Alex Jerves

BIOGRAPHY 

Alex X. Jerves is a civil engineer and computational mechanics researcher specializing in the modeling of granular materials. He earned his PhD (2016) and a Master of Science (2011) from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Before joining Caltech, he completed a first master’s degree in Numerical Methods (2009) through a joint UPS–UPC program, after graduating as a Civil Engineer from the University of Cuenca, Ecuador (2006). 

From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Jerves was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Advanced Modelling section of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) in Oslo, Norway. In 2021, he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship for Experienced Researchers by the European Union. His work spans geomechanics, planetary science, and the use of artificial intelligence and image analysis to characterize real particle shapes, and has appeared in leading journals such as Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Computers and Geotechnics, Granular Matter, and Icarus. 

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

Dr. Jerves is a co-developer of, and one of the main contributors to, the three-dimensional level-set discrete element method (3DLS-DEM). His research focuses on predictive analytical and computational models for granular materials across their solid-like, fluid-like, and gas-like regimes. This includes their interaction with surrounding media such as fluids, as well as the intra- and inter-particle physics that govern their behavior, such as electrostatic cohesion, particle breakage, and heat-induced grain swelling. 

He is currently developing a new paradigm for 3DLS-DEM-based virtual laboratory testing, designed to complement and extend the capacity of conventional soil mechanics laboratories. The approach incorporates the real particle shapes of terrestrial and extraterrestrial fine-grained soils (e.g., silts and clays) into computational simulations of standard tests such as triaxial, simple shear, and oedometer tests. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Journal articles 

1. Sebastián A. Pazmiño, Alex X. Jerves, Juan Ferrand, and Ernesto Dufrechou. A first 3DLS-DEM + CUDA-enhanced FEM scheme for grain swelling induced by transient heat conduction. Computers and Geotechnics, 2026. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266352X26006798 
2. Alexia Duchêne, Naomi Murdoch, Colas Q. Robin, Olivier S. Barnouin, Ronald L. Ballouz, David Mimoun, Alex X. Jerves, and T. Dylan Mikesell. Guidelines for estimating the 3D size and shape of boulders from planetary surface images. The Planetary Science Journal, 2026. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ae5d37 
3. Stefano Buitrón Cevallos, Alex X. Jerves, Clayreth Vinueza, Dennis Hernández, Carlos Ávila, Andrés Auquilla, and Óscar Alvear. Morphological characterization of the hippocampus: a first database in Ecuador. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1387212 
4. V. Santiago Quinteros, Thomas Dylan Mikesell, Luke Griffiths, and Alex X. Jerves. Geotechnical laboratory testing of lunar simulants and the importance of standardization. Icarus, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115812 
5. Stefano Buitrón Cevallos, Alex X. Jerves, Utkarsh Mital, Øyvind Torgersrud, V. Santiago Quinteros, David A. Medina, and Maurizio Mulas. Towards a more accurate characterization of granular media 2.0: Involving AI in the process. Computers and Geotechnics, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105510 
6. Omar S. Rojas, Alex X. Jerves, and David A. Medina. A nonlinear Lagrangian model for plane frames pre-design. Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics, 2023. https://doi.org/10.22055/jacm.2023.42085.3870 
7. Sebastián A. Pazmiño, Alex X. Jerves, Jelke Dijkstra, David A. Medina, and Hans Peter Jostad. A generalized 3DLS-DEM scheme for grain breakage. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2022.115383 
8. David A. Medina, Navid Valizadeh, Esteban Samaniego, Alex X. Jerves, and Timon Rabczuk. Isogeometric analysis of insoluble surfactant spreading on a thin film. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2020.113272 
9. Daniel Bustamante, Alex X. Jerves, and Sebastián A. Pazmiño. A generalized three-dimensional discrete element method with electrostatic induced cohesion. Granular Matter, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-020-01048-4 
10. Alex X. Jerves. An analysis of classical techniques for consistent stabilization of the advection-diffusion-reaction equation finite element solution. International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/10618562.2020.1758315 
11. David A. Medina, and Alex X. Jerves. A geometry-based algorithm for cloning real grains 2.0. Granular Matter, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-018-0851-9 
12. Alex X. Jerves, and S. A. Galindo-Torres. A microscale analytical study on the strength of two-dimensional frictional granular materials. International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/19386362.2018.1445438 
13. Alex X. Jerves, Reid Y. Kawamoto, and José E. Andrade. A geometry-based algorithm for cloning real grains. Granular Matter, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-017-0716-7 
14. Alex X. Jerves, and José E. Andrade. A micro-mechanical study of peak strength and critical state. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1002/nag.2478 
15. Alex X. Jerves, Reid Y. Kawamoto, and José E. Andrade. Effects of grain morphology on critical state: A computational analysis. Acta Geotechnica, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-015-0422-8 
16. José E. Andrade, Ivan Vlahinich, Keng-Wit Lim, and Alex X. Jerves. Multiscale “tomography-to-simulation” framework for granular matter: the road ahead. Géotechnique Letters, 2012. 
17. Alex Xavier Jerves Cobo. Estabilización consistente de la solución mediante elementos finitos de la ecuación de advección-difusión-reacción. Revista Tecnológica ESPOL, 23(3), 9–26, 2010. 

Conference proceedings 

1. Robert P. Mueller, Scott Howe, Dennis Kochmann, … Alex X. Jerves, … et al. Automated Additive Construction (AAC) for Earth and space using in situ resources. Earth and Space 2016: Engineering for Extreme Environments — Proceedings of the 15th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments, ASCE, 2016. 
2. A. Jerves, H. Ling, J. Gabaldon, M. Usoltceva, C. Couesté, A. Agarwal, R. Hurley, and J. Andrade. A simple device for in situ direct shear and sinkage tests. Proceedings of the International Conference on Experimental Mechanics and Applications, Madrid, Spain, 2015.