Planning I/UCRC California Institute of Technology: Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards

加州理工大学地质力学和减轻地质灾害的产学合作研究中心将领导和协调行业相关的、竞争前的基础研究，这些研究涉及紧迫的社会需求，如高效开采石油/天然气和地热资源，以及减轻由能源收集活动引发的地震等自然和人为灾害。加州理工学院的20名教师的专业知识横跨地球物理、地质、机械和土木工程以及信息科学领域，他们将通过该中心工作，通过利用尖端建模、计算、监测和遥感来推动对岩土材料和地质力学的基本理解。这笔赠款使中心的规划阶段成为可能，包括组织为期一天半的规划研讨会，行业和公共部门的代表与中心教职员工会面，提出并商定初步研究议程、中心政策，并建立工业咨询委员会。在规划会议上，该中心将在现有牢固伙伴关系的基础上，面向包括洛杉矶市、地区公用事业、工程咨询、设计和建筑公司、保险公司和能源部门在内的公共部门的新成员。在中心的支持下，为这些组成部分开发的模型、方法和工具将通过研究出版物和演示文稿成为公共领域的一部分，使广泛的减灾活动、中心成员以外的公司和整个社会受益。研究生和本科生参与该中心的研究将培养科学和工程领域的新一代学术和工业领袖。加州理工学院的教职员工将把中心支持的研究纳入他们的讲课、项目和开放式作业中，教育广大的科学和工程专业的学生了解与工业和社会相关的问题及其解决方案。地球材料和地球力学中心建立在加州理工学院的成功传统之上，即创造强有力的解决方案来满足植根于基础科学和对潜在现象的理解的工业和社会需求。该中心将针对需要下列相互关联的领域的应用：(1)基于实验室研究和现场观测的岩土材料变形和破坏预测模型；(2)地下和地面变形/震动的详细创新成像；(3)减灾工具和技术的开发。地质材料建模和减轻地质灾害领域的成功发展是紧密相连的，需要结合多尺度、多物理模型、成像方法、数据分析和反问题算法以及尖端的计算、监测和实验室测试设施。参与该中心启动的20名加州理工学院教职员工走在了这些活动的最前列。在岩土材料和地质力学中心的主持下开展的项目将促进对岩土材料及其破坏的基本了解，包括水力压裂、流体注入的影响、震源、土壤液化、滑坡和泥石流。其他活动将包括开发创新的成像技术，包括天基技术和密集的地面监测网络；创建减少灾害的工具，包括先进的地震预警算法和损失估计方法以及分布式基础设施系统。该中心将通过提供高度协作的解决方案，在学术、工业和公共部门之间架起桥梁，为行业和社会带来地质力学、成像和地质灾害领域的严谨。

The Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards at Caltech will lead and coordinate industry relevant, pre-competitive, fundamental research on pressing societal needs such as the efficient extraction of oil/gas and geothermal resources and the mitigation of natural and man-made hazards like earthquakes triggered by energy harvesting activities. Twenty Caltech faculty whose expertise spans the fields of geophysics, geology, mechanical and civil engineering, and information sciences will work through this Center to push the envelope of fundamental understandings of geomaterials and geomechanics by leveraging cutting-edge modeling, computing, monitoring, and remote sensing. The planning phase of the Center that this grant makes possible includes the organization of a one and a half-day planning workshop, where representatives of industry and the public sector meet with Center faculty to present and agree on an initial research agenda, center policies, and establish the Industrial Advisory Board. At the planning meeting, the Center will build on existing strong partnerships and target new members in the public sector including the City of Los Angeles; regional utilities; engineering consulting, design, and construction firms; insurance companies; and the energy sector. The models, methodologies, and tools developed for these constituents, with support from the Center, will become part of the public domain through research publications and presentations that benefit a wide range of hazard-mitigating activities, companies beyond Center membership, and society as a whole. Participation of graduate and undergraduate students in the research pursued by the Center will educate a new generation of academic and industrial leaders in science and engineering. Caltech faculty will incorporate Center-supported research into their lectures, projects, and open-ended assignments, educating a broad swath of students in science and engineering about the industrially and societally relevant problems and their solutions.The Center for Geomaterials and Geomechanics builds on Caltech's successful tradition of creating robust solutions to address industrial and societal needs rooted in fundamental science and the understanding of underlying phenomena. The Center will target applications that require the interconnected areas of (1) predictive modeling of geomaterials deformation and failure rooted in laboratory studies and field observations; (2) detailed innovative imaging of the subsurface and ground deformation/shaking; and (3) the development of hazard-mitigating tools and technologies. Successful developments in the fields of geomaterial modeling and geohazard mitigation are tightly connected and require a combination of multi-scale, multi-physics models; imaging methodologies; data analytics and inverse problem algorithms; and cutting edge computational, monitoring, and laboratory testing facilities. The twenty Caltech faculty involved in the start up of this Center are at the forefront of these activities. Projects to be carried out under the auspices of the Center for Geomaterials and Geomechanics will advance fundamental understanding of geomaterials and their failure including hydraulic fracturing, the effects of fluid injection, earthquake sources, soil liquefaction, landslides, and debris flows. Additional activities will include the development of innovative imaging techniques, including space-based technologies and dense ground monitoring networks; and create hazard-mitigating tools, including advanced early warning algorithms for earthquakes and loss estimation methodologies as well as distributed infrastructure systems. The Center will bring rigor in the areas of geomechanics, imaging, and geohazards to industry and society by providing highly collaborative solutions that bridge the academic, industrial, and public sector.