Geomechanics deals with the behavior of geomaterials that form the Earth's regolith. There is a vast diversity of geomaterials, including soils (e.g., sand, clay, and silt) and rocks (e.g., chalk, sandstone, shales, and granite). They are ubiquitous and involved in many human activities, including the environment, mineral and material extraction, energy production, and infrastructures. Geomaterials are fascinating and challenging materials because of the wide variability of their distribution, properties, and behavior.  They are complex multiphase materials where the solid phase interacts with the fluids (usually water) in their pores. Geomaterials also contain heterogeneities at different scales.

In the GEO-SURE GROUP, we deploy GEOMECHANICS in developing SUSTAINABLE and RESILIENT solutions for:

·  Geo-energy production (geothermal energy, and tight shale oil and gas extraction).

·  Geo-environmental protection (geohazard mitigation, and CO2 geological sequestration).

·  Infrastructure development (underground construction and tunneling).

An overarching concern in our research is the mitigation of the impacts of climate change.

To achieve the desired sustainable and resilient solutions, we develop, test, and deploy the following Geomechanical tools and methodologies:

·  Constitutive modeling of geomaterials (elasto-plasticity, elasto-viscoplasticity, damage    mechanics, fracture mechanics, and bifurcation/strain localization)

·  Poromechanics applied to porous and fractured geomaterials with multi-phase pore fluids with a focus on geomechanics.

·  Multi-scale modeling (discrete element, and finite element/difference modeling)

·  Laboratory testing (element and scale-model testing with Seismic and AE monitoring)

·  Reliability analysis, Data-driven simulation, and Machine learning