Two whole years!
© 2017 EPFL
It has been 2 years since the Laboratory of Rock Mechanics (LEMR) started at EPFL under the direction of Prof. Violay. New members, recognitions, more publications, and exciting new challenges are part of this period.
Starting with the new members. With the financial support of GAZNAT, Corentin Noël, a geologist from the University of Montpellier (France), has joined LEMR as PhD student. Since January he is working on fault reactivation process during CO2 sequestration. In March, Dr. Lucas Pimienta, a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, joined the lab to continue his research on petrophysical properties of rocks, in particular, related to geothermal energy. In addition, Mateo and Chiara have both successfully pass their candidacy exam allowing them to continue their research.
More than 10 bachelor and master students followed laboratory projects under the supervision of the LEMR staff in topics such as tunnelling, geothermal energy, and fault friction. Prof. Violay has taught the new course “Geophysics for Engineers” with great success. With more than 15 postgraduate students attending, the course has been evaluated positively by the students and selected by the Civil Engineering section of EPFL as one of the best of the semester.
The lab is constantly growing its geo-mechanical network. During this second year, the lab hosted Prof. Frédéric Cappa (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France), Dr. Elena Spagnuolo (INGV, Italy), and Dr. Sarah Incel (ENS Paris, France). Moreover, the LEMR has attended several meetings, seminars, and workshops such as AGU 2016, EGU 2017, and the last Swiss Geoscience Meeting in Geneva.
In the last EGU 2017, Prof. Violay received an important recognition. The European Geoscience Union (EGU) awarded her as one of the Outstanding Early Career Scientist 2017, because of her work on Rock mechanics and rock physics. A big step in her academic career.
Benjamin Frey and Michela Lotrecchiano, the two apprentices of LEMR, have successfully passed their exams. By the end of the months, they will start new professional lives, now outside LEMR. We wish them the best of luck!
During 2016/2017, the lab has focused on the development of HIGHSTEPS and TARGET, both novel apparatus designed for a better understanding of the in-situ conditions of geothermal reservoirs and earthquakes mechanics. And all that work has paid off. In September TARGET will arrive and HIGHSTEPS will join us at the end of November. Two milestones that the lab has been waiting for, and that for sure, will change the way the Lab faces its research on fault and earthquake mechanics, geothermal energy, tunnelling, and CO2 sequestration.
We welcome this third year with enthusiasm. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to hear more from us.
The LEMR team.