We are pleased to extend the invitation to the doctoral thesis defense “A Framework for the Long-Term Planning of Infrastructure Based on Flexibility” by doctoral candidate Samuel Torres Rincon. The defense will take place this Thursday, May 30, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in both virtual and in-person modalities (Hemiciclo 001, Lleras Hall 001).

A Framework for the Long-Term Planning of Infrastructure Based on Flexibility

This thesis presents a framework for infrastructure planning and design under conditions of deep uncertainty based on the concept of flexibility. The proposed framework combines techniques for decision-making under uncertainty (exploratory simulation and scenario discovery) with reinforcement learning algorithms. The use of these techniques allows a better understanding of the long-term consequences of design decisions by simulating interactions between the system and a wide variety of external conditions and provides support tools to explore the space of adaptive designs and policies in an efficient way.

We invite all interested parties to participate in this event in the following modalities:

• In-person: Hemiciclo 001, Lleras Hall 001.
• Virtual: Access through the following link.

We look forward to your participation!

We would like to extend an invitation to our upcoming seminar from the Geomaterials and Infrastructure Systems Research Group (GeoSI). The seminar serves as a platform for dissemination where we share topics of interest to the academic and professional environment in Civil Engineering.

The second seminar of the semester will be held next Thursday, March 14th, at 11:00 AM in both virtual and in-person formats (Classroom W 102). It will be led by Dr.-Ing. Pierre Delage, currently a professor at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech and a member of the scientific team of InSight, a geophysical mission carried out by NASA on Mars.

In this session, along with our guest, we will learn about the analysis of the interaction between a simulated Martian regolith and the base of the seismometer (SEIS), installed on the surface of Mars as part of the InSight mission.

Regolith Simulant of the Mars Insight Landing Site

During this presentation, we will delve into a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between a simulated Martian soil and the foot of the seismometer (SEIS) that was recently placed on the surface of Mars as part of the NASA InSight mission.

Those interested in attending, please fill in your details at the links below:

Virtual attendance registration at the following link.

https://uniandes-edu-co.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlde6spzwiGdEcaL0ir_zm2XghjL0JgCSW

In-person attendance registration at the following link.

Personal attendance form

On Friday, May 12th, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:59 a.m., the seminar of the Geomaterials and Infrastructure Systems Research Group (GeoSI) at Universidad de los Andes will take place. This seminar will be given by Álvaro Andrés González Vaccarezza, PhD, who is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil Construction at the Catholic University of Chile.

Álvaro is currently the director of a Fondecyt project in the area of asphalt technology; he is also the Director of Extension and DICTUC at the School of Engineering, and the Director of the Road Engineering Unit of Dictuc. His presentation is titled “Maintenance and Evaluation of Asphalt Pavements Using Microwave Technology”.

The technique of self-repair of asphalt pavements using microwave technology has been mainly investigated at the laboratory level. In this talk, the advances in the development of a microwave applicator machine made in Chile to perform maintenance on asphalt pavements at a real scale, and an analysis of the sustainability of the technique, will be presented. The results indicate that the application of microwave technology on asphalt pavements promises to change the way pavement maintenance is done, by reducing costs and significantly decreasing the environmental impact and waiting times for road users.

We look forward to seeing you there!

This seminar will be held virtually. Registration must be done through the following link: https://uniandes-edu-co.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscOiqrTIqHtbqKemB0es3lhH8KV-nhSnJ

On Friday, April 28th, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, the Seminar of the Geomaterials and Infrastructure Systems Research Group (GeoSI) at Universidad de los Andes will take place.

This time, the seminar will be conducted by three members of the SRK Consulting Colombia team (a company dedicated to mining and environmental geotechnics), who will present their company and its global and local activities. They will also showcase innovation projects developed by the company and research opportunities that could be developed in cooperation with Uniandes.

We are pleased to announce that this edition of the GeoSI Seminar will be held in a hybrid format (in-person + virtual) at AU 102.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Registration for the Zoom room of the event must be done through the following link:

https://uniandes-edu-co.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscOiqrTIqHtbqKemB0es3lhH8KV-nhSnJ

On Friday, March 10th, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:59 a.m., the Geomaterials and Infrastructure Systems (GeoSI) research group at Universidad de los Andes will hold a seminar. The seminar will be given by Fausto Molina Gómez, who is currently a doctoral researcher at the CONSTRUCT-Geo center at the University of Porto (FEUP). Fausto holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Universidad Militar Nueva Granada and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering-Geotechnics from Universidad de los Andes.

The presentation is titled ‘Partial Saturation Induction for Improving Liquefaction Resistance: An Interpretation Using Seismic Waves’, and will showcase a novel approach based on seismic waves to quantitatively evaluate the increase in liquefaction resistance of soils improved by the partial saturation induction technique.

We are pleased to announce that this edition of the GeoSI Seminar will be held in a hybrid format (in-person + virtual) at a venue that will be confirmed shortly. We look forward to your attendance!

For those attending virtually, registration for the Zoom room should be done through the following link: https://uniandes-edu-co.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscOiqrTIqHtbqKemB0es3lhH8KV-nhSnJ

Next Thursday, November 24, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, a new seminar of the 2022-II semester of the GeoSI group of the Universidad de los Andes will be held. This seminar will be given by Sebastian Lobo-Guerrero, PhD, geotechnical and laboratory manager of American Geotechnical & Environmental Services, Inc. Sebastian is a graduate of the Universidad de los Andes, with an extensive academic and professional career in the field of geotechnical engineering. His presentation is entitled: “Caissons and Pre-Excavated Piles in Rock”.

This seminar will have hybrid modality, room to be confirmed. Registration should be made through the following link: https://uniandes-edu-co.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpcOutrD8qHNasHCz8AncwyS_6247ZfH1W

We look forward to your participation.