CNRS Head of the UMI

CNRS research director and MIT senior research scientist. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Room : 1-382 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA, 02139
Phone : 617-253-7117
Email : pellenq@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : website

Bio:  Roland Pellenq is Director of Research at CNRS, the French Government Agency for Scientific Research and a MIT Senior Research Scientist. He is a computational materials scientist with a strong interest in the physics and mechanics of micro- and nanoporous materials and confined fluids. He graduated in 1994 with a PhD in Chemical Physics from Imperial College London (UK) and received his Habilitation degree from the University of Orléans (France) in 2000. Dr. Pellenq's research is dedicated to the development of bottom-up simulation approaches (starting at an atomistic level of description) for a large variety of critical problems in energy and environment, ranging from hydrogen and CH4 storage, CO2 sequestration/fracking, shale gas to the stability of nuclear fuels and fundamentals of cement and concrete research. R. Pellenq is the author or co-author of 190+ papers published in major peer reviewed scientific journals. He is the co-founders and lead scientist of the Concrete Sustainability Hub, CSH@MIT, opened in 2009, an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the reduction of the environmental footprint of the cement and concrete industry. He was hired as a MIT Senior Research Scientist in November 2011 and is the head of the MIT / CNRS / Aix-Marseille University joint laboratory "Multi-Scale Material Science for Energy and Environment" located on the MIT campus.

MIT Head of the UMI

George Macomber Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Room : 1-263 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA, 02139
Phone : 617-253-3544
Email : ulm@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : website

Bio:  Franz-Josef Ulm is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Co-director of the joint MIT-CNRS Lab MultiScale MaterialScience for Energy and Environment; and faculty Director of Concrete Sustainability Hub@MIT. He received his undergraduate education in Civil Engineering at the Technische Universität München (1990), his PhD from Ecole des ponts et chausses, France (1994); and his Habilitation degree from Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan (1998). He joined MIT in January 1999. Professor Ulm's research interests are in the mechanics and structures of materials. His research group is looking at the nano- and micromechanics of porous materials, such as concrete, rocks and bones; in the durability mechanics of engineering materials and structures; in computational mechanics; and in the bio-chemo-poromechanics of high-performance composite materials. F. Ulm is the author or co-author of 165+ papers published in major peer reviewed scientific journals.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

MIT title: Visiting Scientist CNRS Title: Charge de Recherche
Room : E19-722
Phone : 617-324-4357
Email : fradjai@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI

Bio: Farhang Radjai is CNRS Research Director in France. He graduated in 1995 from the University Paris-Sud with a PhD in theoretical physics. He is presently the head of a research team working on the physics and mechanics of granular materials in University of Montpellier and a multi-disciplinary network of researchers on Discrete Materials (Milieux Divisés MiDi). His scientific research covers theoretical and numerical models of granular materials, with focus on the microstructure and complex particle properties and interactions, the rheology of dense suspensions, and various applications to geomaterials, powders and industrial-scale processes. Farhang Radjai joined the CNRS-MIT UMI in 2014, where he has been working on porous materials, railway ballast settlement, and agglomeration process of iron minerals. 

Publications since start-date at UMI

Nezamabadi S, Nguyen TH, Delenne JY, Averseng J, Frank X, Radjai F. 2017.
MPM with frictional contact for application to soft particulate materials
Procedia Engineering 175, 141-147

Kumar K, Soga K, Delenne JY, Radjai F. 2017.
Modelling Transient Dynamics of Granular Slopes: MPM and DEM
Procedia Engineering 175, 94-101

Monfared S, Laubie H, Radjai F, Pellenq R, Ulm FJ. 2017.
Mesoscale poroelasticity of heterogeneous media
Journal of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics 7 (4), 04017016

Cantor D, Azéma E, Sornay P, Radjaï F. 2017.
Three-dimensional bonded-cell model for grain fragmentation
Computational Particle Mechanics 4 (4), 441-450

Laubie H, Radjaï F, Pellenq R, Ulm FJ. 2017.
A potential-of-mean-force approach for fracture mechanics of heterogeneous materials using the lattice element method.
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 105, 116-130

Laubie H, Radjai F, Pellenq R, Ulm FJ. 2017.
Stress transmission and failure in disordered porous media.
Physical Review Letters 119 (7), 075501
(Selected as Editor’s Suggestion)

Amarsid L, Delenne JY, Mutabaruka P, Monerie Y, Perales F, Radjai F. 2017.
Viscoinertial regime of immersed granular flows.
Physical Review E 96 (1), 012901
(Selected as Editor’s Suggestion)

Laubie H, Monfared S, Radjaï F, Pellenq R, Ulm FJ. 2017.
Effective Potentials and Elastic Properties in the Lattice-Element Method: Isotropy and Transverse Isotropy.
Journal of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics 7 (3), 04017007

Laubie H, Monfared S, Radjaï F, Pellenq R, Ulm FJ. 2017.
Disorder-Induced Stiffness Degradation of Highly Disordered Porous Materials.
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 105, 116-130

Nezamabadi S, Nguyen TH, Delenne JY, Radjai F. 2017.
Modeling soft granular materials.
Granular Matter 19 (1), 8

Radjai F, Roux JN, Daouadji A. 2017.
Modeling Granular Materials: Century-Long Research across Scales.
Journal of Engineering Mechanics 143 (4), 04017002

Guyon E, Delenne JY, Radjai F. 2017.
Matière en Grains.
Odile Jacob, 336 pages, ISBN 978-2-7381-3857-6

Blanc N, Frank X, Mayer-Laigle C, Radjaï F, Delenne JY. 2017.
Peridynamics simulation of the comminution of particles containing microcraks.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 07018

Schuhmacher P, Radjai F, Roux S. 2017.
Wall roughness and nonlinear velocity profiles in granular shear flows.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 03090

Vo TT, Mutabaruka P, Delenne JY, Nezamabadi S, Radjai F. 2017.
Strength of wet agglomerates of spherical particles: effects of friction and size distribution.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 08021

Contreras RJ, Berger N, Izard E, Douce JF, Koltsov A, Delenne JY, Azema E, Nezamabadi S, van Loo F, Pellenq R, Radjai F. 2017.
Cohesive strength of iron ore granules.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 08020

Taiebat M, Mutabaruka P, Pellenq R, Radjai F. 2017.
Effect of particle size distribution on 3D packings of spherical particles.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 02030

Nguyen TH, Nezamabadi S, Delenne JY, Radjai F. 2017.
Compaction of granular materials composed of deformable particles.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 05013

Frank X, Delenne JY, Radjai F. 2017.
Numerical study of the failure of materials embedding soft to hard particles.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 02029

Cuéllar P, Benseghier Z, Luu LH, Bonelli S, Delenne JY, Radjaï F, Philippe P. 2017.
Numerical insight into the micromechanics of jet erosion of a cohesive granular material.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 15017

Hestroffer D, Bagatín AC, Losert W, Opsomer E, Sánchez P, Scheeres DJ, Staron L, Taberlet N, Yano H, Eggl S, Lecomte CE, Murdoch N, Radjai F, Richardson DC, Salazar M, Schwartz SR, Tanga P. 2017.
Small solar system bodies as granular systems.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 14011

Fakih M, Delenne JY, Radjai F, Fourcaud T. 2017.
Modeling root growth in granular soils: effects of root stiffness and packing fraction.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 14013

Amarsid L, Delenne JY, Mutabaruka P, Monerie Y, Perales F, Radjai F. 2017.
Scaling behavior of immersed granular flows.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 09044

Heinze K, Frank X, Lullien-Pellerin V, George M, Radjai  F, Delenne JY. 2017.
Numerical modeling of the tensile strength of a biological granular aggregate: Effect of the particle size distribution.
EPJ Web of Conferences 140, 08013

Chichti E, Lullien-Pellerin V, George M, Radjai F, Affès R, Delenne JY. 2016.
Bottom-up model for understanding the effects of wheat endosperm microstructure on its mechanical strength.
Journal of Food Engineering 190, 40-47

Richefeu V, Radjai F, Delenne JY. 2016.
Lattice Boltzmann modelling of liquid distribution in unsaturated granular media.
Computers and Geotechnics 80, 353-359

Azéma E, Preechawuttipong I, Radjai F. 2016.
Binary mixtures of disks and elongated particles: Texture and mechanical properties.
Physical Review E 94 (4), 042901

Oquendo WF, Munoz JD, Radjai F. 2016.
An equation of state for granular media at the limit state of isotropic compression.
EPL (Europhysics Letters) 114 (1), 14004

Berger N, Azéma E, Douce JF, Radjai F. 2016.
Scaling behaviour of cohesive granular flows.
EPL (Europhysics Letters) 112 (6), 64004

Nezamabadi S, Radjai F, Averseng J, Delenne JY. 2015.
Implicit frictional-contact model for soft particle systems.
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 83, 72-87

Mutabaruka P, Kumar K, Soga K, Radjai F, Delenne JY. 2015.
Transient dynamics of a 2D granular pile.
The European Physical Journal E 38 (5), 47

Nguyen DH, Azéma E, Sornay P, Radjai  F. 2015.
Effects of shape and size polydispersity on strength properties of granular materials.
Physical Review E 91 (3), 032203

Radjai F. 2015.
Modeling force transmission in granular materials. 
Comptes Rendus Physique 16 (1), 3-9

Nguyen DH, Azéma  E, Sornay P, Radjai  F. 2015.
Bonded-cell model for particle fracture.
Physical Review E 91 (2), 022203

Azéma E, Radjaï F, Roux JN. 2015.
Internal friction and absence of dilatancy of packings of frictionless polygons.
Physical Review E 91 (1), 010202

Delenne JY, Richefeu V, Radjai F. 2015.
Liquid clustering and capillary pressure in granular media.
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 762

Nguyen DH, Azéma  E, Radjai F, Sornay P. 2014.
Effect of size polydispersity versus particle shape in dense granular media.
Physical Review E 90 (1), 012202

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

MIT title: Visiting Scientist - CNRS Title: Charge de Recherche
Room : E19-722
Phone : 617-324-4357
Email : leyssale@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : website

Bio:  Dr Leyssale's research interests focus on the use of molecular simulation methods - molecular dynamics, Metropolis Monte Carlo and associated techniques - to solve problems related to the structure-property relationships and the transformations of disordered carbon-based solids, both stiff and dense synthetic carbons and natural soft porous carbons. Recent results of this research at the interface between chemistry, physics and mechanics involve (i) the nanoscale elucidation of the structure of carbon matrices in C/C composites and the prediction of their elastic and thermal properties, (ii) the effects of large irradiation doses on the structure and properties of graphite, (iii) the mechanisms of fracture initiation in graphene and polycrystalline graphene, (iv) the geological conversion of terrestrial organic matter into kerogen and fluid, and (v) the poroelastic properties of mature and immature kerogen and their effects on hydrocarbon transport, including hydrocarbon desorption at fracture boundaries. s.

Publications since start-date at UMI

Farbos B, Da Costa J-P, Vignoles GL, Leyssale JM 2015
NANOSCALE ELASTICITY OF HIGHLY ANISOTROPIC PYROCARBONS
CARBON 94 285-294

Gamboa A, Vignoles GL, Leyssale J-M 2015
ON THE PREDICTION OF GRAPHENE'S ELASTIC PROPERTIES WITH REACTIVE EMPIRICAL BOND ORDER POTENTIALS
CARBON 89 176-187

Gamboa A, Farbos B, Aurel P, Vignoles GL, Leyssale J-M 2015
MECHANISM OF STRENGTH REDUCTION ALONG THE GRAPHENIZATION PATHWAY
SCIENCE ADVANCES 1 Article number  1:e1501009

Farbos B, Freeman H, Hardcastle T, Da Costa J-P, Brydson R, Scott AJ, Weisbecker P, Germain C, Vignoles GL, Leyssale J-M 2017
A TIME-DEPENDENT ATOMISTIC RECONSTRUCTION OF SEVERE IRRADIATION DAMAGE AND ASSOCIATED PROPERTY CHANGES IN NUCLEAR GRAPHITE
CARBON 120 111-120

Atmani L, Bichara C, Pellenq RJ-M, Van Damme H, van Duin ACT, Raza Z, Truflandier LA, Obliger A, Kralert PG, Ulm FJ, Leyssale J-M
FROM CELLULOSE TO KEROGEN: MOLECULAR SIMULATION OF A GEOLOGICAL PROCESS
CHEMICAL SCIENCE (doi:  10.1039/C7SC03466K)

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

MIT title: Visiting Scientist CNRS Title: Directeur de Recherche
Room : E19-722
Phone : (617) 324-4357
Email : emig@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : website

Brief CV :
Dipl.-phys., Universität zu Köln
Dr. rer. nat., Universität zu Köln
Postdoc with Prof. J.-P. Bouchaud, Service de Physique de l'Etat Condensé, CEA-Saclay, France
Postdoc with Prof. M. Kardar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
Emmy Noether grant (DFG) for career development group, Universität zu Köln
Since 04/2006 permanent member of CNRS, Universite Paris Sud 11
09/2007 to 08/2010 Heisenberg professor of DFG, Universität zu Köln
Habilitation Universite Paris Sud 11
Since 10/2012 CNRS Research Professor of Physics, Universite Paris Sud 11
Since 10/2014 MIT Visiting Senior Research Scientist, joint CNRS-MIT resreach lab MSE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

Research

Disorder and quantum fluctuations

Quenched disorder plays an important role in a plethora of condensed matter systems with applications ranging from high-temperature superconductivity to glassy materials with complex thermodynamics and structural properties. The simultaneous effect of quantum fluctuations, frustration and disorder can lead to interesting new phases and properties of materials. The goal is to determine these properties and to understand the emerging phenomena. Subjects of recent interest include vortex systems, stripe phases in superconductors, two dimensional antiferromagnets, coupled Luttinger liquids, glass transitions, localization, and general concepts of disordered systems.The applied techniques range from renormalization groups to exact methods for two dimensional systems.

Fluctuation Induced Interactions

The alternation of fluctuations due to the presence of confining objects or geometries can induce interactions with rather unusual properties. Examples can be found in many contexts including quantum electrodynamic interactions between atoms and macroscopic bodies, quantum vacuum energies (Casimir forces), superfluids and interactions in biological systems. A central goal is to determine and to understand the dependence of these phenomena on the shape (geometry) and material properties of the interacting objects. Applications range from the introduction of Casimir forces in nano- and micromachinery and mesoscopic atomic systems to thermally induced interactions in biological cells.

Non-linear dynamics of granular systems

Granular systems simultaneously share properties of both solid and fluid phases. Their dynamical behavior is determined by concepts of elasticity theory and hydrodynamics. The focus is on non-linear dynamics of avalanches and the formation, propagation and interaction of localized structures as dunes. An important goal is the construction of phenomenological models which capture the essential dynamical phenomena. With such models at hand, experimentally relevant characteristics like avalanche shapes and velocities, organization of dune fields and the selection of dune shapes can be studied.

Publications since start-date at UMI

M. Ghandehari, T. Emig, M. Aghamohamadnia,
Surface temperatures in New York City: Geospatial data enables the accurate prediction of radiative heat transfer,
Preprint, arXiv: 1708.08089 (2017).

J. M. Sobstyl, T. Emig, M. J. A. Qomi, R. J.-M. Pellenq, F.-J. Ulm,
Role of Structural Morphology in Urban Heat Islands at Night Time,
Preprint, arXiv:1705.00504 (2017).

T. Emig
Temperature Distribution and Heat Radiation of Patterned Surfaces at Short Wave Lengths
Phys. Rev. E 95, 052104 (2017).

J. Dubail, R. Santachiara, T. Emig,
Conformal field theory of critical Casimir forces between surfaces with alternating boundary conditions in two dimensions,
J. Stat. Mech. 033201 (2017).

B. Müller, R. Incardone, M. Antezza, T. Emig, M. Krüger,
Many body heat radiation and heat transfer in the presence of a non-absorbing background medium,
Phys. Rev. B 95, 085413 (2017).

H. M. Bette, L. Habel, T. Emig, M. Schreckenberg,
Mechanisms of Jamming in the Nagel-Schreckenberg Model for Traffic Flow,
Phys. Rev. E 95, 012311 (2017).

G. Bimonte, T. Emig, R. L. Jaffe, M. Kardar
Spectroscopic Probe of the van der Waals Interaction between Polar Molecules and a Curved Surface
Phys. Rev. A 94, 022509 (2016).

G. Bimonte, T. Emig, M. Kardar, M. Krüger
Non-equilibrium Fluctuational Quantum Electrodynamics: Heat Radiation, Heat Transfer, and Force
Preprint arXiv:1606.03740, Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics, Vol.8: 119-143 (March 2017).

T. Emig, N. Graham
Exact Electromagnetic Casimir Energy of a Disk Opposite a Plane
Phys. Rev. A 94, 032509 (2016).

N. Bain, T. Emig, F.-J. Ulm, M. Schreckenberg
Velocity Statistics of the Nagel-Schreckenberg Model
Phys. Rev. E 93, 022305 (2016).

J. Dubail, R. Santachiara, T. Emig
Critical Casimir force between Inhomogeneous Boundaries
EPL 112, 66004 (2016).

G. Bimonte, T. Emig, M. Kardar
Casimir--Polder force between anisotropic nanoparticles and gently curved surfaces
Phys. Rev. D 92, 025028 (2015).

G. Bimonte, T. Emig
Interplay of curvature and temperature in the Casimir-Polder interaction
J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 27, 214018 (2015).

P. Rodriguez-Lopez, T. Emig, E. Noruzifar, R. Zandi
Effect of Curvature and Confinement on the Casimir-Polder Interaction
Phys. Rev. A 91, 012516 (2015).

G. Bimonte, T. Emig, M. Kardar
Reversing the Critical Casimir force by shape deformation
Physics Letters B 743, 138 (2015).

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

MIT title: Visiting Professor CNRS Title: Directeur de Recherche
Room : 1-278
Phone : (617) 324-7780
Email : henrivd@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : website

Bio:  Henri Van Damme, Feb 2014 – Aug 2016
Henri Van Damme is interested in the physical chemistry and statistical physics of geomaterials like glass, clays, shales, or cement, and their interactions with organic matter, with applications in the field of construction and energy. He is also interested in vernacular architecture, conservation, urban sciences and counter-intuitive teaching methods. 

Publications since start-date at UMI

Carrier B., Vandamme M., Pellenq R.J.-M., Van Damme H., 2014
Elastic Properties of Swelling Clay Particles at Finite Temperature upon Hydration
The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 118 (17), 8933-8943  

Zabat M., Harba R., Van Damme H., 2015
Fractal analysis of surface roughness of montmorillonite clay self-supported films: Effects of exchanged cations on mechanical tensile stress
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 486, 38-44  

Ouellet-Plamondon C., Aranda P., Favier A., Habert G., Van Damme H., Ruiz-Hitzky E., 2015
The Maya blue nanostructured material concept applied to colouring geopolymers
RSC Advances, 5, 98834-98841

Carrier B., Vandamme M., Pellenq R. J.-M., Bornert M., Ferrage E., Hubert F., Van Damme H., 2016
Effect of Water on Elastic and Creep Properties of Self-Standing Clay Films,
Langmuir, 32, 1370-1379 (2016)

Berthonneau J., Grauby O., Abuhaikal M., Pellenq R.J.-M., Ulm F.J., Van Damme H., 2016
Evolution of organo-clay composites with respect to thermal maturity in type II organic-rich source rocks
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 195, 68-83  

Van Damme H., Houben H., 2017
Earth concrete: Stabilization revisited  
Cement & Concrete Research

Teaching

Introduction to soft-matter physics for civil engineering, one-semester course, 2014

Book (in progress)

Cement and concrete under the nanoscope (with P. Levitz, R.J.-M. Pellenq, and F.J. Ulm), Springer

CNRS researcher

Room : 3-249
Phone : (857) 285-1772
Email : tdivoux@mit.edu
Link : website

Bio: I am a tenured CNRS researcher (CR1) at Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (Bordeaux, France) since 2013, with a joint appointment at the CNRS-MIT unit in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT since 2016. I received my BA (2004) and Msc (2006) degrees from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and my Ph.D. (2009) from the Physics department of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon (France). I succeeded (top 2%) in the prestigious French competitive exam known as the Agrégation in physics and was lecturer for 5 years at ENS Lyon. I joined the CNRS in 2012, where I have built an independent experimental activity in the field of Soft Matter. I have a longstanding expertise in rheology of Soft Glassy Materials, e.g. colloidal gels, dense suspensions and (bio)polymer gels and my main contribution concerns the discovery of long-lived, and yet transient, shear-bands during the shear-induced fluidization of Yield Stress Fluids. These heterogeneous “soft solids" are key to out-of-equilibrium living organisms and omnipresent in major industries (i.e. food-stuff, personal care and oil) with applications in flow batteries and cementitious materials. My current research interests include rheology of gels, drying dynamics of biopolymer gels, microscale scenario underpinning the primary creep in amorphous solids, micro- and nano-indentation of soft heterogeneous materials.

Publications since start-date at UMI

D. Bonn, M.M. Denn, L. Berthier, T. Divoux & S. Manneville
Yield Stress Materials in Soft Condensed Matter
Reviews of Modern Physics 89, 035005 (2017).

B. Keshavarz, T. Divoux S. Manneville & G.H. McKinley
Nonlinear viscoelasticity and generalized failure criterion for biopolymer gels
ACS macro Letters 6, 663-667 (2017).

R. Radhakrishnan, T. Divoux, S. Manneville & S.J. Fielding
Understanding rheological hysteresis in soft glassy materials
Soft Matter 13, 1834-1852 (2017).

B. Mao, T. Divoux & P. Snabre
Impact of saccharides on the drying kinetics of agarose gels measured by in-situ interferometry
Scientific Reports 7, 41185 (2017).

B. Mao, A. Bentaleb, F. Louerat, T. Divoux & P. Snabre
Heat-induced aging of agar solutions: impact on the structural and mechanical properties of agar gels
Food Hydrocolloids 64, 59-69 (2017).

Researcher CRPP/Bordeaux CNRS

MIT Professor Researcher
Room : 1-
Phone : 617 258 7093
Email : backov@mit.edu

Bio: Professor Rénal Backov obtained his PhD in 1997 at the University of Montpellier II, France. He then moved in 1998 to the University of Florida as a research associate, joining the Professor Daniel R. Talham group to address inorganic chemistry, mainly bio-mineralization and coordination chemistry. He was hired as associate Professor at the University of Bordeaux in 2001 while being full Professor since 2010. His current research is performed at the French CNRS "Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal-CRPP" UPR 8641. His main subject of research is the rational design of advanced functional materials through combining the physical chemistry of complex fluids and chemistry. As the synthetic paths employed is pleading for a strong interdisciplinary approach of chemical science, he formalized the concept of Integrative Chemistry in 2006. He was Laureate of the solid state chemistry division of the French Chemical Society in 2013 while being currently (since September 2017) invited Professor at the MIT, Cambridge MA, performing researches on modified cements and shales at the UMI.

Publications since start-date at UMI

A. Roucher, D.Pekin, M.Morvan, M.Depardieu, and R.Backov 2017
INORGANIC, HYBRIDIZED AND LIVING MACROCELLULAR FOAMS: “OUT OF THE BOX” HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS.
The Chemical Record, 2017

Professor, Aix Marseille Université - MIT

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone :
Email : villerma@mit.edu
Link : GoogleScholar
 

Bio: Emmanuel Villermaux received his PhD from the University of Paris VI, Pierre & Marie Curie, in Grenoble where he was appointed at CNRS, and obtained his habilitation form Joseph Fourier University. He now holds a position of distinguished Professor at Aix Marseille University, and at the Institut Universitaire de France. He is a Fellow of APS, and of Euromech. His interests are in the mechanics of deformable bodies in the broad sense, from fluids to solids, with a particular taste for mixing and fragmentation.

Publications since start-date at UMI

Néel, B. and Villermaux, E. 2018
The spontaneous puncture of thick liquid films.
it J. Fluid Mech. \bf 838, 192–221.

Martinez-Ruiz, D., Meunier, P., Favier, B., Duchemin, L. and Villermaux, E 2018
The diffusive sheet method for scalar mixing.
J. Fluid Mech. bf 837, 230-257.

Kree, M. and Villermaux, E  2017
Scalar mixtures in porous media.
Phys. Rev. Fluids bf 2, (10), 104502.

Villermaux, E., Moutte, A., Amielh, M. and Meunier, P 2017
Fine structure of the vapor field in evaporating dense sprays.
Phys. Rev. Fluids \bf 2, (7), 074501.

Villermaux, E 2017
Self-Activated Fragmentation.
Int. J. of Fracture, bf 206, (2), 171--193.

Inoue, C., Izato, Y., Miyake, A. and Villermaux, E 2017
Direct self-sustained fragmentation cascade of reactive droplets.
Phys. Rev. Letters,  bf 118, 074502.

Souzy, M., Lhuissier, H., Villermaux, E. and Metzger, B  2017
Stretching and Mixing in sheared particulate suspensions. 
J. Fluid Mech., bf 812, 611--635.

De Rivas, A. and  Villermaux, E 2016
Dense spray evaporations as a mixing process. 
Phys. Rev. Fluids bf 1, (1), 014201.

Vledouts, A., Vandenberghe, N. and Villermaux, E. 2016
Fragmentation as an aggregation process: The role of defects. 
Proc. Roy. Soc. A bf 472, 20150679 (Plus Issue cover).

Vledouts, A., Quinard, J. Vandenberghe, N. and  Villermaux, E. 2016
Explosive Fragmentation of Liquid Shells. 
J. Fluid Mech., bf 788, 246--788 (Plus Issue cover).

Vledouts, A., Vandenberghe, N. and Villermaux, E. 2015
Fragmentation as an aggregation process. 
Proc. Roy. Soc. A bf 471, 20150678.

Researcher - LPTMS of CNRS and Université Paris-Sud - MIT

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone :
Email : mlenz@mit.edu
Link : Biophysics group

Bio: After a PhD in Institut Curie in Paris and a postdoc at the University of Chicago, Martin is now a group leader at CNRS and Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. His main contributions concern the mechanics of biological systems in two quite different but ultimately related areas: the structure and dynamics of the cytoskeleton on the one hand, and the mechanics of protein-induced remodelling of the cell membrane on the other. Both of these problems involve understanding how non-equilibrium driving forces establish the structure of the cell. In these problems, the existing knowledge of the biological actors at the molecular scale is still only partial, and Martin's work focuses on producing robust theoretical results insensitive to unknown molecular details. The goal of his visit at the UMI is to apply these insights to granular materials, including cement.

Publications since start-date at UMI

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722
Email :
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : Googlescholar

Bio: Dr. Patrick Mutabaruka received the BS in Physics and Applications at University of Strasbourg in 2008, master degree in Computational Engineering at University of Strasbourg in 2010 and PhD in Mechanical and Civil Engineering in 2013 at University if Montpellier. He worked as post-PhD instructor (ATER) in 2014 at University of Montpellier for the Mechanical department where he also has been working as teaching instructor during his PhD. Dr. Patrick joins the Mechanical Engineering department at MIT in December 2014 as postdoctoral associate where he worked on numerical modeling of dense and dilute particulate slurry flows for two years where he worked with Prof. Ken Kamrin, he then joins, in December 2016, the Civil Engineering and Environmental department (at MIT) as postdoctoral associate for the international joint unit (UMI) between CNRS and MIT where he works with Senior Research Scientist Roland Pellenq, Prof. Franz-Josef Ulm and Senior Research Scientist Franck Radjai. Since he joins the UMI unit, he has been working on the origin of the differential settlement that occur on some portion of the high-speed trains railways.
Dr. Patrick research activity is mostly focused on geomaterials by means of numerical modelling using various discrete/continuum methods  (Molecular Dynamics, Contact Dynamics, Lattice Boltzmann, …) for fully/partial saturated or dry materials. His research interest deals with both fundamental and industrial topics by explaining the local-microstructural origins of the macroscopic behavior for distinct materials (powder, sands, gravels, rocks, …). In more general, geomaterials in nature are either in solid, fluid or gas state or can have both phases (landslide, debris flow, rock fill dams, …); at large scale, continuum modelling approach are used to study separately each phase, however, some local events occurs to be the origin of the mechanical phase-changes and behavior where the observed macroscopic behavior can only be expressed from local-microstructural scale, in additional, the geomaterials like rock fill dams in presence of a fluid need a strong coupling that can handle these local events and the observed macroscopic behavior that leads often to mechanical instabilities.
For the last couple years, Dr. Patrick has been working on mechanical instabilities, runout of avalanches, rheology of fluid-grains mixture, …. His work on mechanical instabilities shows, for example, that the triggering mechanisms of an immersed avalanches occur after the granular skeleton anisotropy levels off within a time delay that depend on fluid negative pore-pressure. Another major result from his works, shows that the rheology of a fluid-grains mixture under a confining pressure with a sheared fluid can be scaled by a modified Inertial number (from the classical Inertial number used for dry granular materials) by introducing Stokes number.

Publications since start-date at UMI

L. Amarsid, J.-Y. Delenne, P. Mutabaruka, Y. Monerie, P. Perales and F. Radjai. 2017.
VISCO-INERTIAL REGIMES OF IMMERSED GRANULAR FLOWS
PHYSICAL REVIEW E 99, 012901.

P. Mutabaruka et K. Kamrin. 2017.
SIMULATION TECHNIQUE FOR SLURRIES INTERACTING WITH MOVING PARTS AND DEFORMABLE SOLIDS WITH APPLICATIONS. JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL PARTICLE MECHANICS.

T.-T. Vo, P. Mutabaruka, J.-Y. Delenne, S. Nezamabadi et F. Radjai. 2017.
STRENGTH OF WET AGGLOMERATES OF SPHERICAL PARTICLES: EFFECTS OF FRICTION AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION
EUROPEAN PHYISICAL JOURNAL WEB OF CONFERENCES 140, 08021.

L. Amarsid, J.-Y. Delenne, P. Mutabaruka, Y. Monerie, F. Perales et F. Radjai. 2017.
SCALING BEHAVIOR OF IMMERSED GRANULAR FLOWS.
EUROPEAN PHYISICAL JOURNAL WEB OF CONFERENCES 140, 09044.

M. Taiebat, P. Mutabaruka, R. Pellenq, and F. Radjai. 2017.
EFFECT OF PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION ON 3D PACKINGS OF SPHERICAL PARTICLES.
EUROPEAN PHYISICAL JOURNAL WEB OF CONFERENCES 140, 02030.

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : 1-XXX
Email : hekate@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI

Bio: Dr. Ioannidou uses statistical physics and computational approaches to understand the interplay of structure and mechanics in amorphous materials such as cement. Her recent work of the mesoscale texture of cement hydrates provides a link between subnano chemistry and micronscale mechanical properties. At the <MSe>2 she has been working on durability issues such drying shrinkage, freeze-thaw and ASR reaction damage.

Katerina Ioannidou received her undergraduate degree in Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. She obtained a MSc in Theoretical Physics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and her PhD in Science from the Department of Civil Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich in 2014. She has been a post-doctoral researcher at MIT in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in the Concrete Sustainability Hub at MIT and in the joint MIT-CNRS laboratory MultiScale Material Science for Energy and Environment.

Publications since start-date at UMI

K. Ioannidou, E. Del Gado, F.-J. Ulm and R. J.-M. Pellenq (2017)
Inhomogeneity in cement paste: linking local packing fraction to local stresses
Journal of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics, 7 (2), 04017003
 
K. Ioannidou, K. J. Krakowiak, M. Bauchy, C. G. Hoover, E. Masoero, S. Yip, F.-J. Ulm, P. Levitz, R. J.-M. Pellenq, and E. Del Gado (2016)
The mesoscale texture of cement hydrates
Proceedings of National Academy of Science USA, 113 (8), 2029-2034

K. Ioannidou, M. Kanduc, L. Li, D. Frenkel, J. Dobnikar and E. Del Gado (2016)
The crucial effect of early stage gelation on the mechanical properties of cement hydrates
Nature Communications, 7, 12106

K. Ioannidou, B. Carrier, M. Vandamme and R. J.-M. Pellenq
The Potential of Mean Force concept for bridging (length and time) scales in the modeling of complex porous materials
European Physical Journal Web of Conferences, 140, 01009 (2017)

K. Ioannidou, F.-J. Ulm, P. Levitz, E. Del Gado, and R. J.-M. Pellenq
Nano-granular texture of cement hydrates
European Physical Journal Web of Conferences, 140, 15027 (2017)

K. Ioannidou, E. Masoero, P. Levitz, R. J.-M. Pellenq, and E. Del Gado
Hydration kinetics and gel morphology of C-S-H
CONCREEP 10: Mechanics and Physics of Creep, Shrinkage, and Durability of Concrete and Concrete Structures: pp. 565 (2015)

E. Del Gado, K. Ioannidou, E. Masoero, R. J.-M. Pellenq, F.-J. Ulm and S. Yip
The meso-scale texture of cement hydrate gels: out-of-equilibrium evolution and thermodynamic driving
CONCREEP 10: Mechanics and Physics of Creep, Shrinkage, and Durability of Concrete and Concrete Structures: pp. 34 (2015)

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone : +336 15 48 02 46
Email : magnin@mit.edu
Link : website

Bio: Yann Magnin is a Postdoctorat Researcher at MIT. He is an enthusiastic computational materials scientist with a strong interest in the physics and atomistic numerical simulations. His work is mainly focused on ordered/disordered carbon nanostructures and metallic nanoparticles. He graduated in 2011 with a PhD in Condensed Matter Physics (Spin transport in magnetic materials), from LPTM-CNRS Cergy-Pontoise (France). Since 2011, he is following his research in different place and topics around carbon atoms : Biophysic (APCTP, Pohang, South Korea). Graphene structural properties (ILM, Lyon, France). Growth simulations of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes (CINaM, Marseille, France). Wetting properties and morphology control of metallic nanoparticles on carbon substrates. Large scale atomistic simulations of multi-porous kerogen, mechanical properties, adsorption and diffusion (MIT, Cambridge, USA)…

Publications since start-date at UMI

Y. Oumellal, Y. Magnin, A. Martinez de Yuso, J. M. Aguiar Hualde, H. Amara, V. Paul-Boncour, C. Matei Ghimbeu, A. Malouche, C. Bichara, R. Pellenq, C. Zlotea
Magnetisms indirect tool for carbon content assessment in nickel nanoparticles.
J. Appl. Phys. 128, 213902 (2017)

Ahmed Ghedjatti, Y. Magnin, F. Fossard, G. Wang, H. Amara, E. Flahaut, J-S Lauret, and A. Loiseau
Structural Properties of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Driven by Mechanical Interlayer Coupling.
ACS Nano, 11, 4840 (2017)

J-M. Aguiar-Hualde, Y. Magnin, H. Amara, C. Bichara
Probing the role of carbon solubility in transition metal catalyzing single-walled carbon nanotubes growth.
Carbon 120, 226 (2017)

M. He, Y. Magnin, H. Amara, H. Jiang, H. Cui, F. Fossard A. Castan, E. Kauppinen, A. Loiseau, C. Bichara
Linking growth mode to lengths of single-walled carbon nanotubes.
Carbon 113, 231 (2017)

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone : 617-324-4357
Email : plvalden@mit.edu

Bio: Pierre-Louis Valdenaire comes from the Massif Central in France. He moved to Cambridge to work as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT after completing his PhD in Material Science at the Onera in Paris. His passion for science leads him to study many subjects, including Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Computer Science. In his free time, he enjoys sailing on the Charles River and hiking with his friends.

Publications since start-date at UMI

P. L. Valdenaire, Y. Le Bouar, B. Appolaire, and A. Finel
Density-based crystal plasticity: From the discrete to the continuum
Phys. Rev. B 93, 214111 (2016).

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room :1-
Phone :
Email : nchanut@mit.edu
Link : GoogleScholar

Bio: After undergraduate studies in chemistry and a master’s degree majoring in catalysis and physical chemistry received from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France), I obtained a teaching and research grant from the French government to complete a PhD in the MADIREL laboratory at Aix-Marseille University. While working in the Gas Storage and Separation group headed by Philip L. Llewellyn, I had the opportunity to separately investigate the effect of water vapor and the effect of external mechanical pressure on Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) CO2 separation performance as well as the influence of pelletization on their fundamental adsorption properties. My contract has then been extended for 5 months in the same group as part of the project HYSTOR (DS0204) on the use of new carbon-based hybrid materials for hydrogen storage. In October 2017, I joined the international joint unit (UMI) Multiscale Material Science for Energy and Environment as a postdoctoral associate in Roland Pellenq’s group. My current work -as part of the project FASTER in collaboration with TOTAL- focus on the characterization of Kerogen materials and especially of their adsorption properties.

Publications since start-date at UMI

V Benoit, N Chanut, RS Pillai, M Benzaqui, I Beurroies, S Devautour-Vinot, ...
A promising metal–organic framework (MOF), MIL-96 (Al), for CO 2 separation under humid conditions
Journal of Materials Chemistry A

N Chanut, S Bourrelly, B Kuchta, C Serre, JS Chang, PA Wright, ...
Screening the Effect of Water Vapour on Gas Adsorption Performance: Application to CO2 Capture from Flue Gas in Metal–Organic Frameworks
ChemSusChem 10 (7), 1543-1553

E Dundar, N Chanut, F Formalik, P Boulet, PL Llewellyn, B Kuchta
Modeling of adsorption of CO 2 in the deformed pores of MIL-53 (Al)
Journal of molecular modeling 23 (4), 101

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone :
Email : nberger@mit.edu

Bio: Nicolas Berger received a Bachelors of Science degree in Mathematics at the University of Lille, France in 2009, followed by a Masters of Science degree in Numerical Simulation in Mechanics in 2011. He completed his Ph.D. research in the group of Prof. Farhang Radjai at the University of Montpellier, France in 2016. His thesis work mainly focused on the rheology of cohesive granular flows and its application to iron ore agglomeration. He joined the UMI - <MSE>2 in April 2017 for his post-doctoral studies on the premature differential ballast settlement in railway tracks.

Publications since start-date at UMI

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone :
Email : mailto:belandlk@mit.edu
Link : GoogleScholar
 

Bio: Laurent Karim Béland, PhD
Dr. Béland joined the MSE2 CNRS-MIT joint laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in October 2016. His fellowship is partly funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. His research focuses on the computer simulation of complex materials. He develops and uses atomistic simulation tools. He has a particular interest for methods that extend the timescales accessed by atomistic and mesoscale simulations. Notably, he developed the kinetic Activation Relaxation Technique, a fully atomistic, self-learning, code able to exactly handle elastic interactions and simulate kinetics of complex materials over time periods of seconds, hours or even days. He is also interested in improving the predictive power of atomistic simulations and developped hybrid quantum-classical force-fields and also improved force-fields to predict primary radiation-damage in metals and alloys under neutron and ion irradiation.

At the MSE2, Dr. Béland pursued his research in metals and alloys in use in nuclear reactors while beginning investigating the long-time kinetics of cement paste at the atomistic scale. In particular, he has focused on the uptake and diffusion of alkali elements in C-S-H, including Na, K and Cs. The interaction of Na and K with cement paste has important implications in the context of the alkali-silica reaction in concrete. Cs-137 is a radioactive by-product of nuclear power generation; its interaction with cement paste is of crucial technological importance since concrete is a prime candidate as a structural material for long-term spent fuel storage facilities.

He obtained his doctorate in physics from the Université de Montréal in 2014 and spent two and a half years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His PhD research focused on simulating nanostructures and amorphization in semi-conductors, while his first postdoctoral fellowship focused on simulating the formation and kinetics of radiation damage in structural materials for nuclear power applications.

In January 2018, he will be appointed as an assistant-professor at the department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Publications since start-date at UMI

Béland LK, Tamm A, Mu S, Samolyuk GD, Osetsky YN, Aabloo A, Klintenberg M, Caro A and Stoller RE, 2017.
ACCURATE CLASSICAL SHORT-RANGE FORCES FOR THE STUDY OF COLLISION CASCADES IN FE-NI-CR.
COMPUTER PHYSICS COMMUNICATIONS.

Osetsky YN, Béland LK, Barachev AV, Zhang Y
CONTROLLING ATOMIC TRANSPORT IN CHEMICALLY DISORDERED CONCENTRATED ALLOYS.
ADVANCED MATERIALS. Under review. 2017.

Arayro J, Dufresne A, Zhou T, Ioannidou K, Ulm FJ, Pellenq RJM, Beland, LK.
THERMODYNAMICS, KINETICS AND MECHANICS OF CESIUM SORPTION IN CEMENT PASTE: A MULTI-SCALE ASSESSMENT.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. To be submitted Nov. 2017.

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722
Phone : 617-324-4357
Email : amael@mit.edu
Pub : Publications EMI
Link : GoogleScholar

Bio: Amael Obliger is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. He received his PhD from the Pierre et Marie Curie University (Paris, France), where he worked on multi-scale modelisation of electrokinetic transport through charged porous media. His PhD work was funded by the french national agency for radioactive waste management. He joined the X-Shale Team at MIT in december 2014. His work at the UMI focused on transport properties of hydrocarbons in shales’ organic matter at the micro- and the meso-scale. Since June 2017, he is a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley.

Publications since start-date at UMI

Obliger A, Pellenq R J-M, Ulm F-J, Coasne B, 2016
Free Volume Theory of Hydrocarbon Mixture Transport in  Nanoporous Materials
Journal  of Physical Chemistry Letters,  7  (19),  pp. 3712–3717.

Atmani L,  et al
From cellulose to kerogen: molecular simulation of a geological process
2017, Chemical Science.

Room : E19-722
Email :
Link : GoogleScholar

Bio: Jeremie Berthonneau is a postdoctoral fellow in the joint MIT-CNRS laboratory “MultiScale Material Science for Energy and Environment” working under the supervision of Roland Pellenq, Daniel Ferry, and Olivier Grauby. He is a geologist by formation (University of Poitiers, France), specialized in geochemistry and mineralogy. He received his PhD in Environmental Geosciences from Aix-Marseille University in 2013, where he worked on the impact of swelling mineral layers in the spalling decay of building limestones with the French Ministry of Culture and the CNRS. His research now focusses on the geochemical processes affecting organic matter and clay minerals, the evolution of reactive surfaces, and their impact on physical properties (mechanics and transport) of sedimentary rocks. The applications of his studies are directed toward a better understanding of the concomitant evolution of clay minerals and organic matter with respect to the thermal maturity of organic-rich source rocks. His researches are supported by an extensive use of transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopic techniques (EDS, FTIR, Raman, Mössbauer). He is also involved in the development of electron tomography (Bright field and STEM) applied to (geo)materials.

Publications

Berthonneau J, Hoover CG, Grauby O, Baronnet A, Pellenq RJ-M, and Ulm F-J. 2017
THE CRYSTAL-CHEMICAL CONTROL OF THE ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF 2:1 CLAY MINERAL
Applied Clay Science. Vol. 143: 387-398.

Berthonneau J, Grauby O, Abuhaikal M, Pellenq RJ-M, Ulm F-J, and Van Damme H. 2016.
EVOLUTION OF ORGANO-CLAY COMPOSITES WITH RESPECT TO THERMAL MATURITY IN TYPE II ORGANIC-RICH SHALES.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Vol. 195: 68-83.

Berthonneau J, Grauby O, Jeannin C, Chaudanson D, Joussein E, and Baronnet A. 2015.
NATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF HYDRATED SPHEROIDAL HALLOYSITES OBSERVED BY ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSMITTED ELECTRON MICROSCOPY.
Clays and Clay Minerals. Vol. 63(5): 368-377.

Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Room : E19-722, 400 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Phone :
Email : jarayro@mit.edu
Link : GoogleScholar

Bio: Jack Arayro was born in 1989, in “Mina” (the harbor in English), a small coastal town where he accomplished his undergraduate education and graduated in Physics. Arayro said that he embarked upon “his journey towards the research islands” in the wake of the nuclear disaster that hit Fukushima. Hence, he moved to Claude Bernard University in Lyon, France for his graduate studies in Nuclear Physics and obtained an MSc in Physics with a specialization in nuclear materials.
His passion for nuclear materials led him to join the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) – the French public expert in nuclear and radiological risks, where he conducted his PhD researches. His main studies focused on ensuring that radioactive elements remain confined inside the nuclear reactor. His work has been recognized by the “Movement of the Enterprises of France” and awarded the best innovative project of the year 2014. Arayro assured that his biggest accomplishment till date has been his PhD in Physics, which he obtained from Aix-Marseille University in 2015 with a thesis on Physics of Condensed Matter and Nanoscience.
While on the shores of Marseille, Arayro met Professor Roland J. Pellenq who repeatedly asked him about his PhD Defense date over three years. The young PhD candidate did not know then that this was nothing but groundwork for his next destination.
Inspired by Professor Pellenq, Arayro found himself sailing on his next journey to land on the MIT sailing pavilion at Charles River to continue his research on nuclear materials applications, and develop a post-doc on the enhancement of nuclear waste cementitious disposals at the UMI.
Jack Arayro now holds a position of Assistant Professor at the American University of the Middle East (AUM) in Kuwait, addressing his teaching skills and enriching his life travel experience in discovering new cultures.

Publications since start-date at UMI