Micro-Geomechanics Across Multiple Strain Scales - An International Workshop

当今世界岩土工程领域的主流是基于连续介质的土力学理论、设计方法和分析。实验和数值技术的最新进展为微观地质力学方法提供了令人振奋的机会，以补充并在某些情况下取代支撑岩土工程实践的更传统的连续介质方法。通过过去二十年进行的各种微观地质力学研究，可以清楚地看到，通过实验或数值微观地质力学研究获得的洞察力可以更好地理解材料的行为，最终能够设计和分析涉及颗粒材料的更复杂的系统。这项名为“跨越多种应变尺度的微观地质力学”的工作坊将于2004年12月在英国剑桥举行。研讨会的目的是为来自学术界、政府和工业界的个人提供一个交流信息的机会，并为未来在这一重要领域的研究和理解确定战略。据估计，拟举办的讲习班将有50人参加，他们来自世界各地的各种技术背景和职业阶段。学术参与者将被挑选包括高级、中级和初级教员。这被认为是从制定该领域的长期研究愿景的角度出发，提供了一个最佳的与会者群体。将从回应公开征集的人员中挑选更多的参与者参加活动。确定这些额外受邀者的进程将力求产生一个不同的讲习班参与者群体。将优先考虑来自代表性不足群体的个人，包括女教员、早期职业院士和高级研究生。在挑选这些额外的个人时，还将努力扩大有代表参加讲习班的机构的数量，并确保代表广泛的技术专长和兴趣。预计将有30名美国与会者获得参加研讨会的支持。两天半的研讨会议程将包括：研讨会参与者的简短应邀演讲；与预先确定的讨论领袖主持的讨论会议；开放小组讨论会议和讨论领袖的总结演讲。研讨会的最后一次会议将侧重于确定未来的研究方向。讲习班网站将被广泛用于筹备讲习班以及向更广泛的社区传播活动的结果。将编写讲习班后的卷，以记录会议的主题。讲习班联合主席将编写一份报告文件，介绍对今后研究的建议，该文件将包括在讲习班后的卷中。智力优势：研讨会的拟议内容包括基础研究的广泛领域的最新进展：数字成像、粒子力学、计算建模和材料响应模拟。将介绍这些不同基本领域的发展和理解，作为评估它们与地球材料科学和工程应用研究的相关性和重要性的基础。除了促进分享当前的知识和发展外，预计讲习班还可以促成一项协商一致的研究议程，并成为未来合作研究努力的催化剂。更广泛的影响：讲习班专题为具有不同背景的专家创造了机会，使他们有机会会面并讨论一个位于许多传统领域的交界处的领域：岩土工程、材料科学、地质科学、机械工程、数学、计算机科学、医学物理和成像。通过充当这些互动的初始催化剂，研讨会预计将在许多领域产生长期影响。虽然土壤可以说是世界上最普遍的颗粒材料，但用于研究土壤的技术和方法将在研讨会上讨论，与其他颗粒和聚集材料的研究同样相关，包括混凝土、陶瓷、金属合金和生物材料。此外，强调在多个尺度上调查行为并理解在不同尺度上观察到的行为之间的关系很容易扩展到更大和更小的尺度，因此与许多其他当前的研究领域直接相关。除了要讨论的具体研究动机问题外，希望拟议的研讨会还能促进土力学教育的新方法。目前的土力学教学仍然以连续统方法为主，这种方法是在过去70年里随着该领域的发展而发展起来的。希望拟议的讲习班能够带来一些课程创新，为岩土工程领域注入新的相关性。目前许多基于连续统的方法已经严重地被经验主义所主导，这限制了知识和理解与其他领域的相关性的程度。通过重新审视许多这些公认的概念并开发框架，其中基于颗粒的方法可以取代一些基于连续介质的方法，很可能岩土工程的理解可以在许多领域找到新的相关性，包括纳米技术、传感器和可视化。

The field of geotechnical engineering, as it is practiced worldwide today, is dominated by continuum based soil mechanics theories, design procedures and analyses. Recent advances in experimental and numerical techniques have provided exciting opportunities for a micro-geomechanics approach to complement and perhaps replace in some cases, the more traditional continuum approach underpinning the practice of geotechnical engineering. It has become evident through the various micro-geomechanics studies undertaken over the past two decades that there are clear instances in which the insight gained through either experimental or numerical micro-geomechanics studies can lead to better understanding of material behavior and ultimately the ability to design and analyze even more complex systems involving particulate materials. This workshop on "Micro-Geomechanics Across Multiple Strain Scales" will be held in Cambridge, England in December 2004. The purpose of the workshop is to provide an opportunity for individuals from academia, government and industry to exchange information and identify a strategy for future research and understanding in this important field. The estimated attendance for the proposed workshop is 50 persons representing a wide range of technical backgrounds and career stages from around the world. The academic participants will be selected to include a combination of senior, intermediate and junior level faculty. This is considered to provide an optimal group of attendees from the perspective of developing a long-term research vision for the field. Additional participants will be selected from those responding to an open solicitation to attend the event. The process to identify these additional invitees will seek to yield a diverse group of workshop participants. Preference will be given to individuals who are from under-represented groups including women faculty, early career academicians, and advanced graduate students. In selecting these additional individuals, effort will also be made to broaden the number of institutions with delegates at the workshop and to ensure that a broad range of technical expertise and interests are represented. It is anticipated that 30 US participants will receive support to attend the workshop. The two and a half day workshop agenda will include: short invited presentations by workshop attendees; moderated discussion sessions with pre-identified discussion leaders; open group discussion sessions and summary presentations by discussion leaders. The final workshop session will focus on identifying future research directions. A workshop web-site will be extensively used in preparing for the workshop as well as in disseminating the findings of the event to a broader community. A post-workshop volume will be prepared to document the subject matter of the meeting. A report paper to be prepared by the workshop co-chairs that will describe recommendations for future research will be included in the post-workshop volume. Intellectual Merit: The proposed content of the workshop includes the state of the art in a broad range of areas of fundamental research: digital imaging, particulate mechanics, computational modeling and material response simulation. Developments and understanding from these diverse fundamental areas will be presented as a basis for evaluating their relevance and importance to applied research in geomaterial science and engineering. In addition to facilitating a sharing of current knowledge and developments, it is anticipated that the workshop can lead to a consensus research agenda and serve as a catalyst for future collaborative research efforts. Broader Impacts: The workshop topic creates the opportunity for experts with diverse backgrounds to meet and discuss an area that resides at the interface of a number of traditional fields: geotechnical engineering, materials science, geological sciences, mechanical engineering, mathematics, computer science, medical physics and imaging. By serving as the initial catalyst for these interactions, the workshop is expected to have a longer term impact across many fields. While soil is arguably the most pervasive particulate material in the world, the techniques and methods that are used to study soils and will be discussed at the workshop are equally relevant to the study of other particulate and aggregated materials including concrete, ceramics, metal alloys and biomaterials. Further, the emphasis on investigating the behavior at multiple scales and understanding the relationships between observed behaviors at different scales is readily extendable to both larger and smaller scales and thus directly relevant to many other current research areas. Aside from the specific research motivated issues to be discussed, it is hoped that the proposed workshop can also serve to stimulate new approaches in soil mechanics education. The current teaching of soil mechanics is still dominated by continuum-based approaches that have evolved over the past 70 years with the development of the field. It is hoped that the proposed workshop can lead to some curricular innovation that will inject new relevance into the field of geotechnical engineering. Many of the current continuum based approaches have become heavily dominated by empiricism and this limits the degree to which the knowledge and understanding has relevance to other fields. By revisiting many of these accepted concepts and developing frameworks where particulate based approaches can replace some of the continuum based approaches, it is likely that geotechnical engineering understanding can find new relevance in many fields including nanotechnologies, sensors, and visualization..