
Dr Grainne El Mountassir
Reader
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Prize And Awards
- Best paper award at RM4L Conference 2021
- Recipient
- 9/2021
- Nomination for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award
- Recipient
- 2015
- Scottish Crucible Participant (2014)
- Recipient
- 3/2014
- Nomination for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award
- Recipient
- 2014
Publications
- Microbially induced carbonate precipitation for soil improvement : insights from a meter-scale radial grouting trial
- Sang Guijie, Lunn Rebecca J, Minto James M, El Mountassir Grainne
- Biogeotechnics (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bgtech.2024.100157
- Improving non-uniform gravelly sand using microbially induced carbonate precipitation : an outdoor cubic-meter scale trial by engineering contractors
- Sang Guijie, Lunn Rebecca J, El Mountassir Grainne, Minto James M, McLachlan Erica, Bradley David, Henderson Kenneth
- Engineering Geology Vol 343 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2024.107791
- Influence of environmental conditions on the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus in sand
- Salifu Emmanuel, Di Rauso Simone Giuseppe, Russo Giacomo, Rao Maria, A, Urciuoli Gianfranco, El Mountassir Grainne
- Biogeotechnics (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bgtech.2024.100137
- Meter-scale MICP improvement of medium graded very gravelly sands : lab measurement, transport modelling, mechanical and microstructural analysis
- Sang Guijie, Lunn Rebecca J, El Mountassir Grainne, Minto James M
- Engineering Geology Vol 324 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2023.107275
- Transport and fate of ureolytic Sporosarcina pasteurii in saturated sand columns: experiments and modelling
- Sang Guijie, Lunn Rebecca J, El Mountassir Grainne, Minto James M
- Transport in Porous Media Vol 149, pp. 599-624 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-023-01973-x
- Treatment of fractured concrete via microbially induced carbonate precipitation : from micro-scale characteristics to macro-scale behaviour
- Turner Ronald, Castro Gloria M, Minto James, El Mountassir Grainne, Lunn Rebecca J
- Construction and Building Materials Vol 384 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2023.131467
Teaching
I teach CL217 Soil mechanics and the Graduate Apprenticship module EO206 (Soils & Water 2), both to second year students.
Research Interests
My research is largely experimental and focuses on understanding the hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of soils and rocks. I am particularly interested in the potential use of biological processes in geotechnical engineering. I am currently developing novel grouting technologies including microbially induced calcite precipitation as a technique for sealing fine aperture fractures and silica sol as a low viscosity grout. I am also investigating the possible deployment of fungi within ground engineering applications.
Professional Activities
- Applied Clay Science (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 8/2022
- Invited speaker Cheltenham Science Festival 2022
- Recipient
- 10/6/2022
- Calcite Biomineralisation for the Repair of Damaged Concrete
- Contributor
- 20/9/2021
- Internal Examiner PhD Viva
- Examiner
- 9/2021
- Invited talk at Dundee Root Medal Workshop 2021
- Speaker
- 5/2021
- Invited talk at Nature-Inspire solutions for the Built Environment
- Speaker
- 2/2021
Projects
- MG36176 - Diamond Synchrotron: Understanding the controls on saprotrophic fungal growth in porous media
- El Mountassir, Grainne (Principal Investigator) Zhang, Qi (Co-investigator) Minto, James (Co-investigator) Castro, Gloria (Co-investigator) Divers, Matt (Co-investigator) Dobson, Kate (Co-investigator)
- Fungi play vital roles in natural soil ecosystems in the decomposition of organic matter, carbon cycling, nutrient distribution and symbiosis with plants. It is believed that soil fungi and their role in plant-soil feedback processes will play a critical role in achieving global food security amidst land scarcity and soil and water degradation. Furthermore, fungi can offer us solutions to engineering challenges including: remediation of contaminated land and stabilisation of slopes by modifying soil hydraulic and mechanical behaviour. This proposal aims to investigate in fully 3D conditions for the first time the controls on the growth of saprotrophic fungi in soil.
- 13-Jan-2024 - 17-Jan-2024
- Tailings stabilisation (dewatering) utilising MICP
- Minto, James (Principal Investigator) El Mountassir, Grainne (Co-investigator)
- 08-Jan-2024 - 28-Jan-2024
- DTP 2224 University of Strathclyde | Nagy, Benedek
- El Mountassir, Grainne (Principal Investigator) Tarantino, Alessandro (Co-investigator) Nagy, Benedek (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 01-Jan-2027
- iPACT_MICP for repair and protection of coastal infrastructure (v2)
- El Mountassir, Grainne (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2024
- iPACT- Bio-physical interactions in managing coastal dynamics
- El Mountassir, Grainne (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2024
- Smart pumping for Subsurface Engineering (Prosperity Partnership) | Hughes-Buchanan, Adam
- El Mountassir, Grainne (Principal Investigator) Ward, Andrew (Co-investigator) Hughes-Buchanan, Adam (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 01-Jan-2026
Contact
Dr
Grainne
El Mountassir
Reader
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Email: grainne.elmountassir@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3252