WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF USING UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURES AS THERMAL BATTERIES?
The GREAT project – a contraction of Granular and Heat – investigates the physics of granular materials subjected to heat flows.
Granular materials such as soils are continuously subjected to temperature variations due to natural or anthropogenic perturbations. These temperature variations cause thermally induced deformations of the particles constituting such materials.
Thermal deformations cause the particles of granular materials to rearrange. These microstructural rearrangements alter the physical properties of granular materials, influencing their ability to transfer heat, sustain loads, and allow fluid permeation. These effects, in turn, influence the behavior of granular materials.
Within this project, state-of-the-art experimental, analytical and computational techniques are employed to advance the current understanding of the influence of thermal perturbations on the physics of granular materials as well as to assess if such perturbations can be engineered in the form of thermal treatments to tailor the properties and behavior of granular materials for engineering applications.
Within this project, state-of-the-art experimental, analytical and computational techniques are employed to advance the current understanding of the influence of thermal perturbations on the physics of granular materials as well as to assess if such perturbations can be engineered in the form of thermal treatments to tailor the properties and behavior of granular materials for engineering applications.
Project Team
Alessandro F. Rotta Loria | Assistant Professor
Jibril Coulibaly | Postdoctoral Researcher
Yize Pan | Ph.D. Student
Alessandro F. Rotta Loria | Assistant Professor
Jibril Coulibaly | Postdoctoral Researcher
Yize Pan | Ph.D. Student
Sponsors
