Dr Anna Ramon is a Civil Engineer (2006) from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. She is currently performing research and academic work at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences at the UPC. She also works as a consultant for contractors and design offices. She has experience in laboratory, field investigations, field monitoring and modelling.

She started her research work with the study of the grain size effects on rockfill behaviour by means of laboratory tests. The results of this investigation contributed to understand the behaviour of rockfill and were published on a paper at the 1st European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Durham 2008. Since then, her research work has mainly involved the study of crystal growth in soils and rocks and its effect on the behaviour of soil/rock masses in underground excavations, foundations and embankments. This research work has always been supported on real cases and involved the design of field instrumentation, sampling, laboratory and “in situ” tests campaigns, and the subsequent analysis of the obtained data. One of the main aims of this research is to identify the mechanisms and conditions favouring the occurrence of crystal precipitation and growth in rocks and soils. Apart from the applied research on crystal growth in the field and the laboratory she also studies the chemical and mechanical formulation of crystal growth in soils and rocks and she has simulated the expansive behaviour measured in some real cases.

She participates as a lecturer in Master courses of the official Master in Geotechnical Engineering and Earthquake Engineering offered by the Department of Engineering and Geosciences (UPC) and has supervised final project works of undergraduate and master students.

Her work has resulted up to now in the publication of 4 papers in Géotechnique, 1 paper in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, one book chapter and several presentations and publications in international congresses, conferences, workshops and seminars. She has participated in one I+D+i Project on tunnelling through gypsiferous rocks (“Criterios de diseño y construcción de túneles en rocas yesíferas”, founded by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works) and in several Projects and specific studies in Spain related to anhydritic rocks and expansive formations.

Recently, her research work on “Swelling mechanisms in sulphated rocks” has been awarded (April 2015) by the biannual prize: “Prize to the best research work in rock mechanics” organized by the Spanish Society of Rock Mechanics. Her work has been awarded in three other occasions in Paris (2012), Hungary (2008) and Spain (2007).