Olivier Coussy Memorial

Abstract

Mécanique des Milieux Poreux (1991) is Professor Olivier Coussy's pioneering book, written in French on the mechanics of porous media, that propelled this topic in to our regular teaching environment. Here, I quote from the book's preface, written by the late Paul Germain, President of IUTAM and the perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, “Si l'on veut être rigoureux, si l'on veut atteindre la même cohérence et la même clarté, la même qualité d'exposé pour les matériaux poreux que pour les matériaux pris en compte dans la Mécanique des Milieux Continus classique, c'est tout l’édifice qu'il faut reconstruire complètement. C'est ce que fait notre auteur; sans doute est-il l'un des tout premiers à le faire; et il le fait avec une rigueur, une élégance et une maîtrise que je me plais ici à souligner.” That is, “If we have to be rigorous and we want to attain the exact coherence and the same quality of the work for porous material continuum as it is the case of the solid continuum material we have to totally reconstruct the whole edifice. That is exactly what our author has done. Without any doubt he is one of the very first to have done it; and he does it with rigor, elegance and a mastery that I am happy to herein outline.” It is these words, and in particular those in the last sentence of the quote, that have marked the life of our late colleague, Professor Olivier Coussy. It is with elegance, rigor, and mastery that he conducted his life as a scientist, colleague, and a friend. He always quoted to me the famous Bernard of Chartres (twelfth-century philosopher), “We stand on the shoulders of giants.” Coussy believed that we carry on what great scientists have already started. However, “giants” like Professor Coussy, who, in reformulating and reworking the “edifice” of the mechanics of porous media, brought it into the classical realm of teaching materials, has forever marked his legacy in science. In addition, Olivier not only reformulated Biot's theory of consolidation in his 1991 book, but in his publications that followed. Dr. Coussy established the physical and mathematical foundations of the mechanics of porous media now known as the poromechanics theory.In this issue, we have assembled a small collection of recent research work by national and international experts on poromechanics following in the footsteps of Olivier Coussy's formulations and vision, all of whom had first-hand experience working with Dr. Coussy personally. Early results of the work published in this special issue were presented at the MPPS 2011—Symposium on Mechanics and Physics of Porous Solids: A Tribute to Late Professor Olivier Coussy, held on April 18–20, 2011, at the École des Ponts Paris Tech, Champs-sur-Marne, France.