC-101 International Workshop on“Advances in Multphysical Testing of Soils and Shales (ATMSS)”was
held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 3-5 September 2012. It was organized by Prof. Lyesse Laloui and Dr. Alessio Fer-
rari at the EPFL. The workshop aimed at stimulating the debate on the advances in experimental geomechanics
and contributions on unsaturated soil testing, nonisothermal experiments, shale testing, micro-scale investiga-
tions and image analysis techniques were presented. Six theme lectures completed the programme.
Geotechnique Symposium in Print (2013)
The Géotechnique Symposium in Print 2013 was held on June 3, 2013 at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in
London. The Symposium was organized by Prof. Lyesse Laloui on the topic of “Bio- and Chemo- Mechanical Pro-
cesses in Geotechnical Engineering”. The two issues of Géotechnique printed in March 2013 contain the 14 selected
papers for the Symposium.

21. 20
Partners and Sponsors
The Laboratory of Soil Mechanics and the Chair «Gaz Naturel» Petrosvibri would like to thank all their part-
ners and sponsors whose support continues to be essential for the research activities conducted in our
laboratory.
ALERT (EU), Chevron (USA), Competence Center on Environment and Sustainability (CCES, Switzerland),
Competence Center on Energy and Mobility (CCEM, Switzerland), European Union FP6 - Marie Curie Ac-
tions: Research Training Network, European Union FP7, EOS Holding (Switzerland), Holcim (Switzerland),
National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA, Switzerland), National Science Foun-
dation (Switzerland), Petrosvibri SA (Switzerland), Swiss Federal Office of Energy (OFEN), Swiss Federal Of-
fice of Road (OFROU), and Swiss Federal Office of Topography - Swisstopo.
External financial support per research area.

22. 21
AllianceofLaboratoriesinEurope
for Research and Technology

23. 22
The Team
LYESSE LALOUI
Director, Professor
LAURENT
TACHER
Research associate
and lecturer
GILBERT GRUAZ
ETS/HES Engineer
ALESSIO FERRARI
Senior Scientist
SERGIO SAMAT
Post-Doc Researcher
FABRICE DUPRAY
Post-Doc Researcher
SAMILA
BANDARA
Post-Doc Researcher
ALESSANDRO
ROTTA LORIA
PhD Student
ROMAN
MAKHNENKO
Post-Doc Researcher
DIMITRIOS
TERZIS
PhD Student
SEN QUIAN
PhD Student
YAFEI QIAO
PhD Student
ALBERTO
MINARDI
PhD Student

24. 23
VALENTINA
FAVERO
PhD Student
CHAO LI
PhD Student
THOMAS
MIMOUNI
PhD Student
FRANCESCO
PARISIO
PhD Student
DONATELLA
MANCA
PhD Student
TIMUR GÖKOK
PhD student
PATRICK DUBEY
Technical assistant
ALI SEPHOORI
PhD Student
ROSANA
TURIELLE
Secretary and
administrative
assistant
BARBARA
TINGUELY
Secretary
JULIEN NOCERA
Laboratory Assistant
BASTIEN
PASQUIER
Laboratory Assistant
JESSICA GARCIA
Commercial trainee
ALICE DI DONNA
PhD Student
LAURENT MORIER
Technical assistant

25. 24
Outlook for the Future
The Laboratory of Soil Mechanics has a clear vision for its future and is working with passion to achieve it.
Apart from sub-surface topics (shallow geothermal resources, construction geomechanics, slopes stability,
environmental geomechanics) a large part of our research converges toward deep geological medium and
considers nuclear waste disposal, CO2
geologic sequestration and deep geothermal resources. It leads to
the development of unique tools and knowledge concerning the processes taking place at the depth of a
few kilometers.
Deep underground resources bring common opportunities and challenges and the LMS is becoming an
international key player in this research field and aims at further establishing this role.
The LMS will continue to organize key international events. As a matter of fact, the EPFL will host the 13th
Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologiques (GHGT) in 2016, one of the most prestigious in-
ternational conference series in this field. The conference will take place under the stewardship of the IEA
Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG), an international collaborative research program established
in 1991 as an Implementing Agreement under the International Energy Agency (IEA). Professor Lyesse
Laloui will be the co-chair and Dr. Alessio Ferrari will serve as a member of the organizing comittee of the
conference. More than two thousand scientific researchers are expected to attend this event.
The LMS activities will continue to cover education, research and technology transfer in large fields of
geomechanics. Our vision aims at contributing to a sustainable development of constructions and natu-
ral environment by addressing selected key issues with the highest possible academic standard, through
transdisciplinary internal and international collaborations and through collaboration with long-term re-
search industries.

26. 27
PHOTOS
© Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, except
for: STCC, RLC (pages 2, 4, 24) ©EPFL
PRINTING
Atelier de reprographie EPFL
©2014
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

27. EPFL - ENAC - LMS
Station 18
CH-1015 Lausanne
Tel: +41 21 693 23 15 or 25
Fax: +41 21 693 41 53
lms@epfl.ch
http://lms.epfl.ch