Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils for Engineering

The MUSE project (the acronym MUSE stands for “Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils for Engineering”) is a Research Training Network funded by the European Commission within the framework of the Marie Curie actions (6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union) with an overall budget of 1.25 M€. The project started on December 2004 with a planned duration of four years and aims at undertaking a comprehensive programme of research and training in the area of unsaturated soil mechanics by means of international collaboration between academic and industrial institutions across Europe. The academic institutions involved in the network are: Durham University and Glasgow University in the UK, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in France, Università di Napoli “Federico II” and Università of Trento in Italy and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain. The industrial partners are: Geomod in Switzerland, Geotechnical Observations and Wykeham Farrance in the UK, the Provincia di Bolzano in Italy and Terrasol in France. The project is coordinated by Durham University. The academic and industrial institutions participating in the network had already experienced close relationships prior to this project, including bilateral agreements and long-term visits or employment of academics at more than one partner institution. The MUSE network, however, is the first attempt to establish multi-lateral collaborative relationships between these institutions in order to create a critical mass of expertise in unsaturated soil mechanics. The general purpose of the project is to enable the exchange of knowledge and good practice across different universities in Europe so to address the lack of recognized standards in the procedures for measurement, testing and modelling of unsaturated soils. For this purpose, a research programme has been established where all network partners are involved in the benchmarking of different methodologies and techniques through joint experimental and computational research tasks. Eight appointments between experienced researchers (ERs) and early stage researchers (ESRs) have been made across the network by using funds from the MUSE project. This corresponds to a total of 240 person/months funded by the European Commission. Appointments The research programme encompasses laboratory testing, constitutive modelling, numerical modelling and application to boundary value problems. Important aspects of the MUSE research are the benchmark of testing and modelling techniques as well as the validation of model predictions against field observations. The ultimate aim of all benchmarking activities is to demonstrate the reliability of testing and modelling techniques for unsaturated soils and promoting their use within the industrial sector. The training programme includes activities undertaken at both individual and network level such as workshops, schools and hands-on training sessions held annually at participating universities in rotation. The MUSE schools are open free of charge to all people from outside the network interested in unsaturated soil mechanics. The training activities taking place within the MUSE project intend to improve understanding of unsaturated soil mechanics among the future generation of researchers and geotechnical engineers and, therefore, to promote awareness of the important role of this discipline in civil engineering.