Arson Lab

In Arson’s Lab, our research pertains to computational geomechanics, with a particular focus on damage and healing mechanics of polycrystalline materials, multi-scale modeling of porous media, and model reduction by deep learning. Our modeling approaches have allowed a fundamental understanding of synergetic micro-mechanisms in rocks, the prediction of instabilities in geomaterials, and the simulation of concurrent fracture propagation at multiple scales. We create numerical models to assess the performance and environmental impacts of underground storage and rock fracturing, explain the formation of soil from rock weathering, predict grain fragmentation under high pressure, and optimize underground excavation, propulsion, and exploration. Homogenization, computational mechanics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the pillars of our scientific work. Inter-disciplinary collaborations have enabled us to deploy modeling strategies for civil engineering, Earth sciences, material sciences, robotics, and biology.