MARCELO SANCHEZ
Office Location
CE/TTI Building
Room 808-Q
Contact Information
Phone: 979-862-6604
Fax: 979-845-6554
Short Biography
Dr. Sanchez was appointed as an Associated Professor in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering TAMU in September 2009. He obtained his first degree ‘Ingeniero Civil’ (equivalent to a Bachelor in Science in Civil Engineering) from Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina) in 1990, and a Master’s degree in Numerical Method in Engineering from CIMNE (Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering), Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain in 1996. In 2004 he was awarded a PhD degree from UPC for his research on ‘Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (THM) coupled analysis in low porosity media’. His doctoral studies were mainly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and ENRESA. After his PhD degree he worked as a postdoctoral researcher on constitutive and numerical modeling of soils subjected to THM and Geo-chemical changes at UPC until May 2005, when he was appointed as a Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor) by University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. In April 2008, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor).
Research Interest
Dr. Sanchez’s research interests lie in the area of geomechanics and unsaturated soil mechancis. His effort focuses on advanced geomechanics, considering engineering problems involving mechanical, hydraulic, thermal, geochemical and biological couplings. Specific challenges include: predicting long term behavior of geo-materials (i.e. soils and rocks) in Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical and Chemical (THMC) extremes, relating to e.g. medium and high level nuclear waste isolation; predicting the degradation of geo-materials due to climate change; bioengineering of geo-materials; advancing in the design of geological carbon sequestration and assisting energy production from existing and new sources.
- Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical and Geochemical Numerical Analysis in Soils & Rocks
- Main Applications:
- Nuclear Waste Disposal
- Gas Hydrates
- CO2 Sequestration
- Geothermal Energy
- Geo-mechanical integrity of reservoir
- Unsaturated Soils Mechanics
- Main Applications:
- Expansive Soils
- Clay Barriers
- Earth Dam
- Foundations
- Levees
- Pavement subgrades
- Liners
- Desiccation Cracks in Soils
- Double Porosity Porous Media. Evolving Discontinuities in Porous Media.
- Constitutive Modeling of Soils and Rocks
- Integration of Fundamental Studies, Experimental Information and Numerical Methods
