Dimitrios Terzis

EPFL ENAC IIC LMS
GC D0 425 (Bâtiment GC)
Station 18
1015 Lausanne

Expertise


Dimitrios Terzis received his Civil Engineering diploma from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2014, having spent a year in the ESTP, Paris as an exchange student. In 2017, he graduated with a doctoral degree (PhD) in Mechanics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). His PhD research, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 200021_140246) and a scholarship of Academic Excellence of the Swiss Federal Government (No. 2014.0276), focused on the emerging technology of carbonate mineralization in soils and contributed in the fields of advanced material characterisation through microscopy techniques and X-Ray tomography, predictive modelling and full-scale geotechnical applications. He is the co-inventor of three EPFL patents and the co-author of more than 10 peer-reviewed. He is the recipient of grants and awards which sum up to over CHF 3 Mn, among which an EPFL Innogrant Fellowship (2018), a Swiss National Science foundation BRIDGE grant (2019) and an Innobooster grant from the Gebert rüf Stiftung. Since 2019 he is the principal lecturer and responsible for the course Innovation for construction and the environment.

Expertise


Dimitrios Terzis received his Civil Engineering diploma from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2014, having spent a year in the ESTP, Paris as an exchange student. In 2017, he graduated with a doctoral degree (PhD) in Mechanics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). His PhD research, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 200021_140246) and a scholarship of Academic Excellence of the Swiss Federal Government (No. 2014.0276), focused on the emerging technology of carbonate mineralization in soils and contributed in the fields of advanced material characterisation through microscopy techniques and X-Ray tomography, predictive modelling and full-scale geotechnical applications. He is the co-inventor of three EPFL patents and the co-author of more than 10 peer-reviewed. He is the recipient of grants and awards which sum up to over CHF 3 Mn, among which an EPFL Innogrant Fellowship (2018), a Swiss National Science foundation BRIDGE grant (2019) and an Innobooster grant from the Gebert rüf Stiftung. Since 2019 he is the principal lecturer and responsible for the course Innovation for construction and the environment.

Prix et distinctions

2024

Rodolphe and Renée Haenny Foundation

2024

Journal Articles

A multiphysical modelling approach to injection strategies for homogeneous soil bio-improvement

S. ten BoschD. TerzisL. Laloui

Computers and Geotechnics. 2026. DOI : 10.1016/j.compgeo.2025.107819.

Journal Articles

Bacillus megaterium favours CO₂ mineralization into CaCO₃ over the ureolytic pathway

M. CappaC. PeregoD. TerzisP. Principi

Scientific Reports. 2025. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-025-07323-9.

Biocementation beyond the Petri dish, scaling up to 900 L batches and a meter-scale column

D. TerzisC. PeregoM. CappaE. PiantaF. Mauri  et al.

Scientific Reports. 2025. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-025-87074-9.

Journal Articles

A bio-chemo-hydro-mechanical model of transport, strength and deformation for bio-cementation applications

J. A. BoschD. TerzisL. Laloui

Acta Geotechnica. 2024. DOI : 10.1007/s11440-023-02172-0.

Journal Articles

3-D contact and pore network analysis of MICP cemented sands

N. RoyJ. D. FrostD. Terzis

Granular Matter. 2023. DOI : 10.1007/s10035-023-01347-6.

Reviews

Mechanics, Modeling, and Upscaling of Biocemented Soils: A Review of Breakthroughs and Challenges

R. HarranD. TerzisL. Laloui

International Journal Of Geomechanics. 2023. DOI : 10.1061/IJGNAI.GMENG-8446.

Journal Articles

Addressing the challenges of homogeneity, quality control and waste handling in soil bio-cementation: A large-scale experiment

R. HarranD. TerzisL. Laloui

Soils And Foundations. 2023. DOI : 10.1016/j.sandf.2023.1013320038-0806.

Conference Papers

Multiphysical numerical modelling of an MICP upscaling experiment with ex-situ hydrolysis

S. E. Ten BoschJ. BoschD. TerzisL. Laloui

2023. 9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics, Chania, Greece, 2023-06-25 - 2023-06-28. p. 102 - 109. DOI : 10.53243/ICEG2023-442.

Theses

Influence of pore-scale heterogeneity on the precipitation patterns in Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP)

A. Elmaloglou

Lausanne, EPFL, 2023. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9919.

Conference Papers

A unified Bio-Chemo-Hydro-Mechanical formulation for soil improvement with microbially-induced calcite precipitation

J. A. BoschD. TerzisL. Laloui

2023. 9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics, Chania, Greece, 2023-06-25 - 2023-06-28. p. 97 - 101. DOI : 10.53243/ICEG2023-440.

Journal Articles

Microfluidic study in a meter-long reactive path reveals how the medium’s structural heterogeneity shapes MICP-induced biocementation

A. ElmaloglouD. TerzisP. De AnnaL. Laloui

Scientific Reports. 2022. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-022-24124-6.

Characterizing the Deformation Evolution with Stress and Time of Biocemented Sands

R. HarranD. TerzisL. Laloui

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. 2022. DOI : 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002871.

Theses

Mechanical performance and upscaling of bio-improved soils

R. Harran

Lausanne, EPFL, 2022. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9990.

Journal Articles

Monitoring innovation metrics in construction and civil engineering: Trends, drivers and laggards

D. Terzis

Developments in the Built Environment. 2021. DOI : 10.1016/j.dibe.2021.100064.

Controlling the calcium carbonate microstructure of engineered living building materials

A. C. SarachoL. LucheriniM. HirschH. M. PeterD. Terzis  et al.

Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 2021. DOI : 10.1039/d1ta03990c.

Patents

Method and system for producing a carbonate-containing species-rich, nitrogen-containing species-free solution

D. TerzisL. Laloui

US2023203374 ; EP4136245 ; CN115552024 ; WO2021234434 . 2021.

Conference Papers

Benefits and drawbacks of applied direct currents for soil improvement via carbonate mineralization

D. TerzisP. HicherL. Laloui

2020. 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020), Lisboa, Portugal, October 19-21, 2020. DOI : 10.1051/e3sconf/202019505007.

Journal Articles

Direct currents stimulate carbonate mineralization for soil improvement under various chemical conditions

D. TerzisP. HicherL. Laloui

Scientific Reports. 2020. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-020-73926-z.

Conference Papers

Microfluidic-Based Study on the Activation and Evolution of Calcite Bio-Mineralization for Geotechnical Applications

A. ElmaloglouD. TerzisP. De AnnaL. LalouiS. Mahé  et al.

2020. Geo-Congress on Biogeotechnics, Minneapolis, MN, US, February 25-28. p. 74 - 82. DOI : 10.1061/9780784482834.009.

Patents

System and method for ground consolidation

D. TerzisL. LalouiP. Hicher

US11879227 ; EP3976886 ; EP3976886 ; US2022228340 ; EP3976886 ; WO2020240263 . 2020.

Conference Papers

A Full-Scale Application of Slope Stabilization via Calcite Bio-Mineralization Followed by Long-Term GIS Surveillance

D. TerzisL. LalouiS. DornbergerR. Harran

2020. Geo-Congress 2020, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, February 25-28, 2020. p. 65 - 73. DOI : 10.1061/9780784482834.008.

Media

Le biomimétisme (2/5): un biociment éco-responsable grâce au génie d’une bactérie

D. Terzis

2019.

Reviews

A decade of progress and turning points in the understanding of bio-improved soils: A review

D. TerzisL. Laloui

Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment. 2019. DOI : 10.1016/j.gete.2019.03.001.

Journal Articles

Cell-free soil bio-cementation with strength, dilatancy and fabric characterization

D. TerzisL. Laloui

Acta Geotechnica. 2019. DOI : 10.1007/s11440-019-00764-3.

Patents

GEOTEXTILE

D. TerzisL. Laloui

EPFL: BR112019024734 ; AU2017417126 ; BR112019024734 ; ES2898772 ; JP6998071 ; CN110770400 ; EP3631094 ; US10895054 ; JP2020528975 ; BR112019024734 ; US2020157757 ; EP3631094 ; CN110770400 ; AU2017417126 ; WO2018219431 . 2018.

Journal Articles

3-D micro-architecture and mechanical response of soil cemented via microbial-induced calcite precipitation

D. TerzisL. Laloui

Scientific Reports. 2018. DOI : 10.1038/s41598-018-19895-w.

Conference Papers

Quantitative analysis of the crystalline bond lattice of bio-improved soils using micro-computed tomography

D. TerzisL. Laloui

2017. 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (Seoul), Seoul, South Korea, September 17-22, 2017.

Book Chapters

On the Application of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation for Soils: A Multiscale Study

D. TerzisL. Laloui

Advances in Laboratory Testing and Modelling of Soils and Shales (ATMSS). ATMSS 2017. Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering. Springer, Cham; Springer, Cham, 2017. p. 388 - 394.

Theses

Kinetics, Mechanics and Micro-structure of Bio-cemented Soils

D. Terzis

Lausanne, EPFL, 2017. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8147.

Journal Articles

Effect of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation on soil thermal conductivity

S. VenuleoL. LalouiD. TerzisT. HueckelM. Hassan

Geotechnique Letters. 2016. DOI : 10.1680/jgele.15.00125.

Fabric characteristics and mechanical response to bio-improved sand to various treatment conditions

D. TerzisR. Bernier-LatmaniL. Laloui

Geotechnique Letters. 2016. DOI : 10.1680/jgele.15.00134.

Conference Papers

Effect of treatment on the microstructural characteristics of bio-improved sand

D. TerzisL. Laloui

2015. 6th International Symposium on Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials, Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 15-18, 2015. p. 970 - 977. DOI : 10.3233/978-1-61499-601-9-970.

Enseignement et PhD

Doctorant·es actuel·les

Ziad Sahlab

A co-dirigé les thèses EPFL de

Ray Harran, Ariadni Elmaloglou

Cours

Innovation for construction and the environment

CIVIL-424

Le cours explore comment l'innovation dans la construction, considérée comme un processus d'ingénierie, progresse à travers des étapes et des phases. Il se concentre sur 3 domaines principaux: (1) nouveaux matériaux, (2) l'intégration de systèmes numériques, et (3)la mesure des indices de durabilité