Lyesse Laloui
EPFL ENAC IIC LMS
GC D1 416 (Bâtiment GC)
Station 18
1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 23 14
+41 21 693 23 15
Office:
GC D1 416
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Website: https://lms.epfl.ch/
+41 21 693 23 14
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Expertise
Lecturing in Civil Engineering (soil mechanics, underground seepage, geomechanics) and Mechanics (mechanics of porous media, mixture theory, multiphase flow).
Research in Environmental Geomechanics, Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering, Mechanics of Multiphase Porous Materials.
Lyesse Laloui is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL) where he directs the Laboratory for Soil Mechanics.
He is a world-renowned expert in geomechanics and geo-energy. Inspired by the intricate systems of the natural world, his groundbreaking research into the physical mechanisms of geomaterials has unlocked innovative technologies crucial for addressing climate change, resource optimization, and the widespread adoption of renewable energy.
His impact is underscored by prestigious awards, including an Advanced ERC Grant (2018), an ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2020), and an EiC Transition Grant (2023). Prof. Laloui's international recognition is further solidified by two honoris causae (Heriot-Watt University, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca) in recognition of his sustainability leadership.
Prof. Laloui holds influential positions within the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, Academia Europaea, and the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects and serves as European Vice President for the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
As Director for Europe of the International Associated Research Centers for the Urban Underground Space, he advances global efforts in sustainable urban development.
As founder and Honorary Editor-in-Chief of Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, Prof. Laloui shapes the field's discourse. His vast publication record (13 books, 400 papers, 20,000 citations, h-index 70 ) includes internationally celebrated works. He is a sought-after keynote speaker (>50 conferences) and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Interpore Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lectureship Award (2026), ASCE Kersten Lecture (2020), Vienna Terzaghi Lecture (2022), the DFI John Mitchell Lecture (2025) and more.
Prof. Laloui's commitment to innovation extends beyond academia, holding several patents and founding five EPFL startup, with Enerdrape ranked within the Swiss Top 100 (2023, 2024). This underscores his ability to translate cutting-edge science into impactful technologies, often drawing inspiration from nature's own solutions.
Google citations:
Recent keynote lectures
«Revolutionizing Foundations: Advances in Thermo-Active Piling Engineering». John Mitchell Lecture - DFI-EFFC International Conference on Deep Foundations and Ground Improvement & Geotechnics Reimagined, Bruges,Belgium.·
"Advances in numerical design and analysis of underground nuclear waste repositories". Prague Geotechnical Honorary Lecture, Prague, Czech Republic.·
«Revolutionizing Foundations: Advances in Thermo-Active Piling Engineering». Opening presentation,British Geotechnical Association annual meeting, London, England. ·
«Revolutionizing Foundations: Advances in Thermo-Active Piling Engineering». Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Brazilian Association for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Sao Paolo, Brazil.
·
«Bio-cementation: Advancing Sustainable Soils Stabilization in Geotechnics». Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Swiss Geotechnical Society, Bern, Switzerland.·
«Revolutionizing Foundations: Advances in Thermo-Active Piling Engineering». 2th International Geotechnical Innovation Conference (IGIC 2025),Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.·
«Revolutionizing Foundations: Advances in Thermo-Active Piling Engineering». 1st Geotech Asia Conference, Goa, India.
2024·
«Bio-cementation: A game-changing innovation shaping the future of geotechnics». International Geotechnical Innovation Conference, Dubai, UAE. ·
«Smart exploitation of the renewable energy situated under our cities», 19th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting, Göteborg, Sweden.
«Tailor-made Soil Properties by Bio-Geo-Chemical Means», ALIVE Symposium 2024, Zurich, Switzerland.·
«Bio-cementation: Transforming Scientific Discoveries into Market Solutions,» 18th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering,
Lisbon, Portugal.·
«Bio-cementation: Transforming Scientific Discoveries into Market Solutions,» 5th International Conference of Environmental Geotechnology, Recycled Waste Materials and Sustainable Engineering, Warsaw, Poland.·
«Exploitering the Renewable Energy Resources of our cities' underground,» 11th International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground, Macao, SAR.·
«Unlocking Renewable Energy in the Urban Subsurface» 7th International conference Series on Geotechnics, Civil Engineering and Structures, Hochi Minh City, Vietnam.·
«Soil Reinforcement based on Bio-Geo-Chemical Processes,» 28th European Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference EYGEC2024, Macedonia.
2023·
«Numerical analysis of multiphysical processes in the vicinity of nuclear waste repository» 9th Geotechnical Symposium Istanbul, Türkiye.·
«Energy geo-technology: a new era for geotechnical engineering practice» 17th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 2023, Astana, Kazakhstan.·
Distinguished lecture, «Smart exploitation of the renewable energy situated under our cities,» Hong Kong University.·
«Carbon Dioxide Injection into Deep Aquifers: A Geomechanical Perspective,» 9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (9ICEG), Creta, Greece.·
«Exploiting the renewable energy resources of our cities' underground» European Conference on Geotechnical Engineering (17DECG), Bucharest, Romania.·
«Smart exploitation of the renewable energy situated under our cities» International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE'23), Hurghada, Egypt.
2022·
«Innovation for a Sustainable Geotechnical Engineering Industry» The Big 5, International Building and Construction Show, Dubai.·
«Sustainable (geo-)energies: Global progress and existing challenges,» Northwestern Sustainability Lecture Series, Chicago, USA.
«Tailor-made soil properties by bio-geochemical means», 16th International Conference of the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics, Turin, Italy.·
«Energy from Geotechnical Constructions: Analysis and Design» XXVII Italian National Congress on Geotechnical Engineering for a Sustainable Development, Reggio Calabria, Italy.·
«Tailor-made soil properties by bio-geochemical means,» Terzaghi Lecture, Austrian Geotechnical Conference, Vienna, Austria.·
«Field Monitoring and Simulations of Nuclear Waste Barrier Systems» 2nd International Conference on Energy Geotechnics, San Diego, USA.
2021·
«Fundementals of Soils Desiccation,»GE@2M (Grand Est, Mécanique et Matériaux), Online. 2020·
«Energy Geotechnology: A New Era for Geotechnical Engineering Society,» Geo-congress 2020 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.·
«Bentonite clay barriers in nuclear waste repositories» 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Lisbon, Portugal.
Awards
Honoris Causa
Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh
2022
Honoris Causa
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
2022
InterPore Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lecturer on Porous Media Science & Technology, for 2026
Interpore
2025
Membership to Academia Europaea
Academia Europaea
2024
Vienna Teraghi Lecture
Internationally renowned geotechnical engineer.
2022
2022 Eshbach Lecture
2022
Distinguished lecture Northwestern Sustainabilty
Northwestern University
2022
XXIX Károly Széchy Memorial Lecture
Hungarian Geotechnical Society
2024
John Mitchell Lecture
Deep Foundations Institute (DFI)
2025
RM Quigley Award Winner
2016
Excellent Contributions Award
2008
Prague Geotechnical Lecture, 2025
SG Geotechnika
2025
3rd ISSMGE Honour Lecturer on Energy Geotechnics
International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
2025
Selected publications
Coupled Multi-Physics Processes in Geomechanics
L. Laloui, R. Charlier, G. Pijaudier-Cabot, Eds.
Published in Special issue, European Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, N�5-6, 280 pages, 2005 in
Solid-liquid-air coupling in multiphase porous media
Laloui L., G. Klubertanz & L. Vulliet
Published in International Journal Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, volume 27 issue 3, pp. 183-206, 2003. in
Thermo-plasticity of clays: an isotropic yield mechanism
Laloui L. & C. Cekerevac
Published in Computers and Geotechnics, Vol 30/8 pp 649-660, 2003. in
Comportement d�un pieu bi-fonction, fondation et �changeur de chaleur
Laloui L., M. Moreni & L. Vulliet.
Published in Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol 40, N. 2, pp. 388-402, 2003. in
Environmental geomechanics
L. Vulliet, L. Laloui & B. A. Schrefler
Published in EPFL-Press. 423 pages ; ISBN 2-88074-515-2. 2002. in
Tests de r�ponse g�othermique/Geothermische response tests.
W.J. Eugster & L. Laloui
Published in Proceddings of the Europ�ischer Workshop Europ�en sur les tests de r�ponse. EPFL - 25 & 26 October 2001, 130 pages. Editor GTV; ISBN 3-932570-43-X. 2002. in
Fabric evolution during hydro-mechanical loading of compacted silt
Cuisinier O. & Laloui L.
Published in International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Vol 28, pp 483-499, 2004. in
A novel triaxial apparatus for thermo-mechanical testing of soils
Cekerevac C., Laloui L. & Vulliet L.
Published in Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 28, issue 2, pp. 161-170, 2005 in
Experimental study of the thermal effects on the mechanical behaviour of a clay
Cekerevac C. & L. Laloui
Published in International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Vol 28, pp 209-228, 2004 in
Modelling the behaviour of a large landslide with respect to hydrogeological and geomechanical parameter heterogeneity
Tacher L., C. Bonnard, L. Laloui & A. Parriaux. "
Published in Landslides journal. Vol. 2, N�1, pp. 3-14, 2005. in
Hydro-mechanical modeling of crises of large landslides: application to the La Frasse landslide
Laloui L., L. Tacher, M. Moreni & C. Bonnard.
Published in Proceedings of the IX International Symposium on Landslides, pp. 1103-1110, Rio de Janeiro, Balkema, 2004. in
Laboratory testing of unsaturated soil with small-scale models and use of image processing techniques
Gachet P., G. Klubertanz, L. Vulliet & L. Laloui
Published in Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 26, N�1, pp. 12-21, 2003. in
Miscible and immiscible multiphase flow in deformable porous media
Klubertanz G., F. Bouchelaghem, L. Laloui & L. Vulliet
Published in Mathematical and Computer Modeling Journal, Vol. 37 (5-6), pp. 571-582, 2003. in
Effective stress in double porous media with two immiscible fluids
Khalili N., R. Witt, L. Laloui, L. Vulliet, A. Koliji.
Published in Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 32, No. 15, L15309, 2005. in
Mechanics of multiphase porous media � application to unsaturated soils
Vulliet L. & L. Laloui
Published in Chapter of the book � Continuum mechanics and applications in geophysics and the environment �, pp. 153-182. Eds. Springer Verlag, 2001. in
Thermo-viscoplastic model for clays
Modaressi H. & Laloui L.
Published in International Journal of Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics*, Vol. 21, pp 313-335, 1997. in
Attrition and particle breakage under monotonic and cyclic loading
Mayoraz F., L. Vulliet & Laloui L.
Published in Comptes Rendus Acad�mie des Sciences, C. R. Mecanique Vol. 334, N. 1, pp. 1-7, 2006. in
Suction induced effects on the fabric of a structured soil
Koliji A., L. Laloui, O. Cuisinier, L. Vulliet
Published in Transport in Porous Media, Vol. 64(2), pp. 261-278, 2006. in
Advances in volume measurement in unsaturated triaxial tests
Laloui L., H. P�ron, F. Geiser, A. Rifa�i, L. Vulliet
Published in Soils and Foundations, Vol. 46 N� 3, pp. 341-350, 2006. in
Experimental and numerical investigations of the behaviour of a heat exchanger pile
Laloui L., M. Nuth, L. Vulliet
Published in International Journal of Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, vol. 30, pp. 763-781, 2006. in
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Infoscience
Teaching & PhD
PhD Students
Alessandro Parziale, Ziad Sahlab
Past EPFL PhD Students
Cane Cekerevac, Hervé Péron, Bertrand François, Mathieu Nuth, Suzanne Fauriel, John Eichenberger, Thomas Mimouni, Alice Di Donna, Ali Seiphoori, Donatella Manca, Chao Li, Francesco Parisio, Valentina Favero, Dimitrios Terzis, Alessandro Francesco Rotta Loria, Alberto Minardi, Eleonora Crisci, Jacopo Zannin, Gianluca Speranza, Barnaby Padraig Fryer, Cristiano Garbellini, Angelica Tuttolomondo, Jose Antonio Bosch Llufriu, Elena Ravera, Ray Harran, Jinwoo Kim, Taeheon Kim, Ariadni Elmaloglou, Matthias Wojnarowicz, Héloïse Fuselier, Qazim Llabjani, Sofie Elaine ten Bosch, Svetlana Babiy
Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector
Courses
Geomechanics
CIVIL-402
The course covers engineering applications and challenges in geomechanics, including stress-strain behavior of geomaterials in variousconditions, triaxial testing,and constitutive frameworks for elasticity and plasticity.Practical insights are gained through workshops with geomechanics professionals
Terra Epidermis
PENS-211
This transversal project aims to test around a case study chosen, the specifics of " reverse soil ." On a chose site, students will be invited to propose a single technical and architectural gesture, and synthesize their concept graphically.