Pierre-Yves Hicher 
Multiscale Geomechanics [PDF ebook] 
From Soil to Engineering Projects

This book addresses the latest issues in multiscale geomechanics.
Written by leading experts in the field as a tribute to Jean Biarez
(1927-2006), it can be of great use and interest to researchers and
engineers alike.
A brief introduction describes how a major school of soil mechanics
came into being through the exemplary teaching by one man. Biarez’s
life-long work consisted of explaining the elementary mechanisms
governing soil constituents in order to enhance understanding of
the underlying scientific laws which control the behavior of
constructible sites and to incorporate these scientific
advancements into engineering practices.
He innovated a multiscale approach of passing from the
discontinuous medium formed by individual grains to an equivalent
continuous medium. The first part of the book examines the behavior
of soils at the level of their different constituents and at the
level of their interaction. Behavior is then treated at the scale
of the soil sample.
The second part deals with soil mechanics from the vantage point of
the construction project. It highlights Biarez’s insightful
adoption of the Finite Element Codes and illustrates, through
numerous construction examples, his methodology and approach based
on the general framework he constructed for soil behavior,
constantly enriched by comparing in situ measurements with
calculated responses of geostructures.

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