Franco Matías Francisca Universidad Nacional de Córdoba - CONICET Facultad de Ingeniería (Cuidad Universitaria) Laboratorio de Geotecnia Research Group Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1601 Córdoba 5016, Argentina Tel. 54-351-6534710 E-mail: ffrancis@gtwing.efn.uncor.edu
See the home page in Spanish / Español

EDUCATION

Doctor in Engineering Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, February 2001.

Civil Engineer, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, December 1996.

CURRENT POSITION

- Assistant Researcher of the National Research Council of Argentina CONICET.

- Assistant Professor, FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

- Postdoctoral Researcher CONICET-Georgia Institute of Technology, CEE, Atlanta, USA, 2003.

- Postdoctoral Researcher CONICET-FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 2001/02.

- Researcher Fellow, Laboratory of Particulate Materials, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999.

- Research Assistant, FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 1997-2000.

COURSES

- Advanced Soil Mechanics (graduate course, M.Sc. and Ph.D. program at the FCEFyN, UNC)

- Environmental Engineering, FCEFyN, UNC (undergraduate course – Civil Engineering program)

- Geotechnique I: Geology for Engineers, FCEFyN, UNC (undergraduate course – Civil Engineering program)

HONORS, AWARDS & PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

- Member of the ASAGAI Argentinean Association of Engineering Geology, 2001 ~ present.

- Registered Professional Civil Engineer, Cordoba, Argentina, 2001 ~ present.

- Active member for the creation of the M.Sc. program at the FCEFyN, National University of Cordoba, 2001.

- Graduate fellowship of the Research Council of Cordoba City CONICOR, Argentina, 1997-2000.

- Researcher Assistant, Laboratory of Soils, FCEFyN, National University of Cordoba, 1997-2000.

- Fellowship of the DPV (Dirección Provincial de Vialidad), Cordoba, Argentina, 1995-1996.

LANGUAGES

Spanish (first language) and English

CURRENT RESEARCH

Physical and Chemical Interactions in Particulate Media

Physical, chemical and mechanical interactions between fluids and minerals govern the behavior of particulate materials (e.g. soils). This project conducts multi-scale analyses to describe the macroscopic behavior of soils. The purpose is to consider the organic fluid-soil particles interaction to understand the displacement of immiscible fluids in porous media. The final goal is determine how to enhance the recovery of non-polar fluids (NAPLs) during soil flushing by favoring the ganglia displacement and reducing the residual NAPL saturation. Some of the techniques used include pore networks model, physical models and laboratory experiments (soil column tests) and high resolution images analysis.

RESEARCH INTEREST

Geo-environmental Engineering

Soils contaminated with organic fluids. Displacement of immiscible fluids in porous media. Contaminant-mineral interactions: behavior of contaminated sediments. Detection of contaminants by means of non-destructive methods. Reliability in the detection of contaminants. Recovery of contaminated soils: soil-vapor extraction, soil flushing, pumping, use of surfactant, etc. Landfills design and spatial variability of soil properties. Influence of fluid properties on soil fabric collapse.

Applied Geophysics

Application, limitation and interpretation of georadar (GPR) images. Dielectric behavior of porous media, detection of contaminated soils by means of dielectric measurements. Use of complimentary elastic and electromagnetic waves to monitor geo-environment-processes.

Numerical methods in geotechnical engineering

Behavior of buried structures. Finite Element Method with application to geotechnical and environmental problems. Soil-pipe interaction. Influence of soil collapse on the behavior of pipes and on damage to buildings.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Referred articles in journals

[1] Yun T.S., Francisca F. M., Santamarina J. C., and Ruppel C., 2005, “Compressional and Shear Wave Velocities in Uncemented Sediment Containing Gas Hydrate”, Geophysical Research Letters GRL, VOL. 32, L10609, doi:10.1029/2005GL022607.

[2] Francisca F.M., Yun T-S., Ruppel C., and Santamarina J.C. (2005). “Geophysical and Geotechnical Properties of Near-Surface Sediments in the North Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Province”, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (EPSL), in press.

[3] Francisca F. M., Rinaldi V. A., and Santamarina J. C., 2003, “Instability Of Hydrocarbons Films Over Mineral Surfaces-Microscale Experimental Studies”, ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering, (ISSN 0733-9372), Vol. 129, No. 12, pp. 1120-1128. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(2003)129:12(1120).

[4] Francisca F. M., and Rinaldi V. A., 2003, “The Complex Dielectric Permittivity of Soil – Organic Mixtures (20 MHz – 1.3 GHz)”, ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering. (ISSN 0733-9372), Vol. 129, No. 4, pp. 347-357. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(2003)129:4(347).

[5] Francisca F. M., Redolfi E. R., and Prato C. A., 2002, “Análisis de Tuberías Enterradas en Suelos Loéssicos: Efecto de la Saturación del Suelo”, Revista Internacional de Desastres Naturales, Accidentes e Infraestructura Civil (ISSN 1535-0088), Vol. 2, Nº 2, pp. 3-19.

[6] Francisca F. M. and Rinaldi V. A., 2001, “Mapeo de Plumas Contaminantes en Sistemas Geológicos Mediante Georadar”, Revista de Geología Aplicada a la Ingeniería y al Ambiente (ISSN 0326-1921), Nº 16, pp. 68-78.

[7] Rinaldi V. A., and Francisca F. M., 1999, “Impedance Analysis Of Soil Dielectric Dispersion (1 MHz – 1 GHz)”, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (ISSN 1090-0241), American Society of Civil Engineering, Vol. 125, No.2, pp. 111-121. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1999)125:2(111).

Referred articles in proceedings of international conferences

[8] Santamarina J.C., Ruppel C., Yun T.-S, Francisca F.M., Lee J-Y., and Martin A. (2005). “Physical Properties of hydrate bearing porous sediments”, International Conference on Gas Hydrates, Trondheim, Norway, June (Extended Abstract).

[9] Arrúa P., Francisca F.M., Redolfi E.R. (2005). “Application of Reliability-Based Design to Piles in the Collapsible Argentinean Loess”, Sixteenth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Osaka.

[10] Santamarina, J.C., Francisca, F., Yun, T.S., Lee, J.Y., Martin, A.I. and Ruppel, C. (2004). “Mechanical, Thermal, and Electrical Properties of Hydrate-Bearing Sediments”, AAPG Hedberg Conference on "Gas Hydrates: Energy Resource Potential and Associated Geologic Hazards", September, Vancouver, BC, Canada (Extended Abstract).

[11] Francisca F. M. and Redolfi E.R., 2003, “Parametric Analysis of the Deflections of Flexible Pipes in Collapsible Soils”, XII Panamerican Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Verlag Gluckauf GMBH, Essen (Germany), ISBN 3-7739-5985-0, Volume 2, pp 2073-2079.

[12] Frateschi A., Francisca F. M., Bollano L., Degoy A., and Tanco A., 2001, “Aplicación del DCP en el Control de Subrasantes y Terraplenes”, “XI Congreso Ibero-Latinoamericano del Asfalto, Lima, Perú, pp. c08.IV.1-c08.IV.10.

[13] Francisca F. M., and Rinaldi V.A., 2001, “The Potential Application of the GPR to Detect Organic Contaminants in Sand”, Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Balkema (ISBN 90 2651 839 0), Istanbul, Vol. 1, pp. 405-408.

[14] Rinaldi V. A., Francisca F. M., Clariá J. J., and Garcia N., 1999, “On the Design of Liners for Waste Containment on Collapsible Loessial Soil Deposits”, 1º South American Symposium on Geosynthetics, Rio de Janeiro, pp. 315-323.

[15] Rinaldi V. A., and Francisca F. M., 1999, “Dielectric Permittivity of Loess from the Central Area of Argentina”, XI Panamerican Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, vol. 1, pp 209-216.

Thanks for your visit!

Franco M. Francisca

Last modification: June 1, 2005

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