Stéphane Commend

Stéphane Commend is an Associate HES Professor at the Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture (HEIA-FR) under HES-SO Valais-Wallis. He also holds a lecturer role at the School of Engineering and Management of the Canton of Vaud. His primary research focuses on geotechnics, numerical simulations, and probabilistic modeling applied to infrastructure projects like tunneling and deep excavations.

Education and affiliations include roles across multiple HES-SO institutions, with a strong emphasis on integrating advanced computational methods into geotechnical engineering. Notable projects include the Grand Paris Express tunnel project, Bayesian inference for wood constitutive modeling, and probabilistic risk analysis for urban construction.

Research interests span soil-structure interaction, finite element modeling, and uncertainty quantification. Recent work emphasizes Bayesian methods for parameter calibration, machine learning in excavation design, and natural hazard vulnerability assessment. Key contributions include frameworks linking ZSOIL and UQLab for reliability analysis, and prototypes like SLIDE-PM for mudflow impact modeling.

Current projects (e.g., iBAG and OptiSoil) focus on optimizing construction methods using AI and data-driven approaches. He leads collaborative teams across HES-SO institutes and academic partners like EPFL and CETU.

• Key Projects:
  • iBAG Project (2022–2025): Bayesian methods in geotechnics
  • OptiSoil (2019–2025): Machine learning for excavation design
  • TULIP Project: TBM-pile interaction probabilistic analysis