Speaker
Prof. Pierre-Yves HICHER
Professor of the Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical Engineering
Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France
Abstract
In this seminar, Prof. Pierre-Yves Hicher will introduce A multi-scale approach for modeling the mechanical behavior of soils. The deformation of a representative volume of the material is generated by mobilizing particle contacts in all orientations. Thus, the stress–strain relationship can be derived as an average of the mobilization behavior of these local contact planes. The local behavior is assumed to follow a Hertz–Mindlin’s elastic law and a Mohr–Coulomb’s plastic law. Essential features such as continuous displacement field, inter-particle stiffness, and fabric tensor are discussed. The predictions of the derived stress–strain model are compared to experimental results for sand under both drained and undrained triaxial loading conditions. The comparisons demonstrate the ability of this model to reproduce accurately the overall mechanical behavior of granular media and to account for the influence of key parameters such as void ratio and mean stress. The study of anisotropic specimens loaded in different directions shows the model capability of considering the influence of inherent anisotropy on the stress–strain response under a drained triaxial loading condition.
Biography
Professor Pierre-Yves Hicher is currently a Professor of exceptional rank at the Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France. Professor Hicher worked in Ecole Centrale de Paris from 1974 to 1993. During this period, he received PhD degree at Ecole Centrale de Paris in 1979, and then promoted to assistant professor in 1981 and associate professor in 1983. He joined Ecole Centrale de Nantes as a full Professor in 1996.
Professor Hicher is the President of the Scientific Council of Ecole Centrale de Nantes. He is a member of the executive Council of the PGCE (Civil Engineering and Eco-construction Network), Chairman of the Granular Materials Committee of ASCE, Associate Editor of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics (ASCE), Member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Expert for the Ministry of High Education and Research (AERES, ANR, PES). He is the reviewer for a number of international journals, including J. Eng. Mechanics ASCE, Eur. J. of Mechanics, Int. J. Num. Anal. Methods in Geomechanics, Geotechnique, ASTM Geotechnical Testing J., Canadian Geot. J., Computers and Geotechnics, European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Granular Matter and J Aerospace Eng. Professor Hicher has published more than 60 international journal papers and 8 books. He has supervised more than 50 PhD students in the fields of soil mechanics, foundation engineering, granular materials, constitutive modelling and numerical modeling.