Mechanics of Granular and Clay Materials

A mini-symposium honoring Professor Pierre-Yves Hicher

Thursday July 4th 2019, 14h00 - 17h30

Dr. Pierre-Yves Hicher      

Emeritus Professor since 2015

Former Director of the Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes

Pierre-Yves Hicher is a distinguished research scholar and teacher in engineering mechanics and geomechanics whose outstanding contributions to these fields are recognized world-wide. 

His work has improved understanding and enriched the body of knowledge about the mechanical behavior of soils and granular materials mainly through having developed methodologies for connecting macroscopic properties to the microstructure of complex heterogeneous materials.

 Among his major contributions can be cited the original experimental procedures and parameter identification methods under inverse analysis techniques, the homogenization techniques for modeling the mechanical behavior of disordered granular materials, and more recently, the practical criteria and models for addressing internal erosion in geomaterials with specific attention to landslides and the stability of hydraulic works. 

After starting his professional career as a consultant in offshore oil structures and nuclear waster disposal in deep clay clayers, Dr.Hicher turned his attention to research projects which resulted in the publication of nearly 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals with over 4000 citations, 8 books and over 80 conference articles and presentations. He has supervised the work of 38 PhD students in the fields of soil mechanics, foundation engineering, granular materials, constitutive modeling and numerical modeling, and he is a reviewer for many international journals.

These facts and figures, impressive as they seem, do not fully reflect the breadth and spirit of Pierre-Yves's total contribution to academia and engineering. The missing information concerns above all his extraordinary humaneness as a scientist and a mentor to numerous students and colleagues.

It must also be noted that Pierre-Yves Hicher 's fundamental contributions to granular micro-mechanics and constitutive modeling have brought resolutions to practical and complex problems in geomechanics often considered “dirty”.  

These problems, which were largely ignored by the engineering mechanics researchers in the heyday of his career, include micro-mechanical analysis of clays; characterizing the effects of particle breakage; developing rational methods for analyzing particle suffusion; analyzing clay swelling, partially saturated soils, and grouted and naturally cemented sands; developing micro-mechanical analyses of in situ testing and of the cyclic hardening of soils.  

Each of these problems has now become a subject of engineering interest and scientific scrutiny, thanks in no small part to Dr. Hicher’s devoted efforts to the soil mechanics community.

(written by Ali Daouadji, Matthew Kuhn, Angelika Lee)

List of confirmed speakers