Awards & distinctions
- 2013 The "Pierre Londe" Award for Best Thesis in Rock Mechanics, presented by the French Committee on Rock Mechanics.
Team
GI2S - Géomécanique & Ingénierie du Sous-Sol
Biography
Laura Blanco Martín is a researcher specializing in the study of the thermo-hydro-mechanical and chemical (THMC) behavior of geological formations, with particular expertise in saline environments and claystones. Her work focuses primarily on the numerical and experimental modeling of salt rocks, particularly their mechanical response under low deviatoric stresses—a key challenge for the underground storage of energy (hydrogen, CO₂) and nuclear waste. She has contributed to the refinement of creep laws and dilatancy criteria for rock salt by incorporating experimental data covering a wide range of stresses (0.5–20 MPa) and temperatures (20–50 °C). Her research highlights the importance of adapting experimental protocols to the actual conditions of underground applications to avoid unreliable extrapolations. At the same time, she is exploring geochemical interactions in cap rocks, such as Opalinus Clay, under CO₂ injection, highlighting the influence of lithology on hydrogeochemical reactivity and the integrity of geological barriers. Her recent work also includes the development of advanced constitutive models for bolted interfaces and heterogeneous media, as well as the analysis of the effects of natural sample variability on laboratory measurements.
Publication(s)
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2026
Experimental Investigation of Rock Salt Rheology Under Multiple Load Paths Applied in the Laboratory and in Salt Mines DOI : 10.1007/s00603-026-05496-x
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2026
Benchmarking Reactive-Tansport Codes for CO2 injection in Opalinus Clay at the Mont Terri CL-Experiment
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2026
Evolution of microfractures in rock salt during mechanical loading: insights from x-ray microtomography and image processing
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2026
Microfracture development in rock salt under unconfined and confined loading assessed by x-ray micro- tomography
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2026
Modelling of CO2 injection in Opalinus Clay: a benchmark study on hydraulic-mechanical and hydraulic- chemical effects using different modelling approaches DOI : 10.60695/27012026
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2025
Effects of Stress Extrapolation and Dilatancy on Salt Cavern Design: An Application to Underground Hydrogen Storage DOI : 10.1007/s00603-025-04897-8
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2025
Comparative Hydrogeochemical Analysis of Opalinus Clay’s Lithofacies to CO2 Injection Using HYTEC DOI : 10.3997/2214-4609.202522077
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2025
Inter-granular damage in experimentally deformed rock-salt investigated by X-ray micro-tomography: confining pressure and brine effects DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2025.105488
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2025
Creep of rock salt under a large range of deviatoric stresses: insights from tests in mines and rock mechanics laboratories DOI : 10.1201/9781003637349
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2025
Numerical modeling of gas storage in salt caverns considering a wide range of deviatoric stresses and dilatancy DOI : 10.1201/9781003637349
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2024
Creep of Rock Salt Under a Large Range of Deviatoric Stresses DOI : 10.1007/s00603-024-03841-6
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2024
Rock salt creep: a cross-check test to cover the full relevant range of deviatoric stresses DOI : 10.1051/geotech/2024017
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2023
Salt Creep: Transition Between the Low and High Stress Domains DOI : 10.1007/s00603-023-03485-y
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2023
Laboratory experiments on rock salt and phenomenological observations DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2023.105452
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2023
Numéro spécial hommage à Pierre Bérest DOI : 10.1051/geotech/2024021
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2022
Creep tests on salt samples performed at very small stresses DOI : 10.56952/ARMA-2022-0707
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2022
TOUGH3-FLAC3D: a modeling approach for parallel computing of fluid flow and geomechanics DOI : 10.1007/s10596-022-10176-0
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2022
Numerical Modeling of Coupled Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical Processes in Salt Formations for Geologic Disposal of Large Nuclear Waste Canisters DOI : 10.56952/ARMA-2022-0794
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2022
On the Representativity of Rock Salt Specimens During Laboratory Tests DOI : 10.1007/s00603-021-02590-0
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2022
Evaluation of possible reactivation of undetected faults during CO2 injection DOI : 10.1016/j.ijggc.2022.103794
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2022
Effect of impurities in rock salt samples on laboratory tests - consequences on rock mass representativity
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2022
Creep tests on salt samples performed at very small stresses
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2022
Insights from an experimental campaign on rock salt and implications at the cavern scale
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2021
Effect of insoluble materials on the volumetric behavior of rock salt DOI : 10.1016/j.jrmge.2020.06.007
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2021
Rock salt behavior: From laboratory experiments to pertinent long-term predictions DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2020.104588
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2021
Use of salt caverns in the energy transition: Application to Power-to-Gas–Oxyfuel DOI : 10.1016/j.est.2021.103333
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2021
Development and application of an interface constitutive model for fully grouted rock-bolts and cable-bolts DOI : 10.1016/j.jrmge.2021.03.011
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2020
Determining upper and lower bounds for steady state strain rate during a creep test on a salt sample DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2020.104452
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2020
Experimental Density Data of Three Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen Binary Mixtures at Temperatures from 276 to 416 K and at Pressures up to 20 MPa DOI : 10.1021/acs.jced.0c00484
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2020
Foreword: Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media: Applied analysis in Deep Underground Tunneling, Mining and Nuclear Waste Disposal DOI : 10.1016/j.tust.2020.103533
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2020
On The Effect of Insoluble Materials on Rock Salt Dilatancy
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2018
Dilatancy Criteria for Salt Cavern Design: A Comparison Between Stress- and Strain-Based Approaches DOI : 10.1007/s00603-017-1338-4
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2018
Coupled Processes Modeling in Rock Salt and Crushed Salt Including Halite Solubility Constraints: Application to Disposal of Heat-Generating Nuclear Waste DOI : 10.1007/s11242-018-1057-7
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2018
Experimental and numerical investigation into rapid cooling of rock salt related to high frequency cycling of storage caverns DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2018.01.008
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2018
Use of laboratory tests in constitutive models for rock salt: a focus on volumetric strains
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2018
Coupling TOUGH3 with FLAC3D for parallel computing of fluid flow and geomechanics
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2017
Laboratory pull-out tests on fully grouted rock bolts and cable bolts: Results and lessons learned DOI : 10.1016/j.jrmge.2017.04.005
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2017
Extension of TOUGH-FLAC to the finite strain framework DOI : 10.1016/j.cageo.2016.10.015
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2017
Preface to the Special Issue on TOUGH Symposium 2015 DOI : 10.1016/j.cageo.2017.09.001
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2017
Comparison between stress- and strain-based dilatancy criteria for salt cavern design
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2016
Use of a dual-structure constitutive model for predicting the long-term behavior of an expansive clay buffer in a nuclear waste repository DOI : 10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000603
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2016
Thermal-hydraulic-mechanical modeling of a large-scale heater test to investigate rock salt and crushed salt behavior under repository conditions for heat-generating nuclear waste DOI : 10.1016/j.compgeo.2016.04.008
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2016
Coupled geomechanics and flow modeling of thermally induced compaction in heavy oil diatomite reservoirs under cyclic steaming DOI : 10.1016/j.petrol.2016.09.002
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2016
Boulonnage à ancrage réparti : étude de l’interface barre-scellement sous sollicitations axiales DOI : 10.1051/geotech/2016002
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2015
Long-term modeling of the thermal-hydraulic-mechanical response of a generic salt repository for heat-generating nuclear waste DOI : 10.1016/j.enggeo.2015.04.014
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2015
Comparison of two simulators to investigate thermal-hydraulic-mechanical processes related to nuclear waste isolation in saliferous formations DOI : 10.1016/j.compgeo.2015.01.021
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2015
Three-dimensional modeling of a heater test to investigate crushed salt reconsolidation and rock salt creep for the underground disposal of high-level nuclear waste
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2015
Long-term modeling of coupled processes in a generic salt repository for heat-generating nuclear waste: Preliminary analysis of the impacts of halite dissolution and precipitation
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2015
Coupled modelling of the thermal simulation for drift emplacement underground test DOI : 10.1201/b18393-46
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2015
Extension of the TOUGH- FLAC simulator to account for finite strains
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2015
iTOUGH2-FLAC modeling of thermal-hydraulic-mechanical processes related to steam-assisted heavy oil recovery from diatomite
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2015
Modeling steam, water, and oil flow overlying a heavy oil reservoir undergoing cyclic steaming
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2015
Dynamic Hydro-geomechanical Simulation of Earthquakes Induced by Fluid Injections in Geothermal Reservoirs
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2015
Development of a Hydro-geomechanical Model to Simulate Coupled Fluid Flow and Reservoir Geomechanics
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2015
etermining optimal monitoring strategies for managing risks of cyclic steam injection using data-worth analysis
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2014
Comparison of two modeling procedures to evaluate thermal-hydraulic-mechanical processes in a generic salt repository for high-level nuclear waste
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2014
Long-term analysis of thermal-hydraulic-mechanical processes in a generic salt repository for high-level nuclear waste
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2013
Thermal-hydraulic-mechanical processes modeling to evaluate salt-based repositories in the long-term
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2013
THM processes modeling to evaluate salt-based repositories in the long - Term
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2013
Assessment of the bolt-grout interface behaviour of fully grouted rockbolts from laboratory experiments under axial loads DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2013.06.007
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2011
A new analytical solution to the mechanical behaviour of fully grouted rockbolts subjected to pull-out tests DOI : 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.07.011
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2011
New numerical modelling of the mechanical long-term behaviour of the GMR gallery in ANDRA's Underground Research Laboratory DOI : 10.1016/j.pce.2011.07.027
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2011
A new experimental and analytical study of fully grouted rockbolts
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2011
Conception et justification du boulonnage, Réflexions et Avancées du Groupe de Travail N°30 de l’AFTES
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2010
New Numerical Modelling of the Mechanical Long-term Behaviour of the GMR gallery in ANDRA’s Underground Research Laboratory
PhD supervision
- 2025 Multi-scale study of the mechanical behavior of rock salt OUAHRI Outhmane
- 2023 Numerical study of the THMC coupled response of the caprock to CO2 injection at a pilot test site KOC Ümit
- 2017 Modeling and prediction of the macroscopic behavior of rock salt in the context of underground storage AZABOU Mejda