Research stage at Politecnico di Milano (Italy)

My work during the research stage was devoted to the development of a constitutive model for describing and predicting granular bentonite behaviour. The obtained experimental results have shown that different initial compaction conditions of the bentonite samples altered the pore microstructure and further affected the subsequent hydro-mechanical behaviour, including gas and water transport properties. Therefore, it is required a theoretical description of the processes within an elasto -plastic framework related to the microstructural evolution of the bentonite. To this end, during the stay
period, I conducted a comprehensive review of pertinent literature in the field of saturated and unsaturated soil mechanics. This enabled a systematic examination of existing constitutive models for their theoretical applicability in explaining my experimental data about granular bentonite’s hydro-mechanical behaviour within multiphysics and multi-scale processes. Besides, I was introduced to the basic principles of hydro-mechanical modelling of granular bentonite using a constitutive framework developed at Politecnico di Milano by Prof. Cristina Jommia and Prof. Della Vecchia. The model was able to capture some relevant aspects of multiscale/multiphase hydro – mechanical coupling in unsaturated soils. The experimental results on the water retention curve, produced within the experimental campaign of EURAD, were successfully simulated for granular bentonite subjected to various hydro-mechanical paths. Also, the modelling effort was exploited to indicate future improvement directions of the current model. This also inspires one of the topics for my future research, as the development of modelling tools suitable for studying the hydro-mechanical behaviour of granular-type bentonite is of importance for academic and industrial fields. Hence, I think that I ac quired substantial knowledge with fruitful outcomes, particularly in the theoretical aspects of unsaturated soil, which aligned with the original purpose of launching this research stage.