SEACRET – Strengthening Electrochemically Any Coastal Region without Environmental Threats

The seminar SEACRET – Strengthening Electrochemically Any Coastal Region without Environmental Threats will focus on the use of electrodeposition as a sustainable tool for the precipitation of natural binders aimed at soil erosion and flooding control, reduction of liquefaction potential, coastal sand dune stabilization, retrofit and permeability tuning of shoreside infrastructure, and strengthening of coastal/offshore foundations.

Abstract
Coastal areas host approximately half of the world’s population and increasingly suffer from the disappearance of beaches and the disintegration of civil infrastructure due to soil erosion caused by global sea-level rise and extreme weather events. Traditional approaches to mitigate the impacts of erosion on coastlines and shoreside infrastructure consist of grouting: the injection of fluids that, once solidified in the pore space of such materials, cement them to yield enhanced performance. However, such traditional approaches have several drawbacks, including high energy consumption, significant carbon footprint, adverse environmental impacts, or limited applicability in remote areas.
This lecture presents a novel class of treatments that leverages the electrochemical process of electrodeposition to turn naturally dissolved minerals in pore water of soils and concrete into solid binders.
Specifically, this presentation unveils how the use of electrically conductive structures embedded in marine soils, or within concrete structures wetted by seawater, offers the opportunity to serve as a vascular system to cement such materials for (1) soil erosion and flooding control, (2) reduction of liquefaction potential, (3) coastal sand dune stabilization, (4) retrofit and permeability tuning of shoreside infrastructure, and (5) strengthening of coastal/offshore foundations.

The presentation shows the results of laboratory experiments to shed light on the mechanisms and effects of electrodeposition in soils and concrete and discusses constitutive modeling investigations in support of novel techniques and technologies leveraging such process to mitigate the effects of sea-level rise and extreme weather events.

Speaker: Alessandro Rotta Loria, from Northwestern University, Chicago.

Biography
An Architectural Engineer by training from the Politecnico di Torino with a Ph.D. in Mechanics from EPFL in 2018, doctor Alessandro Rotta Loria currently works as the Louis Berger Junior Professor at Northwestern University, where he directs SOIL: the Subsurface Opportunities and Innovations Laboratory.
Alessandro is also the co-founder of GEOEG, an engineering design and innovation firm specialized in underground energy solutions, and the co-founder of enerdrape, a company developing the world’s first geothermal panel. His expertise lies at the intersection of Mechanics of Materials, Energy, and Electrochemistry.
Alessandro is the co-author of the book “Analysis and Design of Energy Geostructures” and has published 2 book chapters, 2 patents, and about 100 publications in scientific journals and conference proceedings. His work has been featured by international media including the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Scientific American, CNN, BBC, Forbes, and Bloomberg, and has been presented at venues such as the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. As a result of his work, Alessandro has been named World Innovator Under 35 (top 100 list) by the MIT Technology Review and has been included in the 40 Under 40 list by Crain's Chicago Business. His work will soon be presented in a TED talk.

For more information contact professor Guido Musso at this email.