The theme of the ENAC Research Day 2012 was “The Energy in the City”. This wide and rich theme involved many labs of the EPFL working on the energy production, transport and management in cities.
At this occasion, the LMS had a booth entitled “Energy Geostructures”, animated by Alice Di Donna and Thomas Mimouni. The different works of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, dealing with the different ways of assessing the extraction of heat from the ground through foundation structures, were presented to the visitors.
Numerical methods utilized at the LMS go from rather simple and operational tools for the design of goethermal piles (Thermo-Pile) to Finite Element Methods dedicated to the investigations of complex geometries such as a group of geothermal piles or tunnel anchors.
Alice Di Donna executing a demonstration of Thermo-Pile software to an attentive listener.
Furthermore, the work of the LMS in the domain of energy geostructures is based on strong experimental facilities to characterise the thermo-hydro-mechanical responses of soils undergoing temperature variations. The tools utilized in the lab go from conventional oedometer cells equipped with thermal devices to advanced thermal shear boxes.
The part of the booth dedicated to the laboratory tests and finite element analyses.
Finally, in situ experiments on geothermal piles have been carried out on the EPFL campus and by the LMS since 1998. The newest in situ experimental site is dedicated to the study of a group of geothermal piles under a piled raft and is located below the future Swiss Tech Convention Centre.
The part of the booth dedicated to the in situ experiments and demonstration of Thermo-Pile software