Seminar - Andrew Chan - Numerical modelling of Earthquake and wave induced liquefaction

Professor Andrew Chan
Professor of Computational Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Birmingham

Prof Chan's visit is supported by USyd International Visiting research Fellowship (2007 Round 1) with host collaborator Dong-Sheng Jeng

Wednesday 18 April 2007, 1.10 - 1.50 pm
Civil Engineering Lecture Theatre 3

Abstract
Liquefaction caused extensive damage and loss of human lives in many earthquakes. Examples can be found in Alaska (1964), Niigata (1964), Loma Prieta near San Francisco (1989), Hyogoken-Nambu near Kobe (1995). The numerical modelling of liquefaction requires
* A mathematical approximation for the mechanical Behaviour for which Biot (1956) is used
* A discretising procedure for the numerical Solution - Finite Element Method in space and Generalised Newmark (Finite Difference) in time is employed
* A constitutive model for the material behaviour - Pastor Zienkiewicz mark III (1986) model is used

The lecture will include
* Examples of historical liquefaction damage to building and infrastructure
* The formulation of the numerical procedure and treatment of far-field boundary condition using Boundary Element Method
* Verification using exact solutions
* Validation by comparing with centrifuge test with dynamic earthquake-like excitation
* Validation by comparing with wave flume experiments for wave induced liquefaction

About the presenter
Professor Andrew Chan completed his MPhil from University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Professor YK Cheung in 1985, and a PhD from University College of Swansea under the supervisor of Professor OC Zienkiewicz in 1989. From his supervisors, one can easily see that Andrew is a "Finite Element method" researcher. Andrew has been The University of Birmingham since 1995, from a reader in 1995 to a Professor of computational Engineering in 2005. Andrew has been working on structural engineering and geotechnical engineering. He is one of key researchers for EU program-Liquefaction around marine structures (LIAMS) during 2001-2004. he is the developer of FEM program-SWANDYNE II, and co-author of the book "Computational Geomechanics" (http://www.iem.bham.ac.uk/swandyne/ ).